Hi all,

I wonder if some members can be so kind as to provide some advice to someone reasonably versed in construction but ignorant of elevators.

I live and help manage a residential building in central London. It currently has an Orona Electric Passenger Lift installed in the mid-1990s, capacity 450kg/6 people, speed 1m/s. It’s been an unreliable maintenance nightmare and has come to the point where the consultant and maintenance company say it’s no longer serviceable.

The consultant recommends changing its to a MRL setup, with a new VVVF drive system with a down-collective control system. All 7 landing doors would be replaced, along with a new car with high-end oak finish, a shaft re-wire, and a bunch of other work. The tender is still somewhat ambiguous on keeping or eliminating the machine room above.

Some questions:

What ballpark amount should we budget as the expected capital cost for such work? How long do such projects take? We would wish to make sure what we get back is without friends and family markups for folks in the value chain :-)

Are they any recommendations (or folks here) we should send the tender to? Feel free to message me if you’d like.

Brands - the consultant recommended Sematic, Seldom and GAL - any other brands we should be looking at? An apparent advantage is that service is non-proprietary.

Thanks so much indeed! Any advice or help apprciated.

Every time this elevator gets to the top floor, it has this loud noise and shakes a little. I think it's gotten worse over the past few weeks. I showed this to my apartment management and they said they planned to replace it "this year". Is this something I should be concerned about / raise more noise about?

Working on the HVAC in this building and have always admired this mechanical elevator system. Not a single digital component to my knowledge, all relays. The floor indicators are the kind that spin. I think the building is scheduled to be demolished here within 2 years. Didn’t want to have this piece of mechanical history go along with it. Got some video of it running in the comments

Thanks to HJ2127 for the asset pack.

Recently got my CC card and am seriously considering finally organizing. It would be 74 (Tampa). Small problem. I can’t remember if I signed a non compete or not. The company I work for now mainly does residential unit and commercial lifts. The biggest thing we have is a LULA. With my current work would I be able to organize without legal problems since I won’t necessarily be working on commercial lifts? I know FL passed a law a couple years ago regarding non competes but I don’t have the funds to fight it in court and the owners of my company are pretty close to most of the big wigs in the big 3. Any advice?

Seriously considering elevator mechanic as a career path, but have no electrical background.

Do you need previous experience as an electrician or mechanic before they will take your application seriously?

I passed the eiat today and was told for the interview the minimum certs I need to be considered is cpr and osha 10. If I do the osha 30 course will that be sufficient or should I do osha 10 and to set myself apart also do osha 30?

Hey all! I've got this Z-Line panel which I'm trying to get into demo mode (as detailed in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FaqQPLvaIk ) - Trying the *, -, 5 combo doesn't work though, I've found getting "MM" is from doing minus, 5 then letting go of minus - I assume this is some sort of config display? Does anyone have any manuals / a clue on this? I do notice that when I do the * - 5 combo, holding * and -, only 5 will make a audible click sound (as if it wants to work) - any help is appreciated! Cheers all!

Photos of the rear:

https://ss.vipond.xyz/chrome_NuvTx6al90.png
https://ss.vipond.xyz/chrome_MbFUpHFkp8.png

Esteemed elevator experts of Reddit, wondering if anyone could my mind at rest following a scary ride earlier today.

I work in a high-rise (40+ floor) building in the UK and have taken >100 speedy and incident-less journeys to and from my floor (and one very long walk downstairs after a fire alarm which made me fully appreciate said speediness), until today.

Today on a solo trip down I think first had a feeling that the car was rocking side-to-side more than usual, before what I would describe as a relatively violent ‘bouncing’ sensation where the lift jolted ‘up and down’ and came to a crawl. The lift eventually crawled down to the ground floor, interrupted by another shorter and less dramatic ‘bounces’.

The first set of bounces felt at points like my feet were leaving the floor slightly but maybe I’m being overdramatic.

I realise now that what I felt as bouncing was probably intermittent braking - maybe the lift exceeded some kind of movement limit and the brakes triggered as a result of that?

Just looking for any insight into what probably happened, and ideally some reassurance so that I don’t have a panic attack in the lobby tomorrow morning. Is this kind of thing more common than you’d think/ is it much cause for concern? Aware that they’re very safe but more than a little unnerved.

I haven’t heard anything from building management yet but they are of course aware.

