Home Forums General Discussion DID YOU KNOW? Group II Elevators stop switch and alarm bell.

Did you know that it is not required to hook up the alarm bell to a group II elevator push-pull stop switch.

why

I actually got burned on this one with a customer. I had a building that all the tenants would hold the elevator by pulling the stop switch( with no alarm bell). Sometimes they would forget to put it back to run and cause nuisance calls. I thought that it was a code requirement to hook up the alarm bell to the stop switch. So I hooked it up. Well it pissed off every one in the building and the manager called the state inspector. The state inspector could not find any where in the code book that an alarm bell needs to be hooked up to a stop switch on a group II elevator. So now they just get a bill every time they leave the stop switch off.

will your local code allowed you to put a keyed stop switch in it's place ???
do you have the stop switch bypass circuit that allows phase 1 on fire service ???

I would have to put an anti-creep circuit in and change the clutch to make it legal to swap the push-pull stop switch with a keyed stop switch. What they really need is a hold switch that is keyed to the building key but they're not interested in spending the money.

Hey Lift-Tech, what is an anti-creep circuit? Please forgive my ignorance.

The anti-creep circuit is used on hydraulic elevators to prevent the elevator from sinking down when the in-car stop switch is activated. If the circuit is installed and working properly the car should only sink down until it hits the level up sensor then it will re-level into the floor. It basically, bypasses the stop switch for re-level operation only.

In the state of Massachusetts if you have a manual stop switch you have to have the alarm bell hookup its called a rape alarm.New installations have keyed stop switches behind a locked panel and all hydros have anticreep I have never tested a hydro that did not have anticreep?