Below is a photograph and magnified photograph of a set of elevator hoist ropes (commonly referred to as “cables”), and no; that’s not what they’re supposed to look like.  What you’re seeing is an accumulation of red rust deposits or “rouge” brought about by lack of lubrication (two top pointers) and metal flake under the driving sheave brought upon by premature wear of the sheave grooves (two bottom pointers).

While there isn’t a predominant amount of breaks in the actual rope lays themselves, this is a situation that demands immediate attention.  Because of the extreme lack of maintenance associated with elevator wire rope maintenance on this application, these hoist ropes will need to be replaced relatively soon — alot sooner than if they were properly maintained. In fact, university and technical studies (accepted calculations) have determined that failing to lubricate can reduce the life of hoist ropes by over 50%. Fifty percent.

With respect to the machine sheave, research studies have illustrated the adverse effect of even a 15% difference in rope tension on a typical elevator installation.  When the load factor for the highest tension rope is out of proportion, that particular rope will be impacted dramatically and wear quickly (in other words, when one rope is bearing most of the load instead of the tension being distributed equally).  Conversely, lower tension ropes may exhibit a sliding action through the sheave groove and prematurely wear the rope and the sheave (as seen above). To illustrate the point, think about your car’s tires.  How many miles will a tire last if it is severely under- or over-inflated? A rope running in sheaves subjected to an unequal load (tension) will give comparable results.

For reference, these ropes are original, but only 17 years old.

And finally, some reasons that ropes will prematurely wear are as follows:

• Inadequate lubrication, or no lubrication at all.
• Failure to periodically test rope tensions (required).
• Increased (or increasing) car motion resistance – bad rollers or guides, etc.
• Excessive car vibrations.
• Obstructions making contact with ropes as the machine is running.
• Volatile hoistway conditions (excessive humidity, dirt, sea air, rain, etc)
• Improper shortening of ropes – twisting, tension imbalance, etc.

Have you seen your hoist ropes lately?  If you’re authorized to gain access to your building’s machine room, do yourself a favor and take a look.  Or…. call a consultant (shameless plug).

Due to a vast amount of inquiries into the requirements of elevator pits and pit equipment (from plumbers, electricians, etc), we have put together a short-list addressing these requirements for a quick reference of sorts. Be advised that this list may not cover all of the requirements, may not be applicable in all States, and it may not be 100% applicable to your particular project. There are separate requirements for new construction, maintenance and alterations, in addition to there being more stringent codes in different States, but we hope that this will address many of your concerns.

To begin, every elevator must have a pit. Now that we’ve established that, let’s move on to the heart of the requirements.

• Pits must be of fire-resistive construction, as should the partitions between elevator pits.
• The pit floor must be approximately level except that trenches or depressions shall be permitted for the installation of buffers, compensating sheaves and frames, and vertically sliding biparting hoistway doors, where structural conditions make such trenches or
  depressions necessary
• Permanent provisions must be made to prevent the accumulation of water in the pit. In other words, pits should be waterproofed and/or sealed.
• Drains and pumps must comply with the local plumbing code, and steps shall be taken to prevent water, gas and odors from entering the pit.
• Drains cannot be connected to main sewer systems (Florida Administrative Code 61C-5)
• If the elevator is equipped with fire service operations (and almost all new elevators are), sump pumps must be provided
• In Florida, a sump hole is required with or without a pump in every elevator pit that does not have a drain installed.
• Sump holes and pumps must be covered, secured, and level with the pit floor.
• Safe and convenient access shall be provided to all elevator pits
• Pit ladders are required in all pits that extend more than 35″ below the bottom landing sill
• The pit ladder must extend 48″ above the landing entrance.
• The pit ladder rungs must be at least 16″ wide unless obstructions prevent this, and in that case it can be no less than 9″ wide
• Pits shall be accessible ONLY to authorized personnel
• Pits must have a stop switch, and if more than one elevator in a hoistway, each elevator must have its own stop switch
• Pit switches must be accessible from the pit access door
• Two pit switches are required for each elevator where the pit extends more than 67″ below the bottom landing sill - one near the ladder, and another approximately 47″ above the pit floor (wired in series).
• Where the distance from the pit floor to the underside of the plank channels or slings exceeds 2 100mm(83 in.), with the car at the lowest landing, a means shall be permanently installed or permanently stored in the pit to provide access to the equipment on the underside of the car.
• Pit lighting shall be provided and 10 foot candles of illumination is required (A17.1 2004)
• Pit lighting must be guarded
• Where sprinklers are installed in the pit, all conduit, fittings, lighting covers, etc., must be NEMA4 rated and/or “vapor-proof”.
• In existing buildings, where new elevators are installed or existing elevators are altered, existing foundation footings extending above the general level of the pit floor shall be permitted to remain in place, provided that the maximum encroachment of such footings does not exceed 15% of the cubic content of the pit, and further provided that it is impracticable to remove the footing.
• When the car rests on its fully compressed buffer, no part of the car or any equipment attached thereto shall strike any part of the pit or any part of the equipment located therein (ANSI A17.3 1996 Code).