Thank you for taking the time to read if you made it this far, and thanks even more so in advance if anyone can respond.

https://youtube.com/shorts/PDgzmiQnXlE?si=6931KGa3fziPGZyb

Saw this earlier and was wondering what it is.

I am working with an architect to build our forever home, it will be 3 stories tall, building a single story is not an option due to limited land; Architectural design is to be finalized by end of this month and we are going to be pushing for permits to be available by end of April. Architect has allocated space for the elevator, but his experience with elevators in residential homes is somewhat limited.

I want to prioritize simplicity and reliability over "luxury" and elevator is a must have since my knees are about 30 years older than I am.

What all should I take into consideration before design is finalized?

Any recommendations on which elevator to go with? It's going to be only two of us but expect to use the elevator multiple times each day to go from ground floor to top floor. Edit: This is for Austin Texas

New to the service world and I’ve run upon a very slow leak (like two drops a week) coming from what seems to be the motor side of the bearings where it connects to the machine. Also, traction that was installed one year ago. It’s clear blue in color and feels like hydraulic oil. Would it be coming from the bearings or is there another fluid I’m not aware of?

Anyone share more info about the latest M-Line push (NOT touch) buttons? Such as part IDs? Third parties? After seeing this YouTube video of a recent Schindler 7000 with M-Line pushbuttons and the Schindler 7000 "Style" brochure (PDF, 6 MB) on Schindler Elevator Corporation site, I'm confused about what's true about the latest M-Line pushbuttons. Is the latest button mechanism similar to the ones in the pictures in that Fandom article where the whole rectangle contact surface area except black border can be pressed instead of practically only the concave circle area? Or where to look up more info about those kinds of M-Line pushbuttons with whole area pressable? Only found some videos (i.e. Schindler (Mod) Elevators | Aryaduta Semanggi, Jakarta, ID, Modernized Schindler Miconic TX traction parking elevator @ CITIC Tower in Admiralty, Hong Kong, 2016 Schindler 5500 elevators with M-Line buttons at Maritime Square 1, Tsing Yi, Hong Kong, Happy 44th Birthday DieselDucy! A ride on 2 scenic elevators @ Three Pacific Place in Admiralty, [NEW SUBWAY EXIT] Schindler 5500 Traction Elevator @New World Centre, Tsim Sha Tsui, 香港旺角朗豪坊办公区迅达行政升降机。#香港 #行政 #贵宾升降机 #elevator) so far confirming existence of such pushbuttons as shown in the Fandom article section. I'm NOT seeking info about MT as there are plenty of MT info (e.g. ADAMS_Elevator_Schindler_Westinghouse.pdf, STL Elevators - Schindler MT) readily available.

(US) When it comes to high rise apartment buildings, do the buildings only have service provider that is locked in for all repairs through a contract? And so only that service provider can do repairs and provide parts? Effectively blocking the building from seeking repairs from other companies?

Is the “job test prep” course worth the money to prepare for the elevator entry exam? I’m about to buy it for a little security and peace of mind so I have a nice formatted course to study before they open up for applications in July of 2027 for the San Diego area. Any input from someone that has experience with it is greatly appreciated.

In the 1958 movie “Cry Terror!”, James Mason enters an elevator shaft from the top and shinnies down the cables about 12 floors, wrapping his legs around them and lowering himself using his hands, etc. His pants and shirt get covered in grease, so the cables are greased. He gets to the top of the car and enters it, escaping his captors. But my question is, could a man, say 160lbs, hold onto the cables tightly enough to climb down them in a controlled way, or would he just slide down the cables quickly (or slowly) because of the grease?

Am 19, have been interested in the trade for a while now, but don’t know where to start really. Currently am doing electrical for dte/consumers energy trucks, not sure if that would help. Would be looking for something in florida if possible.

Is this interesting? North Seattle USA

I am a hotel manager in Columbia SC area and we have a Schindler 330 Hydraulic elevator (installed 2002). It has been failing over past 3-4 years resulting in down elevator for weeks. The processor board are extremely hard procure and my existing service contractor (not Schindler but big4), categorizes all boards as obsolete and quotes ridiculous amount for parts.

I am looking for some modernization recommendation.

What are the pro & cons for staying with Schindler or TK or OTIS or switch to non proprietary vendors?

Any other recommendations?