Schindler or Otis? No clue

[littlespark]

I’ve been asked if I know anything about lifts. Elevators.

A customer of mine has got a job at one of the local country houses and he’s looking for a lift engineer.

I don’t know if it’s for people, or just goods…. All I know is that it hasn’t moved in 20 years!

If it is for people, I’m assuming there are specific safety features that only proper lift engineers will be able to certify…. But is that the same for a goods lift?


I’ll arrange a site visit, even just for a look.
Hopefully I get put forward for other electrical work. I can see a lot of vintage equipment being saved from the skip.

 

[OtiStu]

I was at site today looking at several issues. I don’t think anyone has worked in this house for some time! I’ll get a full tour of the plant rooms next week.

The lift in question serves 5 floors… with the carriage itself stuck between 2 and 3.
I’m not working on the lift, so all this is personal intrigue.

I managed to open the 3rd floor gate and found….

It wasn’t plugged in!

View attachment 103762

The plug doesn’t look standard. There’s notches on the pins.
All the black steel conduit goes to call buttons, and switches that move in when the lift reaches a floor. This also mechanically unlocks the gate that the lift stops at.


There’s pulleys in the loft space, massive counterweights at the back of the lift shaft, but I didn’t see the motor. I wouldn’t think they’d be very big if that is the supply socket.

Just the buttons, stop switches and a control box.
View attachment 103763

Why did they make it all inside the lift shaft?
Can’t do much fault finding if the lift keeps going up and down.

Hi mate, as a few of the guys have said the box in the shaft is half way point between main controller in motor room and car itself. The controller will likely house very old 3 phase contactors for motor and probs 110v or 240v relays for control buttons etc. This lift is really old due to the fact it runs on round guides as per your pic. Could be 30’s - 60’s just depends but I wouldn’t think it would much newer than that.

It may well work but all safety circuits would have to be verified before trying and these should be on circuit diagrams. Potential mine field due to time it hasn’t ran for etc so would defo need some lift engineering input especially if your customer wants it back in operation.

If you need anymore info let me know and I’ll do my best to help.