In Florida, if an elevator company is installing “retractable toe-guards”, they will need to pay close attention to the last bullet point. According to adopted code, no part of the elevator, or any equipment attached to it (platform guards, aka “toe guards”) can strike the pit. For verification, the floor is certainly a part of the pit.

Any other requirements? Certainly. As we said, this is just a short-list. There are a myriad of code requirements for traction elevators as well as hydraulic elevators, and any qualified consultant can spell them all out for you in detail.

Finally.

After months of calls and letters, the State of Florida Bureau of Elevator Safety has taken a hard stance on the adoption and enforcement of A17.3 (Safety Code for Existing Elevators).

Industry bulletin #2008-03 addresses the statutory requirements for code compliance and goes so far as to actually spell out the code requirements for the inspection of elevators in Florida. According to the bulletin, the following are the adopted and enforceable codes for inspections in Florida.

• Chapter 399 (Florida Statute)
• Florida Administrative Rule 61C-5
• Florida Building Code Chapter 30
• ASME A17.1 2004 with 2005 Addenda
• ASME A17.2 2004
• ASME A17.3 1996
• ASME A18.1 2003

By the way, let’s keep in mind that the aforementioned codes are only the minimum requirements with regard to elevator safety requirements. We’ll say it again: T-H-E M-I-N-I-M-U-M requirement.

Also addressed in this bulletin is the requirements for elevator inspections and the responsibility of the building owners in that regard. As has been the belief and stance of Alliance Elevator Consultants, the building owner is responsible for the scheduling of inspections and is responsible for ensuring the periodic tests are witnessed by an INDEPENDENT third party inspector. In other words, an inspector he or she hires; not an inspector your service company hires.   This belief, and our position, have been validated as well through this release.

After countless attempts to get these things in writing, Alliance Elevator Consultants and SCORES of other inspection and consulting companies have finally received their reward.

Question is, will anything really change?

Next task - how about some repercussions for ignoring this?

Below is a photo of a geared traction machine that has completely run out of gear oil, and worse; the gear oil leak has traveled over to the brake drum, soaking the brake pads.

All the red arrows point to places on the machine where gear oil is escaping. The problem here is two-fold. One, the machine is all but void of gear oil, causing the worm gear and ring gear to wear far more prematurely than expected. Two, the oil has traveled to the brake drum, and subsequently soaked the brake pads with oil. When our consultants visited this job, they instructed the building owner to place the elevator out of service.

Why? I’ll tell you why.

Suppose the elevator was running high speed in the down direction from the top floor (a 14 story building) and suddenly the power in the building was lost. One of two things can happen here…

The elevator machine would instantly apply the brake, but the chances of an oil soaked brake pad stopping a fully accelerated elevator are slim to none. Chances are, the elevator would continue to run through the brake, gain speed, and either (a) trip the governor overspeed thereby bringing the elevator to a violent halt, or (b) continue to run full speed onto the pit buffers causing an even more violent stop.

