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?

Believe it or not, that’s an extremely common question. 99.9% of the time, the elevator in question is a hydraulic elevator – typically from 2-8 floors. What causes that noise is a lack of hydraulic fluid in the reservoir. Whenever a hydraulic elevator system has a leak – of any kind – the fluid lost does not return to the reservoir (or tank), and the system then lacks the necessary amount of oil needed to push the piston the full length of travel in the hoistway. The result is air entering the line as the system cavitates. In short, when the elevator gets to the top floor, the noise you hear is the pump trying to push the piston without a sufficient amount of oil. It’s loud, and for those not in the know, it’s scary.

Some common reasons a hydraulic system would lose oil:

• A leaking seal around the piston
• Worn hoses
• Bad pump gaskets
• Worn valve seals or O-rings
• Collection means in the pit not functional

And more serious problems:

• Leaking supply piping (oftentimes underground)
• A hole (very small one) in the underground cylinder

Both of the last examples are very serious problems and are always extremely costly. Underground piping will most often get re-routed above ground if it is physically possible. A leak in the underground cylinder (or “jack”) requires removing the piston, pulling the cylinder out of the ground, redrilling the hole and replacing the cylinder. Pricing for those repairs are always in the thousands of dollars.

Segue……….

Whenever you’re faced with a repair of that magnitude, secure the services of a qualified elevator consultant and let him/her determine the seriousness of the problem, and when necessary, secure the prices of at least 3-4 other elevator companies to do the work. Whatever you end up paying a consultant for that service will be offset considerably by the amount of money you can save through the competitive bidding process.

Interesting question.

Assuming you’re having elevator problems, the question must have arisen at some point, “How do I know what’s going on with this elevator?”. Call after call after call has been made to the elevator service company, and the results are the same. The mechanic comes out, pokes around a while, the elevator runs, and he leaves. 1 week later, the same thing; the elevator has stopped working, and now you’re at your wits’ end.

A call to the elevator company leads to a conversation with a salesman or the sales manager. The sales manager sends out a salesman who “evaluates” the problems you’re having. Lo and behold, your elevator is “antiquated”, “outdated”, “obsolete”. “There’s nothing we can do with this elevator anymore; you’re going to need to modernize the equipment“, is the typical assessment.

Sound familiar?

How would you know if that’s an accurate evaluation? Who really knows what makes up an elevator? What’s a controller? What’s a pumping unit? What’s a door operator? What’s a drive machine? Without proper representation, you’re ultimately left to accept the company’s assessment of the situation. What follows their assessment is ultimately a proposal that will stop your pulse. Suddenly you’re faced with the daunting task of having to come up with tens of thousands of dollars (sometimes hundreds of thousands) to fix an elevator that, four months ago, was giving you very little trouble.

Now you have two choices. (A) You can either accept this proposal and consequently assess every unit owner (reluctantly) to get the ball rolling, or (B), you can call in a consultant to give HIS assessment of the situation. More often than not, you’ll find the consultant’s findings to be markedly different than that of the elevator company’s.

Why is that? Simple.

The elevator company would much rather scrap all the equipment in the building and start over with brand new, state of the art equipment that requires FAR LESS maintenance to keep it in shape. The benefits are two-fold. One, the company makes thousands of dollars by contracting the work, and two, the amount of time they need to spend at your building is greatly reduced (initially).

When a consultant puts together a maintenance evaluation report, the elevator company is then compelled to correct all deficiencies on this report to get the elevator in shape – and at their cost. Most, if not all, items on a maintenance evaluation report are covered under the scope of a full-maintenance contract, and therefore, the company is required to correct them as a part of their agreement with you.

So the benefits of hirng a consultant are two-fold. One, when the deficiencies are corrected, the elevator equipment almost always becomes more reliable and shut-downs are greatly reduced. Two, the need to upgrade the elevator becomes less urgent, and as a result, a proper budgeting plan can be implemented to modernize the equipment at a much later date.

Next installment – contracts.

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