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  #1  
Old Posted Jul 21, 2016, 8:10 PM
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Canada Plunges Toward Elevator Crisis

I found this article interesting, certainly one effect of more and more highrises:

Every day of the year, Canadians across the country are finding themselves trapped in faulty elevators, while countless more are suffering through inconvenience and isolation because of elevators that are out of service — and the problem is worsening, an investigation by The Canadian Press has found...

..Thirty years ago, he said, a technician would typically service about 35 to 45 elevators for about $1,000 per elevator a month. The maintenance contract included everything needed to keep the elevators humming — excluding extraordinary events such as flooding or vandalism.

Nowadays, he said, that same contract might be worth about $600 — with each technician responsible for 100 elevators.

“We’re into almost this downward spiral,” Isabelle says. “Service technicians are getting loaded up more and more, having less time to do preventive maintenance. The less preventative maintenance you do, the more problems you’re going to have.”...

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/ca...re-expert-says
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  #2  
Old Posted Jul 21, 2016, 8:20 PM
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Pretty good article. It covered some bases that haven't really being address in previous articles over the years.
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  #3  
Old Posted Jul 21, 2016, 8:24 PM
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This isn't surprising, so much infrastructure in cities is nearing the end of it's life...
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  #4  
Old Posted Jul 21, 2016, 9:58 PM
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I live in a higher-end apartment building that is less than 10 years old, and it has frequent elevator problems. One of the two elevators has been out of service on several occasions over the past month.

The TTC also seems to have frequent elevator problems. It hasn't affected any stations I use but I regularly see service advisories mentioning elevators being out of service at a certain station.

The worst elevators I've ever encountered, however, were at Weldon Library at the University of Western Ontario. While they never officially went out of service when I was a student there, they had frequent technical problems, particularly with the "request" cancelling automatically for no reason while waiting for an elevator to arrive, and then the button only activating again if you held the button down until the elevator car arrived. I haven't been to Weldon in a few years but as of 2011 they still had the original elevators from when the library opened in 1973.

Another problem I frequently see, at least in downtown Toronto, is broken escalators. There's an escalator at the Metrocentre near King and John Streets that is out of service, I'd say, at least 2-3 days per month. I've occasionally seen this on the TTC as well.

In Ontario at least, we have the advantage of the Accessibility for Disabled Ontarians Act, which forces the issue of accessibility. Out of order elevators may contravene that act, though unfortunately I believe the onus is put on property owners/managers and not elevator companies.
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Old Posted Jul 21, 2016, 10:37 PM
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I can tell you one thing, my experience with most of the major firms has been barely adequate at best...
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  #6  
Old Posted Jul 21, 2016, 10:47 PM
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Actually I've been stuck in an elevator 6 times. Luckily these were major downtown office complexes with on site personal. 4 of those 6 times was cause by a worker leaving some door open effecting the air flow in the shaft. I also had the misfortune of being in an elevator when the power goes off. Not only does it go pitch black but you free fall for a few seconds.

Spent more time in elevators than most people. My business partners and I had an office furniture company that eventually became more of an installation service. I also liked going out on site. The views. Too much competition forced us to sell.

Yep, The major firms and the union here is a big part of the crisis
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Old Posted Jul 22, 2016, 12:31 AM
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The escalator at King/John in Metrocentre , the one going up, it jerks and it is very scary when you are on it, you feel like you might fly out. It is constantly being repaired..I don't know why they can't figure it out.
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Old Posted Jul 22, 2016, 2:22 AM
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I've been wondering for a while now if some bright entrepreneur is going to launch a startup that 3D-prints new replacement parts for older elevators to keep them in good condition without requiring reconstruction.

If anyone figures that out, it's probably a billion dollar company right there.
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  #9  
Old Posted Jul 24, 2016, 7:30 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 1overcosc View Post
I've been wondering for a while now if some bright entrepreneur is going to launch a startup that 3D-prints new replacement parts for older elevators to keep them in good condition without requiring reconstruction.

If anyone figures that out, it's probably a billion dollar company right there.
I was talking to a customer at work the other day who works for an elevator company, that said this is one of the biggest problems he has in servicing elevators in our city. (The average age of elevators in Thunder Bay, considering the building boom we had in the 1970s followed by stagnation, is now over 40 years old).

We used a 103 year old warehouse to store our products, and the elevator in there (which was replaced in the 1940s) rarely has issues, but when it does, the elevator contractors are afraid of it. There is one office building in the north end, 104 years old, it still has all of its original elevator equipment. The operating of the freight elevator is so difficult that they hire someone part-time to run it correctly, meaning all deliveries and renovations in the building have to follow his work schedule.

But if you guys think regular elevators are sketchy, check this out:



The cage running up the centre is the elevator shaft, erected in 1913. Many elevator maintenance companies only have a few employees willing to work on the passenger elevators in grain elevators. This one has a 600 pound capacity and moves at around 0.5m/second.
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Old Posted Jul 27, 2016, 5:38 PM
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For the most part my dealings (real dealings as in I managed major elevator maintenance contracts, repairs and upgrades for several high rise towers) have been pretty good. The problems tend to lie in the supervision and management areas. It's a tough trade to break into, and the unions have a pretty firm control over their membership. There are not enough elevator technicians, and not enough building owners and managers willing to do their due diligence in drafting proper performance based elevator service contracts
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  #11  
Old Posted Jul 27, 2016, 6:00 PM
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Not a very uplifting topic.
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  #12  
Old Posted Jul 27, 2016, 6:10 PM
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anybody care to elevate the discussion?
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Old Posted Jul 27, 2016, 6:10 PM
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Our building has had elevator issues since it first opened 6 years ago.

If you don't use the manufacture for maintenance the manufacture will rape you on the cost of replacement parts. Basically being held hostage.
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  #14  
Old Posted Jul 27, 2016, 6:29 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SHOFEAR View Post
Our building has had elevator issues since it first opened 6 years ago.
....
Elevators all have issues, sometimes they're up, sometimes they're down. That's what's at the core of the problem.
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  #15  
Old Posted Jul 27, 2016, 7:11 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SHOFEAR View Post
Our building has had elevator issues since it first opened 6 years ago.

If you don't use the manufacture for maintenance the manufacture will rape you on the cost of replacement parts. Basically being held hostage.
Biggest problem is that resi property managers don't know how to manage contracts

But yes I heard the elevators in your building are shit
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  #16  
Old Posted Jul 27, 2016, 7:48 PM
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The thing with elevators is that sometimes, they are not on the up and up. When they are not, hopefully, that will not get you down too much.
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  #17  
Old Posted Jul 27, 2016, 8:23 PM
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Quote:
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The thing with elevators is that sometimes, they are not on the up and up. When they are not, hopefully, that will not get you down too much.
What a downer.
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  #18  
Old Posted Jul 27, 2016, 8:43 PM
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I know this guy who likes to fart in elevators. Which is just wrong on so many levels.
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  #19  
Old Posted Jul 27, 2016, 9:20 PM
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Guys stop trying to push everyone's buttons.
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  #20  
Old Posted Jul 27, 2016, 10:03 PM
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Kind of related. Being an elevator technician sounds like a great line of work!

http://torontolife.com/city/life/im-...egret-a-thing/
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