If you’re passenger in this elevator under either one of those conditions, the end result would be nothing short of disturbing. While there is a very slim chance that the elevator would stop normally, there was no reason for us to believe it would - or could.   So in the interest of public safety (our primary concern), we recommended the elevator be taken out of service, and a call to the elevator maintenance company be made immediately.

This was taken care of in short order, but the rest of the report took quite a bit longer.

Due to an inordinate amount of inquiries into the requirements of A17.3 in Florida, we are posting the relative bulletins from the Bureau of Elevator Safety that led to this formal adoption.

The first:
Bulletin 2006-01. This bulletin left everyone wondering whether or not the State had officially adopted A17.3 and subsequently divided all independent elevator inspectors into two camps. The first camp reading the bulletin as merely a “suggestion” to adopt A17.3 and it’s code requirements. The second camp reading the bulletin as a “green light” to enforce A17.3 and it’s code requirements. The ensuing inspections were, suffice it to say, anything but consistent on a county-wide basis.

The second:
Bulletin 2007-04. This bulletin outright declares A17.3 as the adopted code by the State of Florida and addresses the requirements of telephone/handsets in elevators (as vague as it is). This bulletin, along with a series of formal and informal meetings, put an end to the question of whether or not A17.3 was an enforceable code requirement for existing elevators.

In short, it certainly is. It was also shortly after this bulletin was released that the Bureau of Elevator Safety employed several additional State Monitors to ensure these codes were being enforced.

And they are.

For more information on this subject, stay tuned to this website (bookmark it if you like), and we’ll discuss, in detail, the requirements of this code and what it means to existing elevators in Palm Beach County. Additionally, you can also contact the Bureau of Elevator Safety Directly and they’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have. Their contact information is as follows:

Department of Business and Professional Regulation
1940 North Monroe Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399-1027

Customer Contact Center: 850.487.1395

As of November 2007, the State of Florida formally adopted ANSI A17.3 1996 edition for all existing elevators. What does this mean for elevator owners in the State? ALOT.

Some of the requirements of A17.3 1996 include:

• Door restrictors (zone locking devices)
• 2-way communication (telephones)
• Fire Service Operations (for buildings 25ft or higher)
• Emergency lighting

Many of the existing elevators throughout the State (where third party elevator inspections are required) are without the equipment listed above, and the amount of money needed to install some of these components is excessive - especially in condominiums wherein the tenant population is on a fixed income.

Take for example the Fire Service Requirement. If a building is 4 stories, more than likely it is over 25 feet high (above the main egress landing). Installing Fire Service operations is no easy task. More often than not, the existing controller is not equipped to incorporate Fire Service operations, so a new controller would need to be purchased and installed that includes that feature.

This is just the beginning of the nightmare.

Once a controller is needed, a permit needs to be pulled to cover the modernization. Once a permit is pulled, the code requirement for the elevators suddenly becomes more stringent. Now your elevator buttons are required to meet ADA requirements (42″ high at the centerline), and smoke detectors need to be installed in the elevator machine room and quite possibly at every landing in the building. Now you have to hire a fire alarm company to install the necessary sensors and relays on top of an elevator company to install the new controller.

Let’s assume your elevator mainline disconnect is not up to the new standards as well. Now you need to hire an electrician to change that component out as well as upgrade the lighting in the machine room and quite possibly the breaker that controls the elevator cab lights.

MAKE IT STOP!!!

We can stop the hemorrhaging of money right about now if you like, because we’re not entirely done with all the requirements necessary to comply with this new code requirement if your building is cited for the aforementioned violation on a State inspection.

We can, however, help you through this.

If your building was cited for an A17.3 violation, contact Alliance Elevator Consultants immediately before the myriad of proposals start pouring in from your elevator service company. We can negotiate the prices on your behalf, seek alternate proposals based on what you ACTUALLY need, and we can make the process of complying with this code significantly less stressful. We do of course require a fee to provide this service, but I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how economical this decision can be with a consultant as opposed to how outlandishly expensive it can be without one.

As always, you can contact us at any time, free of charge, and we’ll be happy to discuss your options.