Why are some elevators hydraulically operated? What's the advantage/disadvantage of that type of system?
Elevator Consultancy - What questions can I answer for you?
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Last: 9 mo ago by HouAggie
I remember years ago my grandmother took me to Matamoros. We went into a building and a gentleman in a suit/tie was the elevator operator. It was the coolest thing that I had ever seen. I told my grandmother that I wanted to be an elevator operator when I grew up!
I can't PM, do you have an email?
This is not the response I was looking for, but from a liability perspective I will begrudgingly accept it.
Do you have "Love in an Elevator " as your ringtone?
Around 70% of elevators currently in service are hydraulic.
The fact that hydros are so prevalent is driven by their simplicity, relative affordability, and suitability to their task.
For buildings that have two to five floors, hydraulic systems make the most sense economically. They cost 25-50% less than traction elevators to install, around half as much to maintain, and they do the job just about as well.
They're noisier, don't ride as well, sometimes cause odors in the building, and there's obvious concerns with 200-300 gallons of hydraulic oil that can leak.
Anything beyond 5 floors and the economics sort of level out. Eventually, at 6 or 7 floors, the laws of physics take over and hydros can't do the work, and you have to install a traction elevator.
Funky Winkerbean said:
Do you have "Love in an Elevator " as your ringtone?
"Elevator" by Flo Rida (feat. Timbaland) ;-)
Sure. cmcreynolds @ ATIS dot comMsC2012 said:
I can't PM, do you have an email?
Look forward to talking to you further!
What made you go into the elevator industry?
In the navy I was an elevator mechanic on an aircraft carrier for the weapons Elevators. I thought about going into the industry afterwards but didn't. Sprt of wish I did though
In the navy I was an elevator mechanic on an aircraft carrier for the weapons Elevators. I thought about going into the industry afterwards but didn't. Sprt of wish I did though
johnrth said:
What made you go into the elevator industry?
In the navy I was an elevator mechanic on an aircraft carrier for the weapons Elevators. I thought about going into the industry afterwards but didn't. Sprt of wish I did though
I've met a lot of folks in the trade that had your same background (or something very similar.) I've always enjoyed working with prior service, but that's probably because I started out in the Army.
I was US Army Signal Corps for 4 years active duty after leaving A&M, I got out and went IRR in 2000 and joined up with American Airlines in their Maintenance and Engineering department. I met my wife there, and when she asked to move for her career, we transferred to Alabama. I needed a job and it just so happened that Otis Elevator Company was hiring for PMs in Birmingham. I took that job and never looked back. It's a niche industry where most everyone knows everyone else. It's also multigenerational, I know a lot of grandfather-father-son-daughter families in the elevator trade.
I don't know where you are in your career, but as with most things, it's never too late. Most elevator mechanics will spend four years in apprenticeship prior to taking their test to get a license. With your experience, that could be shorter...
Elevator Mechanics are among the highest paid blue collar workers in America (several years running) and there is a dire need for them right now. Median salary is around $97k, most can make well above that with OT.
stroodles said:
Can I have a set of keys?
How come on every project the GC gets hit for $5K to $10K for some random reason?
I would think a good estimator would know this was coming, and would account for it…
Will we ever see a wonkavator?
PottsDW said:stroodles said:
Can I have a set of keys?
How come on every project the GC gets hit for $5K to $10K for some random reason?
I would think a good estimator would know this was coming, and would account for it…
They *should*, but as an example, it's tough on bid day to figure out exactly how many days of "temp use" they'll need...and when it could be the difference in getting the job or not, well...
Absolutely!AggieArchitect04 said:
Will we ever see a wonkavator?
Horrible accident. KONE, the company that serviced the elevators, ended up settling with the doctor's family and the employee that witnessed the accident from inside the car.Josepi said:
That doctor was decapitated in the elevator at a hospital in Houston 20ish years ago. What the hell happened there? That's the stuff of nightmares.
I'm unsure of the exact details, but KONE admitted to a "wiring error" that resulted in the elevator leaving the landing with the doctor pinned by the doors.
