My old foreman said we should always pull the governor rope by hand before a test, but a new guy called it a waste of time. | Elevator Mechanics - Vivisector
My old foreman said we should always pull the governor rope by hand before a test, but a new guy called it a waste of time.
We were doing a 5-year test on a 10-story building in Charlotte last Thursday. The new mechanic said his last company never did it and that the test weight proves the system works anyway. It got me thinking, is the hand pull just a feel-good step, or does it actually catch something the test might miss? What's your shop's rule on this?
You ever wonder why we even have steps in the procedure if we skip them? That hand pull is there for a reason, like the_parker said. It's not about the test weight working, it's about feeling the whole action start smooth before the load drops. Your old foreman had it right, and catching one sticky part makes the five minutes worth it every time.
Isn't that kind of true for a lot of things though? Like how people skip the little warm up stuff only to end up hurting themselves later because they didn't take the two minutes to do it right.
Ever think that rope pull is the only real test before the system goes live? It's the one step where you can't fake the feedback, you just feel it. Skipping it is like trusting a map you never unfolded.