Hey guys. Sorry for being MIA. The elevator was down again yesterday and it was an ordeal to get it running again. The tech said that the heater in the oil was turned off which probably caused the elevator to go down.
We did do the following:
A oil heater was installed?
The rails were polished?
Contactors or relays were replaced?
The oil over tempature sensor was replaced?
The piston packing was replaced?
And the oil flow was adjusted?
We also replaced an entire part of the controller (I don't know what). And, there were other repairs completed in the past year.
Upon recommendation of the technician, we are going to do the following:
1. replace the entire valve
2. replace the oil (tech said the color is off)
3. replace the leveling board
4. replace the old contactor
It's a lot of money to us but we really need to make sure that the elevator doesn't break down again. It's really killing us. If you guys think something is unnecessary, please let me know.
JKH, I forgot to mention your recommendations to the tech yesterday. It was a little hectic. However, I printed out your instructions and will give it to the tech the next time he comes out.
Do you guys think that I should get the manufacturer, the installer, or an engineer to come in and maybe they can see if there are any glaring problems?
Thanks again, you guys.
Just a few points. I can see why they are recommending these replacements. Levelling issues(levelling board/valve), bad oil(viscosity issues between cold and hot temps), contactor(poor even 3 phase supply to motor which may have caused overheating of pump motor). However you generally don't just do a scatter gun approach.
-Normally you don't need to replace the valve just clean the filter in front of it(mesh) and thru it to allow oil to pass thru. This includes the valve block itself.
-A poor contactor can be split and cleaned, but generally I agree new is better.
-Oil should be part of a simple check and lube service contract.
-Levelling board may be needed if lift not reaching floor level.
All of these things should be used as test functions and if not the fault the existing should be re installed and this is a way to mitigate cost. You would hope there is a little more critical fault finding to ascertain whether these are really needed.
Having soft starters really protect the pump motor from the inrush current that does the damage requiring re wiring eventually. Also union v non-union isn't the issue. Its training v training.
Ps. Lift will always break down, so don't think you will ever get a lift that never breaks down. All we try to do is minimise the situation.
