Chapter 4 - Elevators Flashcards
What are the two basic types of elevators?
Hydraulic and traction
How are elevators differentiated?
The manner in which they are lifted and lowered through their shafts.
How are hydraulic elevators lifted?
On a piston which travels within a cylinder and is driven by hydraulic fluid.
What does the length of the piston determine?
How high the elevator can be lifted.
Hydraulic elevator service is normally limited to how many stories?
Five or six stories.
Traction elevators have multiple what?
Wire hoisting ropes.
What is the primary purpose of the extra ropes?
To increase traction on the sheave.
Where are hoisting motors and traction sheaves located?
Elevator machine room.
Where are traction elevator machine rooms located?
Typically one or two floors above the top floor served by the car.
What are the two levels of elevator machine rooms used for on older elevators?
One for hoisting motors and one for motor generators.
All elevators have identifying numbers located where?
Inside the elevator cabs.
What is located in the elevator machine room?
The controller.
How many electrical disconnects are there for every elevator?
2
What are the electrical disconnects for in every elevator? (2)
One for high voltage hoisting motor.
Smaller one for elevator lights, fans and door opening motor.
When killing power to rescue someone from a stalled elevator only which motor should be disconnected?
The hoisting motor.
If there is a fire in an elevator cab firefighters should disconnect which breaker?
Both
To prevent exposure to open hoist ways hoist way doors _____ be pushed open from the outside.
Cannot
What is the range within which the opening car door can unlock and open the hoist way door?
The landing zone.
If a hoist way door is open anywhere in a hoist way the elevator ____.
Shouldn’t be able to run
What does opening the car door of a moving elevator do?
Should immediately stop that elevator.
Most modern elevators provide a two-way communication system that provides a link where?
With the building security office or a security desk in the lobby
When do all elevators stop?
Usually when primary power is lost.
When all elevators in each bank have returned to the lobby, what happens?
The last elevator down in each bank retains power in his operational.
If the fire is below what floor it’s generally best to use the stairs rather than elevators?
Below the 8th floor or so.
What is the safest policy for high-rise firefighters and elevators?
Avoidance of elevators.
There is no more dependable agent of fire company disintegration than what?
A long stair climb.
What are the three modes of elevator operation.
- Automatic Operation
- Independent Service Operation
- Fire Service Operation.
In what mode does the elevator no longer respond to floor calls and travels only to the floors the operator requests?
Independent service mode.
Where is the switch located to activate independent service?
Behind a locked panel door in each elevator.
What mode does the elevator go only where the operator wants and the doors automatically open fully upon arrival?
Independent service.
What takes elevators away from building occupants, gives firefighters complete control and the doors do not open automatically?
Fire service operation.
What phase is the function that recalls elevators to the lobby?
Phase 1 (Recall).
Automatic recall is activated by what?
The fire alarm system.
When what happens does the alarm system put all elevators in the affected elevator zone into phase 1?
When smoke is detected in an elevator lobby
Elevator machine room
Elevator hoistway
Where is manual recall of elevators in phase 1 activated from?
A key switch which may be found at the elevator panel or in the elevator banks elevator lobby
Phase one switches in individual elevator lobbies are generally what type of switches?
Three position
What is the function that gives firefighters complete control of the elevators?
Phase 2.
Where is phase 2 initiated from?
A key switch inside each elevator
Door restrictors are devices that prevent car doors from being opened if the elevator isn’t within how many inches of the landing zone?
18”
If the elevator stalls in a blind hoist way what is your only chance of self-extrication?
Open the car doors and force your way through the hoist way wall.
In the absence of a functioning call cancel button it may be best to let a runaway elevator do what?
Run its course rather than subjecting it to the stress caused by a sudden stop function
If the light on the panel near the phase two switch goes from steady glow to blinking what does it mean?
Smoke and/or heat is in the hoist way or elevator machine room.
What is the first step for firefighters sent to deal with an elevator entrapment?
Call an elevator technician.
What can be the simplest way of returning stalled elevators to service?
Reboot them.
Before any rescue attempt in an elevator is made, a fire company must be sent to the elevator machine room to do what?
Kill power to the hoisting motor.
What is another name for buttonless elevators?
Destination dispatch elevator system
What are floors served by two separate elevator banks called
Crossover floors
Power disconnects in elevator machine rooms are clearly identified by what
Elevator number
Where are the hoist way doors that can be opened with special keys located
They are usually found on the top and bottom levels of multiple elevator hoistways. (41)
What are safety devices that regulate the upper and lower travel limits of an elevator in a hoist way
Terminal switches. (41)
Where are firefighters plug-in phones located
Fire control room
Before you utilizing elevators firefighters should consider the location of the fire in relation to what two areas
Hoistway
Elevator machine room
It is fairly common for the automatic recall function to only be initiated by detectors where
In elevator lobbies. (47)
What does the bypass setting do
Override the alarm system returning elevators to automatic operation. (48)
What is the first step in the most common sequence after phase 2 switch has been keyed to on
Select the desired floor (49)
Where are the hoisting motors located in machine room less elevators
Beams in the top of the hoistway
Instead of the traditional steel hoisting ropes MRLs use what
Flat polyurethane coated steel belt
What type of elevator is an MRL
Traction elevator used in low and mid-rise buildings
What is crucial information in predicting smoke migration through elevator shafts in regards to MRLs
Buildings in which a single hoistway serves multiple levels of elevator service
