Home Forums General Discussion Technical Questions What elevator do I have?

I don't know if its "drifting" per se. Just that after it stops at the second floor and I get out as per normal - some time later when I return to it, the elevator has moved up about six inches and triggered the upper limit.

The issue for me is Garaventa is so far washing their hands of it (acquired Conquest, but no longer care about their prior installed systems). Several elevator companies I called (Houston) don't work on this elevator or can otherwise help. So I am in a bind.

Where is the motor located? Can you post a picture of the motor and the brake?

The motor assembly is right next to the cab driving the steel cables. I can see it easily when I take the wood panel off exposing the track, cable, motor and LED control panel. I'll take a picture and post.

Again - I'm not going to "do anything" - but if someone on this forum can spot something obvious, I might be able to get a tech out who can fix it. I can't help but feel it's something simple since the elevator basically works (when not bumping up against the upper limit).

Why not just get a “tech” out who can fix it right now, and not bother with this nonsense?

The OP reports he’s had a tech out once, but is now experiencing difficulty in getting a follow up response. It appears he’s contacted other area companies, but they don’t want to have anything to do with his residential unit. So, it’s not for lack of trying to overcome “this nonsense”.

Absolutely true. The company who designed the space and installed the elevator no longer can support. The elevator manufacturer referred me to another company who told me they don't work on these elevators. It seems I have a "lemon" that cost me over $40,000. I am getting angry that this is a one time sale and then you are on your own.

Where are you located

Conquest was acquired by Garaventa in 2008, this is how they got into the residential elevator market. I'm sure they supported the product until old stock was used up. This is pretty standard when elevator businesses get bought. Having worked for Garaventa at the start of my career I always found it funny when home owners feel like they got the short end of the stick. Would you spend 40k on a car and never change the oil or brakes or tires? Probably not. Yet when it comes to their elevator it should just work all the time with no maintenance. Anyway, I'm sure you will be able to find someone in your area that has experience with these units. As far as boards go I'm sure they can be repaired at places like World Electronics, etc. Garaventa for whatever ever reason didn't keep the traction elevators, I seem to remember Thyssen ended up "stealing" it somehow and then shutdown their residential line some years ago. I could be remembering wrong though.

I think we have a fix. One of the original techs who installed the elevator (now works for a commercial firm) came out and quickly had the elevator running again by bypassing the upper limit switch and resetting the floors ("learn mode"). He then waited in the elevator for 15 minutes to track the door lock click open/close - which it never did. He left the elevator and we chatted outside the door and within a few minutes the door clicked open which he heard.

We decided the cab is not balanced properly and has too much counter weight (so the cab is constantly pushing upward triggering the brake loss). So I loaded the cab with 50 pounds and the elevator has not clicked open or get stuck above the second floor since. He suggests putting 100 pounds on top of the cab which will balance the cab/ counter weights closer to what it should have been at installation. In addition, the APC backup battery was never installed. We saw a box with a brand new battery UPS system sitting on top of the elevator !! It is intended to keep the control energized during a power outage and to return the cab to the first floor.

Anyway it's working now and seems to be reliable....with 50 pounds of weights inside for the time being.

I think you may have a wonky brake on this one as it should hold the car at the floor even with the slight imbalance. As a mechanic I would want to know for sure if the machine is drifting through the brake or if the ropes are slipping. I would personally remove an elevator from service if I observed it doing that.

The technician who was here was trying to determine that - but when he stands in the elevator, his weight (big guy) is enough to prevent any observation of the behavior. So we don't know. Adding as little as 50 pounds (dumb bell weights) eliminated the problem. Maybe he needs to take a closer look at the steel cables (ropes) and verify they are tight. That could be it.