My co-op is talking about fully replacing the two elevators that we have. The cost has been estimated at about 130K by the management company. They claim that parts are difficult to come by. The two elevators are approximately 40 years old. There are six stories in our building. Occassionaly we have problems and break downs. I have only witnessed two in the last 1 1/2 years. . . Both elevators are Staley elevators and Staley was recently taken over by Kone, a German company. My question is as a lay man what kind of technical questions should I be asking? I don't really understand why there has to be total replacement (unless the management co who owns 40% of the apartments are looking to beef up the value of the Co-op.)

-- Philip Vitale (pvbklyn@yahoo.com), March 13, 2005

Answers

Possibly right re spare parts-however 130k for two lifts may seem excessive but that is up to date technology-vvf drive-state of the art controller-kone are very good and you get what you pay for.If you are in the uk try Rubax lifts in skelmersdale-if you cant find them on the web I can give You all the details-they are very good on refurbs and will be a lot less than kone.....

-- (groucho0@aol.com), March 13, 2005.

40 years is old for most control systems. Even if it "still works" as good as the day it was installed, the safety devices, code issues and performance differences are day and night.

When you are ready to Modernize, Put in your spec that the controls be open market, Non-proprietary, Non OEM manufactured. That way you can keep your options open for the service company you CHOOSE to use.

Good luck.

Norm

-- norm swan (nswan@genelev.com), March 14, 2005.

Philip,

To do it right you need a total replacement of everything, machines, controllers, governors... with only the exception of the cars... you will get new car fixtures, buttons and such, but you may want to upgrade you safety mechanism also, it's what stops the car in a free fall...

Your next question is reliabilty and ease of troubleshooting and service... That's gonna be a hard question to get a good answer to, because opinions in this business are like assholes, everyone has one...

I think your best bet would be to research in your area with the other building owners, and find out who has technician that takes pride in his work because he will be your serviceman...

-- Will (mtnrambo@msn.com), March 14, 2005.