Traction Rope Retirement and the Saturday Tenant Event
You are the EDM-A mechanic responsible for a 1970s geared traction elevator in a 6-storey office building. Rated 1.75 m/s, eight ropes, 1:1 roping. During monthly maintenance you find one rope with nine broken wires distributed over two lays and heavy corrosion at the termination; the other seven ropes have one to three broken wires. Two ropes measure 12.4 mm against 13 mm nominal. The traction sheave grooves show visible ridging, and the car levels slowly with a full load. The governor seal tag is dated 14 months ago and the last safety-gear test record is missing. The building manager says the elevator must stay in service for a tenant event on Saturday and asks you to “just swap the worst rope.” It is Thursday afternoon and replacement ropes are not on site.
1. What measurements and code checks decide whether the car can remain in service tonight? Walk through your decision and state the outcome.
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Do not decide from the single worst number alone. For each rope, count broken wires in the worst lay, measure diameter at several points, inspect for corrosion, valley breaks and termination damage, and check rope tension and equalization. Compare each result with the retirement table for that rope construction in the adopted CSA B44. Here, nine broken wires in two lays plus heavy termination corrosion already exceed a normal retirement threshold, and two ropes are under nominal diameter. Because ropes share load, a rope that has lost area transfers load to the others; replacing only the worst rope leaves the remaining set carrying uneven load and running on ridged sheave grooves. The slow leveling under load and sheave ridging also point to traction loss. My decision: remove from service, tag and lock the disconnect, and tell the owner in writing. The missing safety-gear test record and overdue governor test must be resolved before return, not deferred.
2. The manager insists on running until Saturday. What do you say and do?
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I would explain that the rope is already below a retirement criterion and that the car is not fit for passenger service. A one-rope swap is not an acceptable compromise: the new rope would carry a disproportionate share of the load, the worn sheave would accelerate its wear, and the remaining ropes are already damaged. I would not operate the car or allow the owner to operate it. I would tag and lock out the disconnect, notify my supervisor and the owner in writing, order a matched set of ropes, arrange sheave inspection and repair, and schedule the governor and safety-gear tests. Rope replacement itself is maintenance, not an alteration, so an immediate TSSA notification is not normally required; however, if the sheave is replaced or re-machined, confirm whether the work is an alteration requiring approval. If the owner tries to override the decision, I escalate to my supervisor and TSSA rather than return the car to service.
3. What records and tests must support the rope replacement and return to service?
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Record the original findings: broken-wire counts per rope and per lay, diameters, corrosion and termination condition, sheave groove condition, and rope tension readings. Record the new rope certificates and construction, the installation date, and the tension equalization results after running. Before return, perform and record the governor trip test and safety-gear test, confirm the car is level under rated load, and verify the sheave and rope condition after a run-in period. Update the maintenance log, attach the test records, and obtain owner acknowledgement that the car was removed from service and why. If sheave work is classified as an alteration, include the TSSA approval and inspection record. The key is that return to service is based on measured results and completed tests, not simply on the ropes having been changed.