Home Forums General Discussion Technical Questions cable replacement?

The Hotel chain i work for recently fired our elevator service company chain-wide and replaced them with another company chain-wide to save a few bucks.

Despite the many pleas I made to insist the new service company come see our antiquated lifts (otis "smurf") before entering the agreement, no one cared to.

Long story short, the new tech came in, saw some "rouging" on one of the lifts and locked it out telling us we need new rope, and until it does, it won't be in service.

I don't necessarily disagree with our new tech, but something isn't sitting right with me. I've been through many change overs with elevator service co.'s in my life, and they always seem to push "modernizing" shortly after taking the contract.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to determine if he's acting in the best interest of me, or his company?

Thanks.

Its not unknown for companies to take on contracts with equipment they can't look after and then immediately recommend refurbishment but it sounds that may not be the case here . if so he would have more likely blamed the controller and claimed it was obsolete . As a customer you are within your rights to ask to see a photo or some other evidence of rouging on the ropes . ask if there is any splintering of the ropes etc.. It may be that the tech is genuinely concerned for the condition of the ropes in which case he did the right thing .If the previous company knew they were losing the contract they may have chosen to ignore the rouging or written it off as worn but serviceable .

Rouging alone is no justification for immediately removing lift from service.
Ask him to justify his findings with proper facts and figures or call in your insurance inspector for a second opinion.
Elevator company acting in your best interest . Really ????????

There are elevator codes that regulate acceptable condition of wire ropes used on elevators. It should be easy to find the specific rules for your area. Discuss it with your serviceman.

It's funny you should bring this up, because recently I was in the exact same situation: New customer, worn out elevators. The ropes on one car showed substantial degradation. It was locked and tagged out before I called the owner of my company and sat down with the building manager. Everybody understood that the primary concern, above anything else, is the safety of the public. Since it's a new contract, I don't know if this will be paid for by my company or the customer. But it doesn't matter--some standards will not be compromised.

My advice is to ask your serviceman to explain a little better, or maybe ask the service manager. Don't be pushy about it. You don't want to come across as someone who would compromise public safety for expediency.

The A17.6-2010 gives specific diameters for condemning hoist ropes with Rouge. for 1/2 inch rope it is.484, for 5/8 inch rope it is.605 anything larger than these amounts can continue to run. However I would monitor them closely. Rouging is usually a sign that the ropes are rusting from the inside out.

Be aware that a lot of rope lubricants can be mistaken for rouge as they are the same colour and very messy which lasts forever once applied to ropes.