Anyone know anything about elevators?

[GlitterGal]

I'm a little shaken right now, so I apologize, but this is one of the best places I know for weird answers, so I thought I would ask.

 

A few hours ago, my daughter got stuck in an elevator.  Specifically, the elevators at my mother's condos.  My mother has always let her run wild around there, but my daughter tends to be respectful.  I thought at first that she had pushed the stop button (she's 5, so not out of the question), but it turns out the condo manager doesn't have any access keys (knox keys, I think?) and the override button wasn't working.

 

Fire department comes and uses their key and gets her out.  When they opened the outside doors, the inside doors were jammed open.  The condo manager just came over here and told us that my kids can't be unsupervised because of all the other damage they cause (though she couldn't specify).  Now, I have no problem with that request.  There aren't another kids in the complex and mine only visit, but then she went on to say that she would be passing the bill to us for the elevator incident, including getting the elevator people out to fix it.

 

Now, the fire department got both sets of doors closed, and they still couldn't get the override to work.  They were concerned enough that, despite the manager's objections, they turned off the power to the elevator.

 

So, does anybody know how a 5-year-old could open the inside doors of an elevator?  

[admin]

You get the prize for asking the weirdest (or most unique) question ever posted here to the best of my recollection.  No answer, though.  

[shellieh98]

Don't know the answer, but she can pass the bill all she want's to, doesn't mean you owe it, or have to pay for it.  I think that is what "insurance" is for, guess she better call.   She can give you a bill, and if you refuse to pay, she can try to sue you. Will she win? I wouldn't think so.

[willingtocope]

At one time in my checkered past, I wrote automation programs for elevators.  I'm not at all sure that my experience would apply to today's hardware, but, if the systems I was involved with, the inner doors opened slightly sooner than the outer...the theory being, it gave the occupant an opportunity to make sure the floor lined up.

 

Regardless, I'd suggest you make sure to get a full report from the elevator company on what they do to "repair" the system.  It sounds like an actual malfunction to me.

[GlitterGal]

You get the prize for asking the weirdest (or most unique) question ever posted here to the best of my recollection.  No answer, though.  

 

I will take that as a compliment.

 

At one time in my checkered past, I wrote automation programs for elevators.  I'm not at all sure that my experience would apply to today's hardware, but, if the systems I was involved with, the inner doors opened slightly sooner than the outer...the theory being, it gave the occupant an opportunity to make sure the floor lined up.

 

Regardless, I'd suggest you make sure to get a full report from the elevator company on what they do to "repair" the system.  It sounds like an actual malfunction to me.

 

And this is why I ask.

 

The elevator in question is from 1979 (original to the building), and has been doing this recently.  (In an event in October, the elevator jammed when being called to a floor for an EMT crew.  The poor man having a heart attack had to be carried down the stairs.)  The inside doors do open a bit, but these were all the way open.  When the firefighters commented on it and weren't too happy that the reset switches on the controls weren't working, that's when I got clued in that they didn't think she had done anything...and when they were concerned about her being upset and didn't lecture her, I figured they knew she hadn't done anything.

 

Like I said, 5 years old, and kids do the weirdest things, so I wasn't initially thinking she was innocent.

 

As for the manager, Shellieh, I think I'm going to tell her she can either write it off or sue me...but that if she sues me, she can expect a countersuit for my daughter's counseling bill.

[kutuzov]

The elevator already got a similar incident before, the firemen didn't think it was a human error, rather a malfunction, and on top of that the elevator got it's internal door open when they should be close. Add that the override botton was not working and the key was missing, therefore it sounds to me that the manager knew or should have knew that the elevator needed maintenance and/or repair, and either didn't do it on time since the EMS, neglected the issue, or simply could not afford it after an estimate was given to her, or whatever other reason made the management oversee the elevator previous malfunction. I doubt a 5 years old could do all that on her own if the elevator was working properly, I'm pretty sure there are safety measure on a device like that, even if made in 1979.

[racecar]

Check the date of the last inspection on the certificate in the elevator.

[CountryLady]

Check the date of the last inspection on the certificate in the elevator.

 

But he has to get the doors open to check it !

 

I'm afraid all I know is that they go up and down, occasionally stop when I don't want them to, and kids jumping in them (all 3 of mine did when they were younger) don't cause them to break.... just drives mommie crazy.