The elevator is a year out of warranty. It works mostly. The bldg residents won't use it. The Post's elevator service contractor says he can't fix it until we buy the service tool, which the customer rep wants $10K for.

You'll notice I didn't put the mfr's name in. What constitutes good manners in this forum?

And no, we weren't smart enough to be very specific in the RFP wherewith we bought the elevator....

Any advice?

One more thing: belts instead of cables on this machine. Annual inspection problems?

Yet one more thing: we just found out the mfr removed a supposedly defective weight sensing device at the end of the warranty and forgot to replace it. Could that be the problem? The elevator still gets stuck every now and then....

As the song goes "Bless em all".

I am teaching a class in Florida for ASME PD010
See if you can attend.

Monday, Dec 10th I will be in TN.
Perhaps, if still in need and interested, I can make arrangements to stop by and look at your situation after that.

Your first question should be about why are you paying some one to service the elevator that does not have the tools to do so?

If it was a low bid situation, you are paying for what you get.

If the contractor misrepresented to get the contract, the word that comes to mind is Fraud.

There are a number of safety devices that when working properly prevent the elevator from operating. It's difficult for me to know from your post exactly what is happening.

There are specific issues with the belted elevator and probably the company took a device that checks the condition of the belts for wear. If this is so, please know that it is a safety device. The federal government is specific about removing safety devices on elevators. This may be something your base commander should refer to the proper authorities.

It's good you are polite. Don't mention the company name here or anywhere else. (They pay their legal staff more than you can imagine.)

Respectfully,

Robert L Krieger Jr.
(818) 269-8172 Cell

The elevator service contractor was hired prior to installation of the elevator in question.

Looking into service tool emulator downloadable on line. What are the potential problems with that?

The problem, specifically, is that occasionally, only during a medium to high-load problem (never happens with two people, happened to me and 5 others when we were testing it) the elevator gets stuck between floors for a few minutes, then goes to the stop, lets the people off, then pretends nothing bad happened. I don't have enough time or friends to test it further in this manner. My friends all think once is enough....

AKA
Please help me understand? Are you an elevator mechanic or a facilities manager? I'm reading your posts and I find it hard not to want to voice my concern. I will be polite and just say!

For the safety of everyone, I suggest you use test weights not people when performing any type of repair and/or tests to an elevator.

If you are an elevator mechanic the only way for anyone to help you in this manner is to provide the information you are not. Like the auto industry there are many manufacturers and models of elevators.

I wish you the best of luck. But I recommend you talk to one or all of the following;
Your elevator service provider,
A local elevator inspector,
An elevator consultant,
The AHJ for your area.

i suggest only allow 2 people to ride the elevator at a time if the building owners are too cheap to hire a company that can service the equipment properly.

jkh, answers to your questions:
>Are you an elevator mechanic or a facilities manager?

I'm in construction mgt and am assisting the facilities managers with this problem. My office put this elevator in, it has never worked right, the warranty is over. The mfr is offering to help, but their help didn't get it working right when they were in charge during the warranty period. Then they took the load weighting device off and quit trying to fix it at the end of the warranty period.

>I recommend you talk to one or all of the following;
>Your elevator service provider,

Check. We are obligated to get him the service tool. $10K from the manufacturor. (New elevator - it was got after his contract was put in effect)

>A local elevator inspector,
I'll try to get DPW to do that

>An elevator consultant,
Do you know any good ones that would service Southern Georgia?

>The AHJ for your area.
Good idea. I suggested it to DPW

Sorry AKA

I don't have anyone in your area I can recommend. However here is a website you can search for what you need.

http://www.naec.org/org/professionals.aspx

AKA

It's obvious you don't wish to bad mouth anyone. But saying you have a problem with manufacturers elevator isn't slander. In order for this forum to help you with your elevator issue the manufacturers name and the model will have to be revealed.

You mentioned "belts not cables" . What is the material use to suspend and hold traction? Kevlar?

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1314&dat=20071025&id=KYA1AAAAIBAJ&sjid=g_MDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6756,4070318

I've been told the belts are polyurethane over steel.

Otis GEN II is the only car that I know of that uses belts instead of hoist ropes.

If it is a Otis getting a user tool will be expensive. And if its anything like our user version of IMS user you are very limited on what you can do and it should be that way. Dont need non-elevator personal changing parameters.

Some ideas you may want to look into. In the drive there is an EEPROM chip...I think it's the U15 chip, that checks and validates programmed data after each run as it cycles the safety system. The chip is cheap but you may need the service tool to load any missing parameters. Not the easiest route. I doubt it's a door lock problem as those are easy to find. May be an issue with pre brake pick where the brake lifts before the doors close. This happens even if the doors reopen to allow more people in and can cause just enough roll back to create a fault. That's something that can be disabled using...you guessed it...the service tool. You can't even calibrate the load weighing system without it. Would need to see fault codes to really trouble shoot it. At any rate without the tool you may not be able to effectively fix and maintain it or perform annual and full load tests. It may be worth the investment if you plan to take other units like this one onto contract.

Loadweiging has to be fully operational..Gen2 will not run properly
without them...without the service tool this cannot be accomplished...

green sleeves the only U15 chip I am familiar with is in the swing panel on a MCE,these people had alot of choices on elevator venders.They bought it call original manufacture to get it fixed correctly.And stop using people for test weights.