ill try to answer some of the issues but without seeing the equipment its hard to say for sure. not knowing where these elevators are at makes it difficult also.
Of course. I was just looking for the thoughts and speculations of people who actually work with this stuff on a daily basis. I'd prefer not to get into specific names or locations, but my building is in Pennsylvania.
small cabs were very normal back then and just depended on the owner/architect . people were smaller and not in as much of a rush so wait times didn't matter as much.
Fascinating - I never knew. I guess there's probably an argument to be made there too for energy efficiency in smaller cabs (less mass), too.
Funny thing is, when the elevators are behaving, our service level is actually what I consider to be pretty good. I rarely have to wait more than 20-30 seconds for a cab, and it's often less. Travel time from top to bottom floors is about 45 seconds. I don't know if that's reasonable by modern standards, but I can't complain.
a lot of those problems sound like normal functions of elevators of the era, again like a car, everything was mechanical and no computers were involved so the more functions the more complicated the controls become and codes were different also for the function of fire service and stop buttons(which shouldn't be used by the public except in a emergency). humidity and heat effect mechanical equipment and in turn the function of that era of elevator, and every other elevator for that matter, even new ones. some of the problems like noises and floor levels do sound like it needs some TLC but anything of that age does.
The building saw a major renovation in 1989, and I know the cabs saw a cosmetic refresh at that time. I've often wondered if the controller was modded or replaced at that time as well, or if we're still running on 100% original 1966 equipment. I've also wondered if these problems could be eliminated with a good tweaking & major dose of TLC, or if they just come with using 45-year-old systems.
most building owners pick low bid maintenance contracts for everything in the building including elevator maintenance.
This doesn't surprise me at all. Judging by the rest of the building, I have a hunch there's been a lot of "handyman" or "sideline" work done. That is, someone who is maybe an excellent licensed electrician, but isn't necessarily trained on elevator maintenance. Or maybe an in-house maintenance employee who is a great all-around fixer goes up and sprays a few cans of WD-40 in the machine room to "help keep things rolling". You get the idea - I'm sure you've come across worse.
elevators are the safest mode of public transportation there is. movies and gossip cause unwarranted fear and some people do stupid stuff and get hurt we can't fix that. the industry standard for the life of an elevator is about 25 years then it should be modernized. modernization is extremely expensive so owners push it further than that. hope that helps.
Definitely - thanks for your insight! I don't buy into the movie scare tactics, though it's awfully unsettling hearing that "THUNK! scraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaape" as you approach the top floors. Having the car switch directions mid-ride isn't much fun either. I've definitely noticed the elevators getting progressively crankier as the years go by.
Now if you can do something about the tenants on the floors beneath me who insist that pushing both buttons will get them to their destination faster...
