As fall arrives, building owners and property managers should take a good look at the equipment that they rely on daily.
An elevator may make hundreds of journeys in a given week without anyone giving it a second thought. That's exactly how it should be. But once doors start behaving strangely, a car begins stopping slightly off-level, or a unit goes out of service unexpectedly, it can become one of the most noticeable problems in a building.
A well-run preventive maintenance program is meant to identify snags before they become major disruptions. As Greater Cincinnati and the Tri-State area's buildings transition from summer to winter, property teams should be on the lookout for the following:
Any Changes You May Have Noticed
You don't need to be an elevator mechanic to recognize when something isn't quite right.
Perhaps a door that once closed effortlessly now hesitates. Maybe occupants have mentioned a rougher ride. You may have noticed a new noise, inconsistent leveling at a floor, or a couple of intermittent shutdowns that seemed to fix themselves.
All of those observations are worth sharing with your elevator service provider.
Many elevator problems don't begin with a total shutdown. Small changes in performance can creep up on us, which is why it's important to communicate between those who use or manage a building and the elevator mechanic.
If something doesn't feel quite the same as it did a few months ago, mention it the next time your mechanic visits instead of waiting for it to become a bigger issue.
Elevator Doors
Doors are some of the hardest-working components in an elevator.
Each journey requires them to open, close, and interact with passengers, carts, deliveries, and building traffic. In busy commercial buildings, that can amount to a lot of use.
Property managers should be watching for doors that:
- Slow down more than usual when opening or closing
- Repeat opening without an apparent obstruction
- Produce new or strange sounds
- Don't seem to close uniformly
- Hesitate on opening at a floor
- Have been hit by carts, gear, or deliveries
None of those symptoms necessarily mean that major repairs are required. They do, however, call for an inspection.
Door performance is a great example of why preventive maintenance is important. Regular inspection, fine-tuning, lubrication, and awareness of wear can help address minor concerns before they become issues that impact elevator availability.
Don't Overlook Misleveling
When an elevator arrives at a floor, the car floor and building floor should align properly.
If occupants regularly have to step up or down to enter or leave the elevator, mention it to your maintenance provider.
Even a slight discrepancy can be noticeable to occupants, including older adults, people with disabilities, and those traveling with a cart, wheelchair, stroller, or other gear.
Misleveling can also offer useful insight into how the elevator is performing. Instead of dismissing it as minor annoyance, bring it up during maintenance.
Consider How Your Building's Usage May Have Shifted
Elevator maintenance should be based on how elevator equipment is being used.
A passenger elevator in a busy office building has a very different workload than a lightly-used elevator in a smaller building. Freight elevators face different usage challenges than passenger elevators. Hotels, healthcare facilities, apartment complexes, schools, industrial buildings, and other commercial properties all present their own set of challenges for building occupants using vertical transportation.
Usage can also change over time.
Your building may have welcomed new tenants this year. An office has employees returning more often. You're receiving more deliveries. Renovation activity has increased elevator use. A previously low-occupancy floor now has many more people.
All of those developments are worth discussing with your elevator company.
Elevator maintenance shouldn't become another date on a checklist that you discover when it's nearing time. The age, usage, and type of your equipment all play a role in determining what maintenance looks like.
Review Your Maintenance and Testing Calendar
Building managers have enough dates to keep track of already. Elevator maintenance and required testing shouldn't become another item on the list that you discover when the deadline arrives.
Fall is a good time to take a look.
Make sure you know when your elevator is due for regular maintenance and if any required testing or inspection-related work is on the horizon. If your mechanic has recommended repairs in the past, confirm that they've been completed, scheduled, or that a decision still needs to be made.
Keeping good records helps.
Maintenance documentation can help you better understand chronic issues, the condition of your equipment, work that has been completed, and what still needs to get done. It can also be especially helpful if your building changes management or ownership and the new team needs to know the history of your equipment.
Take A Look Back At The Repairs You Needed This Year
One service call doesn't necessarily mean that something is wrong.
Multiple service calls for the same elevator are different.
If one unit has experienced several shutdowns, repeated door issues, misleveling, or multiple component failures, take a step back and consider rather than treating each occurrence as an unrelated event.
Questions to ask might include:
- Are we repeatedly having to repair the same thing?
- Are several of the aging components starting to cause problems?
- Has downtime increased compared to previous years?
- Are replacement parts becoming harder to obtain?
- Is the equipment still meeting the needs of your building?
In some cases, ongoing maintenance and repairs are the right approach. In others, recurrent issues may be an early indication that it's time to begin thinking about modernization.
That doesn't necessarily mean that modernization needs to occur immediately. Beginning the dialogue early gives building owners more time to learn about their equipment, create a budget, plan around building occupancy instead of making hasty decisions after an outage, and more.
Get Ready For Colder Temperatures Before They Arrive
Although elevators are inside buildings, they can still be impacted by the changing seasons.
Machine rooms and other equipment spaces need to be in the right condition for operation. Changes to building heating, moisture, debris, construction activity, and more in and around elevator equipment can all be worth monitoring as a building transitions from summer to fall and winter.
Building teams should also ensure that elevator-related spaces remain clear of storage and remain accessible to authorized personnel.
Your elevator mechanic may handle the elevator equipment itself, but good building management around that equipment makes proper service easier.
Make Sure Your Team Knows What To Do During An Elevator Issue
Preventative maintenance should decrease the chances of unexpected problems, but you can't guarantee that a mechanical system won't experience an issue.
Your building staff needs to know who to contact.
An elevator that is unavailable versus an emergency situation with an occupant, fire service operation, or other life-safety scenario are different. Staff need to know the process for contacting your elevator provider in an emergency and shouldn't attempt to troubleshoot or access elevator equipment themselves.
It may also be worth double-checking that the right elevator service contact information is available to everyone who may need it, including after-hours building staff, maintenance teams, security personnel, and property managers.
That simple step can eliminate confusion when quick communication is essential.
Understand When Repair Is Becoming Modernization
Although elevators can last for many years, especially with proper maintenance, they can eventually reach a point where maintaining reliability becomes more difficult.
Modernization may involve much more than updating the look of the cab. Depending on your elevator, it could mean replacing controllers, door components, motors, drives, machine room components, hoistway components, or more.
The important part for property owners is planning ahead.
Waiting until an aging elevator becomes increasingly unreliable to take notice can reduce your options and add additional pressure around timing and budget. Beginning the modernization dialogue earlier gives building owners more time to determine priorities, establish the scope of work, and plan around building occupancy instead of making major decisions after an outage.
If your elevator has become a recurring source of service call issues, downtime, or occupant complaints, this can be a good time to start the discussion even if modernization itself is still well into the future for your building.
A Few Minutes Of Attention Now Can Prevent Bigger Problems Later
The best elevator service call is the one you didn't have to make.
Through regular preventive maintenance, mechanics can visually inspect elevator equipment, make necessary adjustments, identify wear, address concerns proactively, and communicate potential issues before they become more disruptive. Property managers also gain a better understanding of what's going on behind the scenes with one of the most important systems in their building.
Building owners and managers of commercial properties across Greater Cincinnati, northern Kentucky, and the Tri-State area should find the time to evaluate elevator maintenance, upcoming testing, repairs that still need attention, and long-term equipment needs as fall arrives.
At Tri-State Elevator, we serve commercial properties throughout Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana with preventive maintenance, safety testing, repairs, and modernization. If you have questions about your elevator or would like to take a look at your current maintenance needs, reach out to our team to get the ball rolling.
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