“Aging” elevators, repair or replacement?

We’ve all heard the saying.

“When we grow up, it gets old.”

We just don’t realize that

Here it can also refer to the elevator we ride every day

In the elevator industry

Usually elevators that are more than 15 years old

are called “old elevators.”

What are the possible problems of “old elevators”?

Most people have the impression that the old elevator is a poor riding experience, such as the elevator opens the door with a loud sound, does not run smoothly with a strange noise, but also prone to problems such as elevator trapped people.

With the growth of the age of the elevator, the mechanical parts and electrical systems are aging, and the safety performance is gradually reduced, which will easily lead to frequent elevator failures.

Because some of the old elevator manufacturers have closed down or some models of old elevators are discontinued, it is impossible to find the parts for replacement in time, and the time of stopping the elevator is too long, which brings inconvenience to the public.

Or replace the non-standard parts, failure recurrence, money spent, the ladder is not repaired, low maintenance value.

In the face of poor riding experience, frequent failures, low maintenance value and other problems of the “old elevator”, is it repair or replacement?

In addition to the above-mentioned problems that can be intuitively felt, old elevators also have certain safety hazards.

Such as “old elevators” does not meet the current standards and safety technical specifications.

As the old elevators are produced according to the old standards, the equipment lacks safety protection devices (functions) such as UCMP to prevent accidental car movement protection device, ACOP car upward speed protection function, door circuit detection function, car door opening restriction device, etc. These safety protection devices (functions) are all new technologies and requirements based on the analysis of the causes of various elevator accidents in the past ten years. These safety protection devices (functions) are based on the analysis of the causes of various elevator accidents in the past decade or so.

According to the current safety specifications for elevators, the old elevators produced in accordance with the old standards do not need to meet the requirements of the new standards, and do not make requirements for new technical content when carrying out periodic inspections. “Because the manufacturing standards are backward, than the new standard manufacturing elevators have greater safety risks.

Problem 1: The risk of “old elevators” with lever drum brakes.

Some of the main parts of old elevators have safety hazards due to design defects and poor maintenance. For example, the lever type drum brake and its extension type loose brake top lever (as shown in the figure below) are prone to inflexible movement and jamming due to rust and wear in use, and maintenance does not do a good job of cleaning, lubrication and inspection in a timely manner, resulting in the brake not closing or closing incompletely, making the braking force insufficient and eventually leading to brake failure.

Problem 2: Difficulty in finding original parts

With the progress of elevator technology, some poorly run elevator production units have closed down, or a certain model of elevator has been eliminated and discontinued to meet the needs of production and use. After the mechanical parts or electrical system of some old elevators fail, it is difficult to find the original parts, and even individual elevator maintenance units use non-standard parts.

Problem 3: Low maintenance value

After a long period of use, when a part or electrical component fails to be replaced, the fault is solved; then after a certain period of use, other parts or electrical components fail again and are repaired. And the frequency of failure will come higher and higher, and the maintenance cost will be higher and higher, resulting in low maintenance value.