On any modern elevator, opening the elevator door(s) breaks the electromechanical interlock and the elevator stops in flight (or at the landing.) Likely as not, KONE was troubleshooting door issues and jumped out the safety circuit which requires the interlock to electronically make prior to the elevator operating, but forgot to remove the jumper. Because of this, the elevator thought the doors were closed when, in actuality, a passenger was halfway in/out of the elevator and began to ascend. As you mentioned, it resulted in the death and partial decapitation of the doctor, sadly.
There was at least one similar accident in New York.
The industry has since implemented code that requires all new elevators to have "Door Lock Monitoring" which includes software and hardware to prevent this sort of accident. New York and Florida have gone so far as to require any older elevators that don't have Door Lock Monitoring, to be retrofitted.
No question, but a suggestion for the industry.
Keep the buttons simple and make it easy to see when a button has been pushed. I've been in a lot of elevators where the interface design is overly complicated and older people especially have difficulty figuring out what to do. Slows everything down.
Example is the up/down button that only has a sliver of backlighting around the edge, rather than the button itself lighting up.
Keep the buttons simple and make it easy to see when a button has been pushed. I've been in a lot of elevators where the interface design is overly complicated and older people especially have difficulty figuring out what to do. Slows everything down.
Example is the up/down button that only has a sliver of backlighting around the edge, rather than the button itself lighting up.
I imagine business is good when your toughest competitor is stairs.
Escalators are on the rise
Escalators are usually sold by elevator companies.
But I still dig your pun.
But I still dig your pun.
If this guy can also answer our escalator related questions, this is the thread that keeps on giving.
CC09LawAg said:
If this guy can also answer our escalator related questions, this is the thread that keeps on giving.
I can, most definitely! Gimme your best shot…
They're a liability nightmare.
Is it true they can never break (a la Mitch Hedberg)
Quote:
An escalator can never break: it can only become stairs. You should never see an Escalator Temporarily Out Of Order sign, just Escalator Temporarily Stairs. Sorry for the convenience.
AtlAg05 said:
Is it true they can never break (a la Mitch Hedberg)Quote:
An escalator can never break: it can only become stairs. You should never see an Escalator Temporarily Out Of Order sign, just Escalator Temporarily Stairs. Sorry for the convenience.
They've never been to the houston galleria. They have out of order (and blockades) on those escalators all the damn time.
If only...AtlAg05 said:
Is it true they can never break (a la Mitch Hedberg)Quote:
An escalator can never break: it can only become stairs. You should never see an Escalator Temporarily Out Of Order sign, just Escalator Temporarily Stairs. Sorry for the convenience.
For real, though, don't ever walk on an escalator that is shut down. It's not likely that you'll get injured, but the chance of severe injury if you do is pretty high. You could potentially fall through a step into the machinery, get thrown off balance and fall if it suddenly starts, or find yourself free falling with the escalator steps if a brake or gear fails.
It's bad. If you can avoid it, do so.
Definitely a good suggestion.EclipseAg said:
No question, but a suggestion for the industry.
Keep the buttons simple and make it easy to see when a button has been pushed. I've been in a lot of elevators where the interface design is overly complicated and older people especially have difficulty figuring out what to do. Slows everything down.
Example is the up/down button that only has a sliver of backlighting around the edge, rather than the button itself lighting up.
So the difficulty here is making buttons that stand up to standard (and sometimes non-standard) use and abuse, that fully light up. Plastics tend to 1) decay due to cleaning and exposure and 2) break. The only thing worse than a button with poor lighting is one that doesn't work at all.
The industry had toyed around with targets/jewels that are around the edges as well as ones that are small and in the center of the button, with the remainder of the button being metal. Most customers are now also opting for blue led lighting, which, while it looks cool and modern, sometimes doesn't display well in bright light.
Do you work with older adults where this is an issue?
If you design tall buildings, they're the best option, unless you're a sherpa. ;-)AggieArchitect04 said:
I imagine business is good when your toughest competitor is stairs.
No ... just have an older parent and in visits to medical buildings, etc., I see this problem often.Spinnaker96 said:
Do you work with older adults where this is an issue?
