Three Common Elevator Issues in Your Building

An elevator is intended to offer convenience, comfort, and ease of transportation from one floor of a building to another. They can be narrow, for passenger carriage only. Or they can be quite large for furniture, freight, and even automobile movement in any building space. A professional operator (for ambiance or necessity) can operate them, or you can man the controls to navigate your passage directly from the lobby to your home or office door(s). However, if you live or work in a low rise or high-rise building, at some point, you've experienced the scare and/or frustration of an out of order sign or a stalled elevator.

Like all machinery an elevator requires regular maintenance in order to avoid a few of the most common breakdown inconveniences and dangers. One of the three most common issues includes having to wait for extended periods of time for one to even reach your floor. There can be control system issues that result in missed requests or ignored request where it will service a floor above/below you or simply pass you by. The second of the most common problems, especially in older buildings, is overheating. This can occur when the traction that moves the individual cars are allowed to be cooled by outdoor temperatures which can easily overheat in warm weather or corrode with dirt and humidity year round. These are issues that can prevent you from entry, but what about when you are stuck inside?

When you are stuck in an elevator for the first time you should give it a second to adjust and start moving. If you know the car isn't going anywhere you should definitely notify the operator of the car you're in, the approximate floor, and how long you have been there. Although it is common to assume that maintenance neglect is the cause of your delay, there are several issues that could be at fault here. Every building with an elevator understands the implicit danger of faulty equipment, so they are serviced regularly. However, you may actually be stuck there because of vandal tampering.

Number three on our list of service issues is when a vandal may have broken into the control panel and their damage to normal switches has caused a slow down, break down, or temporary loss of service in your building. Or, you may be stranded there because of parts that are coming up short of their life of service due to overheating, high energy use, or low power to the parts. In all of these cases maintenance should and will be notified by the operator to look further into the issue that caused your stall or lack of access all together. This is not only a mechanism repair concern it is also a safety measure for the future use of this equipment. It is a convenience but it can also be dangerous if not operating successfully at any time during its use. So it is vital to notify the operator and building management when issues occur, in order to prevent any larger concerns in the future.