MN Elevator Mechanic common mistakes
MN Elevator Mechanic · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Treating ASME A17.1 and A17.3 as interchangeable when answering code questions, so the candidate applies new-construction rules to an existing installation or vice versa.
Both documents are studied together and share look-alike section numbering, and candidates memorize clause content without anchoring which document governs which situation. Minnesota's adoption of A17.3 for existing elevators makes the distinction testable in both the Codes domain and the state-rules domain.
What to do instead
Build a one-page decision tree: new or altered installation goes to A17.1/A17.1s; existing installation not being altered goes to A17.3; periodic inspection and testing procedures go to A17.2. For every practice question, write the governing document in the margin before reading the answer choices.
Reciting inspection and test intervals and procedure steps from memory without distinguishing what A17.2 requires the inspector to witness, perform, or merely record, and mixing in A17.1 acceptance-test requirements.
The intervals and test content appear in several documents with different purposes, and candidates who learn them as a single list of numbers cannot answer questions that ask who does what or which test applies at which interval.
What to do instead
Make a three-column table for each device type: A17.1 acceptance test, A17.2 periodic test and interval, A17.3 existing-installation requirement. Fill it from the actual text and quiz yourself by covering two columns at a time.
Answering electrical troubleshooting questions by naming a component to replace rather than tracing the control circuit logically from the symptom to the open or grounded point.
Candidates with field experience rely on pattern recognition from familiar equipment, but exam scenarios are written to reward systematic circuit analysis, and guessing shortcuts fails when the scenario is deliberately unfamiliar.
What to do instead
Practice a fixed routine on paper: identify the safety-circuit path, verify door and gate switch contacts, check the direction and run circuits, then the brake circuit. Write out the expected voltage at each test point for a hypothetical fault and compare with the scenario.
Confusing the roles of the safety circuit, the door interlock, and the door operator circuit, so the candidate misidentifies which condition permits or prevents car motion.
These circuits interact constantly in service and the terms are used loosely in the field, so candidates carry imprecise vocabulary into questions that hinge on exact function.
What to do instead
Diagram the three circuits separately, label what each one interrupts and what resets it, then answer a set of questions explaining why a car will not run with the doors open, why it will not level with a gate switch open, and how each is bypassed only for authorized testing.
Neglecting hydraulic-specific content, such as relief valve setting, tank and piping requirements, oil temperature effects, and the difference between a jack and a cylinder, because the candidate's background is primarily traction equipment.
Hydraulic elevators are common in low-rise Minnesota buildings, and the exam weights them as a full domain, but candidates from traction backgrounds skim the material and lose easy points.
What to do instead
Study the hydraulic domain as a standalone unit: valve operation, relief and check valve functions, rupture valve and plunger grip requirements, oil level and temperature symptoms, and the code limits on rise and speed. Answer at least as many hydraulic practice questions as traction ones.
Treating escalator and moving walk questions as a minor topic and skipping the specific clearances, comb and skirt requirements, and stopping-distance and brake provisions.
The domain is small relative to elevator content, so candidates deprioritize it, but the questions are fact-specific and easy to miss without targeted review.
What to do instead
Allocate a fixed study block to A17.1 escalator and moving walk requirements and to A18.1 platform and stairway chairlift provisions. Build a checklist of dimensional and functional requirements and test yourself on numbers and the devices each applies to.
Answering Minnesota statutes and rules questions using general industry practice or another state's requirements instead of the specific Minnesota licensing, inspection, and permitting provisions.
The state domain feels administrative and candidates assume general knowledge suffices, but Minnesota has its own definitions of who may perform work, notification requirements, and enforcement authority.
What to do instead
Read the Minnesota elevator statutes and rules directly, then write a summary of who is licensed, what work requires a permit, what must be reported to the authority, and the consequences of noncompliance. Verify every answer against the text rather than memory.
Describing safe work practices in general terms, such as 'follow lockout/tagout', instead of stating the specific sequence for a pit entry, a car-top run, or a machine-room task.
Safety questions look easy, so candidates answer with slogans, but the exam rewards concrete procedural knowledge and the order of steps.
What to do instead
Write step-by-step procedures for the highest-risk tasks: pit access, top-of-car inspection runs, hoistway access, and mainline disconnect lockout. For each, include the verification step that proves the hazard is controlled before proceeding.
Misreading question stems that ask for the exception, the minimum, or the least acceptable option, and selecting a true statement that does not answer what was asked.
Code questions are dense and often contain a correct-sounding distractor, and candidates under time pressure match on keywords instead of parsing the qualifier.
What to do instead
Underline or mentally restate the operative words in each stem before looking at choices, and for each rejected option state why it is wrong. Practice sets where several choices are factually true but only one answers the question.
Skipping calculation and unit-conversion practice for load, speed, and pressure relationships, then guessing on quantitative items.
Candidates rely on field intuition for numbers and do not rehearse the formulas, so they cannot produce an answer when the question supplies values in different units or asks for a derived quantity.
What to do instead
Build a formula sheet covering hydraulic pressure and area, counterweight balance, and speed and travel relationships, then work problems with deliberately mixed units. Show every step so a unit error is visible before selecting an answer.