Three Elevator Performance Measures
September 15, 2009
I'm Brandon Lorenz, senior editor for Building Operating Management magazine. Today's tip: Three elevator performance measures to monitor.
Long wait times are an inconvenience for building occupants. But to facility managers, they should be taken as a warning sign that the elevator control system is developing problems.
As a starting point, facility executives will want to regularly monitor the wait times tenants are experiencing once they push an elevator’s button. For more on that, see the tip "Elevator Wait Times Getting You Down?"
Here are some other performance characteristics to measure. One attribute to check is the elevator’s stopping procedures. The car should stop level or within a quarter-inch of the floor to minimize the risk of occupants tripping as they enter or leave the elevator. Also should check that phones inside the elevators are in working order and that they connect to the monitoring entity.
The doors shouldn’t open and close so quickly that tenants worry they’ll get caught if they move too slowly when exiting and entering the elevator. Some elevator consultants try to boost the speeds at which the doors operate, to cut trip times, but tenants often prefer a slightly slower pace.
Facility executives also will want to look at callout rate, or the number of unplanned service outages during a set time period. This can be expressed either as the number of calls experienced during a quarter or year, or as the “mean time between call outs.” So, if an elevator requires maintenance about once each quarter, the mean time between failure would be 90 days.
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