Hey everyone,
I have a problem regarding a hydraulic phase 3 2500 pound otis elevator. The amount of fluid in the machine was low, so low that it wouldn't move until i topped off the tank, and now everything is back to normal except that, when the carriage goes to the third floor, the carriage is two inches higher than the actual floor. Has anyone had any experience with this kind of problem or any idea on what could be causing it. Any input would be appreciated thanks.

might have to resynch the ram..if its multistage,,,lower the lift onto the buffers...or sometimes actually have to remove the buffers for a better job....and you dont say which is important what controller, valve block and ram is on it???

The better question is where did all the oil go?

lmfao. ya thats probably the more pertinent question derived from your question.

Before you go and put that elevator back into service make sure you isolate the leak and control it.

Otherwise, considering the amount of information you gave us, nightstalker's response is probably the best. It all depends what make, and type of jack you are dealing with.

The oil slowly leaks or loses oil. I haven't topped it off in two years so that's why it ran low. Assuming he leaks Brit the problem would dropping it down to the buffers fix it

Correction, assuming the leak isn't the problem would dropping it to the buffers fix it.

I am guessing GreenPants is cringing like I am being since we come from the same Ivory (Green) Tower regarding oil loss. The system is a closed system. Any loss must be accounted for. It doesnt require to be topped off unless your pit return system has spilled. Remember, you're the one getting underneath it. Be careful.

I had an old US hydro that did something similiar...Unit was leaking through the valve and faulted out over the weekend. It sunk down to the buffer and some how released the packing. The sump pump pumped the oil into domestic waste pipes. Called my boss Monday told him we needed 55 gallon drum of oil and the coast guard wanted to talk to him about the oil slick in the Bay!

Ouch. I'd hate to have to try and explain that to the US Coast Guard.

i went to a non contract customer in a small hotel, he wanted us to figure out why his elevator wasn't running. come to find out the owner had been adding oil for years and just throwing kitty litter into the pit, a lot of it landing on the jack. we ran the car up on inspection and the car came back down just as fast. the packing looked like an oil fountain. we asked him how he got in the pit to clean the kitty litter and he said he had his janitor clean it while he used the key to keep running it up. his janitor had only been stuck under the car a couple times. he had the car in service with it releveling constantly until the contactor burned up. luckily no one was in the entrance when it happened.

how old is this elevator? is the motor in the oil? in ground cylinder or above ground? my guess is that you have air in the system and its bouncing at the top floor causing it to mis-level.

I had to read green pants story to my college. Rediculous

Sirnobody,

I am going to venture a guess that you are inexperienced in diagnoising, fixing and maintaining elevators.

My advice to you is for you to find a trustworthy, experienced, liscensed elevator mechanic/firm to identify and correct your elevator issues for you. After the repairs are made to your satisfaction, you should then invite this mechanic/firm to perform periodic service to your elevator system for you.

Inexperienced individuals working on elevators can quickly and easily bring harm to themselves and to the riding public.

Tinkering can lead to trouble. Trust me. Bite the bullet and spend the dough if you are not experienced in elevator repair.

Hope this helps.

Signed,

A trustworthy, experienced, liscensed elevator mechanic

I forgot to mention that the local oil distributor in this small town actually called us about this guy because he couldn't understand why the guy needed 10 buckets of hydro oil every few days.

We had a job last year 4 stop hydo in ground jack above ground pipe run. Friday all was well Monday morning car wouldnt even reach the 3rd floor! I sent a crew with 40 gallons of oil and instructions to preform a 2 hour no load test. The elevator held steady so we brought in weights loader her up and left the car down till the next day we also preformed pressure relife test on the stop ring all with out the loss of a drop of oil! 3 weeks later the same thing!!!!! We did all the above again includeing full weights for a weekend still held steady. We put hasps and locks on the tank lid and all oil loss stoped. Apparently someone on this site had a peice of equipment at home with a major oil leak.

Watched a guy steal a pale of oil from us at a construction job and perform a "Jiffy Lube" oil change in his car...he only got to the edge of the driveway. Went and took the rest of the oil back for my pump unit.

Haha dumb ass.

I've had this problem with unexplainable oil loss. The unit will go for months without a problem, and then come up 10gal. low. I found the problem to be a leak in the jack below the safety bulkhead. The dirt and junk in the jack would plug the hole in the bulkhead and stop the leak.