Elevator Maintenance and Review

In any commercial building, vertical transportation represents an important financial

investment, as much as hundreds of thousands of dollars for just a medium-size building. With
an asset this valuable, it is good business to have a well-defined program to ensure correct
elevator maintenance. While this article focuses on maintenance of elevators, much of the general
information applies to escalators as well.

An elevator is an extremely complex system with hundreds of parts that must be maintained. One
function of maintenance is ensuring continued operation by preventing excessive wear and
breakdown. In systems as complex as modern elevator systems, a more important aspect of
maintenance is to ensure that the equipment continues to perform as it was originally designed.
This can be accomplished only by qualified, trained technicians using the correct equipment and
tools.

The components of an elevator system that require regular maintenance can be categorized by
their location: in the machine room, the hoist way, or the car. (Note: Maintenance requirements
specific to hydraulic or traction elevators are not addressed in this article.)

Elevator Machine Room

The elevator machine room is the heart of the elevator system. It contains the
elevator hoisting machines, motor generator sets or solid-state power supply,
and control equipment. The control equipment is an essential part of the total
operating mechanism that accelerates, decelerates, and levels the car at each
floor. Most of the routine maintenance takes place in the machine room. This
includes routine servicing of motors, generators, switches, contacts, brakes, and
controls.

Hoistway

The hoistway contains the guide rails on which the elevator car and
counterweight run; the corridor doors, hangers, door locks, and operating
mechanisms; switches and other operating and safety devices; and space for
cables and other equipment. Equipment within hoistways that requires
maintenance includes buffers, corridor door hangers and locks, switches, and
safety devices. Most maintenance of these components must be performed from
inside the hoistway and outside the elevator car. The hoistway pit houses the car
and counterweights buffers, cable pulley and tensioning devices, and limit
switches. The overhead of the hoistway may contain the overspeed governor
mechanism and limit switches with space for the safety of personnel on the top
of the elevator car.

The hoistway is a dangerous place to work. For safety, only qualified personnel
should perform elevator maintenance and repair work.

Elevator Car

With few exceptions, elevator cars are fire-resistant, well-ventilated structures.

Maintenance requirements for elevator cars include servicing door operating
equipment and ventilation equipment at the top of the car and safety equipment
at the bottom. This work must also be performed from within the hoistway.

Flooring in elevator cars requires daily cleaning and service, and must be
replaced more often than other flooring because of the amount of traffic. When
replacing the floor, use nonslip material and nonflammable solutions in
refinishing or cleaning the cab. Flooring, along with care of car interior finishes, is
usually the responsibility of the property owner.

Routine Elevator Maintenance Checklist

To maintain proper elevator operation, check and correct:

Response time

Travel time between floors

Leveling

Door operation

Starting and stopping

Hall and call lights and floor indicators

To maintain elevator support systems, check and repair:

Emergency lighting and alarms

Communications devices (for example, intercoms or telephones)

To maintain the physical condition of an elevator:

 Maintain cleanliness

Check for and repair interior damage

Check signage and repair when necessary

Elevator System Reviews

Periodic review of an elevator system is important to check that the system is

being properly maintained and also to spot components that are candidates for
modernization. Proper maintenance alone is not enough. Elevator system
reviews can be conducted by in-house personnel or by an elevator professional
and should be performed more often than maintenance or inspections. The
following checklist outlines areas that should be checked during a property
managers elevator system review:

Operation: Does elevator service appear to be adequate for daily

passenger traffic loads?

Passenger satisfaction: Are people criticizing elevator service? Do they

complain about waiting, crowding, or malfunctioning equipment?

Average elevator wait time:

25 seconds or less = excellent rating

26 to 30 seconds = good rating

31 to 35 seconds = fair rating

over 35 seconds = poor rating

Elevator maintenance callbacks: Are they within the industry standard

of two per elevator per year?

Performance: Does current elevator operation compare with the

performance specifications when the equipment was new? Have the
insurance inspectors, maintenance contractor, or government
recommended any repairs or adjustments?

Safety features: Are the emergency alarm bell and intercom or

telephone operating? If there is an emergency lighting system, does it
operate during a simulated shutdown?
 Fixtures: Are hall and elevator call lights and floor indicators working
correctly? Are overhead lights and ventilation systems operating?

Doors: At stops, do the doors operate noisily? Are passengers bumped by

the doors?

Starting and stopping: Do elevators hesitate at floors too long after

buttons are pressed? Do they start and stop abruptly or uncomfortably?

Leveling: Does the car level with the floor at each stop so passengers will
not trip?

Ride: Do you hear squeaks and scrapes or feel vibrations when the
elevators are running? Do they feel unbalanced?

Run times: Do elevators grouped in the same bank appear to operate at

different speeds during comparable runs?

Elevator Performance Review

Elevator performance and maintenance go hand in hand. Poor maintenance or

performance is indicated by increased floor-to-floor elevator operating and/or
waiting times. Periodically, the property manager should time elevator functions
and compare them with the manufacturers specifications in order to evaluate
the overall system performance.

Check elevator performance by riding the elevators. Concentrate on sounds by

alternately closing your eyes and covering your ears to intensify what you see,
hear, and feel. Listen to the comments of people using the elevators.

Operations that are commonly timed and checked include the following:

Floor-to-floor time: Time required to make a one-floor run. Measured

from the time the hoistway doors start to close at one floor until they are
fully open at the next floor.

Performance time: Measured from the time the doors start to close at
one floor until they are sufficiently open to allow passenger exchange at
the next floor.
 Car start time: Measured from the time the doors start to close until the
elevator actually moves.

Brake-to-brake time: Measured from the time the car starts until it stops
on a one-floor run.

Door open time: Measured from the time doors start to open until fully
open.

Door dwell time: Length of time doors remain fully open by car or hall
call without being affected by cancellation features.

The above tests should be performed near a mid-floor stop. Measurements

should be taken in both directions and averaged.

Vertical Transportation Consultants

The elevator maintenance company or the original manufacturer of the

equipment can resolve uncertainty about existing elevator equipment and the
need for modernization. These companies should be able to analyze the
buildings traffic and elevator service to ascertain the capabilities of the present
elevator equipment.

A vertical transportation consultant should perform a traffic study to collect key

data on elevator usage and performance during a preselected period. A traffic
study provides a detailed traffic and performance analysis of the elevator,
indicating whether the system is operating up to its original specificationsa sign
of proper maintenance or if performance levels have slipped.

In addition, vertical transportation consultants should recommend which elevator

components need to be modernized and which can be retained. Some companies
can collect data from the traffic study and create a computer simulation of the
building. Using this model, they can demonstrate the effects of different
modernization schemes. By showing the types of service improvements in
advance, they can help determine the best decision for a particular building.
Vertical transportation consultants can also help prepare bidding documents
once the modernization approach is decided.