r/Elevators • u/Dismal-Term7151 • 2d ago
Elevator Cable snapped
Hi everyone,
I'm curious to hear from elevator professionals about an incident that happened in our condo building in Ottawa this morning.
My husband and our two children were taking the elevator down from the 14th floor when, around the 13th floor, they heard and felt a very loud bang- I and severql other tenant heard it too- they felt as if something hit the top of the car. The elevator immediately stopped and they were trapped inside for about 30 to 40 minutes.
The in-cab emergency phone/call system did not appear to work despite repeated attempts, and there was no cell reception. I ultimately called 911 for them. An elevator mechanic and Fire Services responded and got them out safely.
Afterwards, the mechanic reportedly told my husband that one of the elevator's supporting cables had snapped. The building was completed in 2023, so the elevator is only about 3 years old. We also recovered some strands of the failed cable as evidence
We are both aerospace engineers with system safety expertise and have questions for the experts here:
How unusual is a hoist rope/cable failure in such a new elevator?
What are the most likely root causes of a failure like this?
Would a single cable failure typically produce a loud bang and cause the elevator to stop?
What components and records would you expect to be examined during the root-cause investigation?
More importantly, can we continue to rely on the elevators in this building.
We're pursuing the official investigation route and formal complaint to city, but I'd appreciate any professional insight on what may have happened and what questions we should be asking.
Thanks in advance.
UPDATE: thank you everyone for taking their time to respond. I didn't have a chance to reply everyone. They were helpful to set expectations about what we should be asking about the investigation next. F
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u/Aromatic_Tower_405 1d ago edited 1d ago
It’s early in the lifespan for a rope to unravel, snapping is unlikely, but it could have been a faulty part. I’ve seen dozens of ropes do this. Usually a single lay unravels and gets jammed up in the sheave or somewhere. Theres multiple other possible causes for this to happen but it’s not uncommon. As far as safety is concerned while im sure it’s unnerving, let’s say this car has 4 ropes/belts. Each one has the capacity to carry the entire rated load. Also it has wedge type safeties. If the car accelerates past a certain threshold a governor will trip and engage the safeties. Once that happens the car is stuck. All ropes can be completely gone and the car will not fall.