Freight Elevator #6, which serves all floors and garage levels, was out of service Thursday and Friday due to misuse.

Fortunately, it was returned to service this afternoon.

The team at OTIS completed an initial assessment of its condition and reported it appears to have been caused by the inner AND outer doors being forced off their tracks. Unfortunately, a far more complicated problem than one might expect. The needed repairs will take scheduling additional workers to assist.

Typically, this type of problem is caused by misuse, and a review of surveillance confirms – it appears to be the case this time. As the door is closing, a guest outside the elevator stops it forcibly with his feet and then pushes it back open. Later, as it becomes clear the elevator is unresponsive, the individual appears to be physically fussing with the door even more. Actions which may have worsened the problem.

The repair could cost several thousand dollars, and will be charged back to the associated Unit Owner.

We appreciate that waiting for an elevator can be frustrating, but please embrace patience. It is not worth making everyone’s wait times longer, and it certainly is not worth potentially costly repairs.

In the past we’ve reported that many outages can be the result of one time or accumulated abuse from forcibly stopping and reopening  elevator doors, or holding them closed. Obviously, the physical action itself can do damage, since the door operator is trying to push one way and individuals are trying to stop it or push another way. We’ve had other failures such as this in the past where we were able to confirm abuse via recorded surveillance.

So, we want to remind and encourage everyone not to push doors open or to hold them physically with your hands, arms or feet. If you need to reopen or hold a door open temporarily, use the button intended for that purpose.

If you need to hold the door open for a more lengthy period, such as for a large delivery or work in your unit, then you should consider making a reservation or at the very least consulting with the management team. parktowercondo-mgmt@habitat.com

Holding the door open physically can trigger a safety that will force the elevator out of service. Forcing the door to open or pushing it with your hands and feet when it is in operation, can cause failures and damage. Sometimes serious damage.

Of course it’s also worth mentioning, when someone is holding the doors it is creating a delay for everyone else waiting for the elevator.

In one case many years ago, an inebriated resident was holding open a passenger elevator door, and falling over and pushing it with her feet to keep it open (while waiting for other people coming down the hall). This resulted in almost $4000 in damage to the door operator and board and led to a lengthy outage while parts had to be ordered for repair. The cost of the damage was assessed to the Unit Owner.

This most recent case could end up having a very similar result.

So please keep this in mind as you are coming and going – don’t physically hold the elevator doors or force them open in any way.