I live in a building with a Westinghouse elevator. Each time the door remains open, there is a loud and long beep that I can hear in my apartment (which is next to the elevator). Do you know how to silence the beep?

-- Lisa (lisagzimmer@hotmail.com), July 28, 2004

Answers

the noise you are hearing is what we in the trade refer to as the " nudge " buzzer. It sounds when someone ( or something ) holds the doors open ( interrupting the light barrier ) longer than the preset time. This noise is intended to warn that the doors are going to close no matter what.

However, the light barriers can and do go faulty. I would place a call with your service company and ask them to investgate the problem. But I have seen a situation where fluorescent lighting in the lobby has been the cause of the problem. Some of the older light barrier systems were susceptible to different light frequencies close to the infra red they use. One building upgraded their lobby lighting and all of a sudden, we had door problems.

So, like I said, talk to your service company, that is usually the best advice one can give. It's what YOU pay them for after all !

-- JW (liftfixer@hotmail.com), July 28, 2004.

It may be a build up of dust on one or more of the lenses a wipe with a DRY cloth may be worth a try

-- geoff judge (geoffjudge@bchtgroup.org), July 29, 2004.

Juat ask the service company to disconnect nudging or to make the time a little longer.

-- Clark Dell (pdell200@comcast.net), July 29, 2004.

Clark why not just fix a small and simple problem ?

elevator101

-- (elevator_bbr@hotmail.com), July 29, 2004.

Because what she described isn't a problem, she didn't say it happens all the time, only when the door is held open to long, so there is nothing to fix, it's an adjustment. As I recall the nudging on Westinghouse is preset for 20 sec. and usually during service we adjust or remove the feature accordingly. Don't look for a problem when there isn't one, then you sound like a customer who complains the car is down cause the tones or passing chime is to loud.......

-- Clark (pdell200@comcast.net), August 02, 2004.

you go partner

-- terry (socea@juno.com), December 25, 2004.

The answer about the hallway lights was interesting. But its true about the nudge bar. Either someone is holding the door too long for the nudge to beep or some times if the car is called to another floor while the elevator car door is held open it will also activate a bell. Often when I'm sweeping, vacuuming or mopping the floor of the car and there is major usage of the elevator. the bell or nudger buzzer will activate. You didnt say whqt time this noise goes off, so its possible it might be a deleveryman or cleaning crew. But not me, because I work the day shift.

-- David A. Derk (maddog1.11@netzero.net), February 17, 2005.