kcm831 hydro overshoots floor

We had this problem last week, where the car with over shoot in the down. We did a 5-5, and a 5-25, and it went away. Today, it's overshooting in the up direction, then leveling back down to floor level. Any ideas?

We found out today that our up + down leveling speeds weren't right. Oddly, it wasn't overshooting in the direction of the fastest leveling! Anyway, fixed that, fingers crossed.

If the problem persists let us know. I've seen and fixed this before.

Thanks, SteveO! It happened again!

These elevators are fairly new, about 6 or 7 years old. We've had them on service about two years, I think.

My associate thinks the oil is too cold. Because after running it for several runs, it then started stopping correctly. It has an oil cooler, and so he changed the thermostat setting today.

We had this problem a year ago, and when I reccomended a tank heater to the customer, he remarked that the two adjacent units had no problems, so why would this unit need one?

Interesting to note, that on the thrid unit in the same machine room, the OEM removed their own Hydro-Morris valve, and replaced it with a Maxton. That's very telling, when they change out their own installed brand of valve, for a Maxton.

Anyway, and ideas are sincerely appreciated!

Hydro moris valves were not made by kone and are complete garbage. Replace them with maxton. Problem solved

it definately sounds like a cold oil problem. if it cures after a couple of runs this would indicate it. the viscosity of the oil when cold makes it thicker and therefore slightly harder for the up/dn valves to close over ergo the lift runs on a little. i would recommend you tell the customer that you try it and if it doesnt work then you will bear the cost, but if it does then they should apply these to both lifts at their cost. also remember it varies from block to block which may be the reason why its different on the other lift and wouldnt be surprised if it has a block heater in it. you should always have a block and oil heater as a base level for all hydros and and oil cooler for high traffic/temp areas.

Get you a "temporary" cooler. Especially on units that shutdown from overheating. Roll it in there and convince them, then pull it and make them buy their own.

Thanks, Philly. Yeah, we knew it wasn't made by Kone, just the brand component they supplied. Thanks.That's what we're gonna do.

I like that idea, if it works, they pay, if it don't we pay. That's a good way to pitch it.

Ok, except this looks like a cold oil problem. We'll try for the Maxton fix, sounds best.

I need to know how fast the car runs in order to set the slowdown magnets the correct distance from the floor. The distance is different between Maxton, Hydro Moris and OLS. The issue is that the floor table is flawed, just from my past experience. Do you know how to read the speed from the cpu? This will help when setting up the valve. Are you seeing any 153 errors? The software version in cpu will be of help also.

Oops sorry Vic, read that wrong. I have some units in parking garages with under the tank valves and I put a clip on 100w light bulb next to the valve during the winter. Helps tremendously when folks start getting there in the am on a cold winters morning.

yeah vic i/we always try to look like we arent trying to rip customers off and by saying we will cover the cost if it doesnt work it shows this. i must admit ive never worked on a modern hydro without these block or oil heaters and this cold oil can also cause a relevel fault when the lift drops below level. very common fault that heater(and floor level tuning) can rectify.

Hydro Morris valve is your problem. Kone wants $3000 for the kit to convert to Maxton. This includes a tank exstension that you glue on!!!! WTF!!!! We buy whole new pump units and replace the whole thing for less money and time than Kones 16 pages of fix!! You need prints that show hook up for Maxton as the Hydro Morris is a 3 silonid set up.

Neat idea! My old Corvette had a factory installed block heater, that you just plugged into a wall socket!

Cool, I'm gonna use that approach.

Thanks, SteveO!
Things are stable right now, it's been running for days. If we have to get back into it, I'll respond accordingly. Thanks for your input.

Thanks, Dan. Yeah, you can nearly buy a whole new tank unit, for the money that it would cost to do it Kone's way. I know you change tanks out entirely, but have you ever managed to put your own "kit" together? I was looking at it, and it seemed kind of involved, so I thought this first time, we'd just go with the OEMs' method. New tank is at least $4.5k around these parts.

I would also add you should always set the slow down magnet on a hydro slighty higher on the bottom floor than normal so you eliminate any problems of the lift going thru the overtravel limits when a temp problem occurs.

Never heard of that, thanks!

Before the advent of MRL lifts became prevelent here we installed roped hydro's as a standard lift. We found if you raise the bottom level slow down magnet on the rail by probably 50-100mm it really makes a difference when temp changes occur. The reason why this type of lift over runs, is the lift is not given enough time to slow and close the down valves in cold oil conditions. The passengers really cant tell the difference when slowing down and it seems to eradicate these temp variation overrun faults.

Vic we are doing one now at a hospital parking garage. Ordered a new pump unit from Minnisota Elevator for 2.8K and got it in less than a week. If we had not had to replace pump motors at least 3 times on these 2 units in the last 7 years I would of considered the OEMs fix. But when you can get rid of 2 problems at one time......

Cool fix. Cheaper than Kone plus you get a new motor and pump!

Cool fix. Cheaper than Kone plus you get a new motor and pump!

Vic
Check out their silence unit you may like it...

Good call Dan!

Sometimes you replace the entire pump unit, like Dan did with the hospital parking garage from Minnesota Elevator. Their silencer is an upgrade from the cosmetic chamber mufflers too. Save your labor time and replace, everyone's happy.

Gotta love a win win win...With this contract if parts are obsoleat the customer eats the material and we eat the labor so not too bad a trade off.