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AG
Spinnaker96 said:
I get asked about the "Door Close" button a lot.
The Truth: It has more function for emergencies than it does for everyday passengers.
In an Emergency: When there's a fire in a building, you wouldn't want the elevator to immediately depart the landing and immediately open the doors on a new landing. The door close button allows the emergency personnel to tell the elevator "I'm ready to go to the indicated floor" by requiring constant pressure until the door is fully closed prior to departing the landing. Nothing worse than a surprise during a fire...
Everyday: When there's not a fire in the building, the door close button still has its use, but it can't override the safety or ADA parameters. That is, it won't work if the button would make the door close sooner than code would allow. So, if the door had already started to close, but you, as a kindly passenger, held the door for someone hurrying to catch the elevator, you could press the door close button as soon as they entered and the door would begin to close.
Do you have to turn the key to make this trick work, or can I just press and hold because I don't like other people riding with me?
The elevator has to be on fire service for the door close to function in the first mode, so you'd have to have the key for that.Milwaukees Best Light said:Spinnaker96 said:
I get asked about the "Door Close" button a lot.
The Truth: It has more function for emergencies than it does for everyday passengers.
In an Emergency: When there's a fire in a building, you wouldn't want the elevator to immediately depart the landing and immediately open the doors on a new landing. The door close button allows the emergency personnel to tell the elevator "I'm ready to go to the indicated floor" by requiring constant pressure until the door is fully closed prior to departing the landing. Nothing worse than a surprise during a fire...
Everyday: When there's not a fire in the building, the door close button still has its use, but it can't override the safety or ADA parameters. That is, it won't work if the button would make the door close sooner than code would allow. So, if the door had already started to close, but you, as a kindly passenger, held the door for someone hurrying to catch the elevator, you could press the door close button as soon as they entered and the door would begin to close.
Do you have to turn the key to make this trick work, or can I just press and hold because I don't like other people riding with me?
A better choice if you want total control of the elevator is Independent Service, which makes the elevator not respond to any buttons but those inside the elevator. It will sit at the landing waiting on you (or someone else) and won't recognize any of the hall buttons at other landings.
You'd need the key for that too, though.
Spinnaker96 said:CC09LawAg said:
If this guy can also answer our escalator related questions, this is the thread that keeps on giving.
I can, most definitely! Gimme your best shot…
They're a liability nightmare.
If I remember correctly they're also kind of a nightmare and expensive to maintain, right?
I did a project for a client (corporate HQ) and they replaced almost all of their escalators with elevator banks. TKE was what they put in. We hired Lerch Bates as a consultant.
How big does a locked elevator lobby need to be before it requires a manual pull fire alarm door release on each end?
Chance this guy lost his shorts?
Haha! That's great! 100% chance of shredded trousers.aggiez03 said:
Chance this guy lost his shorts?
They can be expensive to maintain, and really have to be maintained properly.AggieArchitect04 said:Spinnaker96 said:CC09LawAg said:
If this guy can also answer our escalator related questions, this is the thread that keeps on giving.
I can, most definitely! Gimme your best shot…
They're a liability nightmare.
If I remember correctly they're also kind of a nightmare and expensive to maintain, right?
I did a project for a client (corporate HQ) and they replaced almost all of their escalators with elevator banks. TKE was what they put in. We hired Lerch Bates as a consultant.
There's kind of a running joke in the industry that if someone came and proposed escalators as a new product today, they'd be laughed out of the building due to their cost, risk and difficulty to maintain.
Most companies only have a couple of guys in a given office that are familiar enough to work on them.
All of that said, they're really good at what they do, which is moving lots of people all at once. They're indispensable for stadiums, malls, and public transit where there are huge surges in traffic.
Lerch Bates is really the oldest (and probably most well-known) of the elevator consultancies. We compete directly with them. I have lots of friends/colleagues who work there as well.
What's the effort required to have an elevator fitted to using/not using the 13th floor? (software, hardware, buttons, etc.).
Blows my mind how many buildings I've been in that skip the "13th floor" including my current and previous employers.
Blows my mind how many buildings I've been in that skip the "13th floor" including my current and previous employers.
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