Lessons Learned: Elevators

• Hire an elevator consultant for renovation jobs ($2-3k).  It'll cost a lot less than the time and change orders to fix the installation after the fact.  Don't count on the company holding the maintenance contract or elevator vendor to define scope for code compliance.  THEY DO NOT KNOW.
• Note the basic code requirements for a smoke vent directly through the wall of the hoistway or through the machine room if duct is enclosed in 2hr construction (Sec. 3004), which is not required when the occupancy (if R-1, R-2, I-1 or I-2) is fully sprinklered. (NFPA 2013 will supposedly do away with the requirement for shunt trip breakers in sprinklered machine rooms)
• And the exception  (Sec. 707.6) to the 2hr requirement for the hoistway enclosure.  If it's also an exterior wall only tables 601 an 602 apply.
• At CMC, a consulting inspector (Chris Duke, CNY Elevator Group, (315) 425-0428) was hired at the end of construction to confirm code compliance so we didn't have to wait for the state inspector.  It would have been too late to add scope later.  The consultant should have been hired during design, but was not, for reasons I won't go into here.
• At Breckenridge Place, "standby power" (read: emergency generator) was required because we needed the elevator to be an accessible means of egress (Sec. 1007.2, 1007.4).
• Note that hydraulic elevators have a large electrical startup load (to get the pump running), which has important implications if there's a generator, on-site power generation, etc.
• See also this blog post on types of hydraulic elevators.
• The new (as of 2011) microprocessor controlled equipment gets hot.  Machine rooms need to be cooled, ventilated and probably have some level of humidity control.  Be sure to get the requirements from the vendor/manufacturer.
• Manufacturers: Otis, Thyssen Krupp, Schindler, KONE