My bldg has a bank of four MRVF that were installed in 1985 and have been a problem since day one. Two are 2535 and the other two are 3535's. Sudden leveling, missed floors, doors will not close etc,etc. Is there a retrofit that will cure the various problems?

Is there a federal or industry agency where I could research this system? Thanks

-- Jim Morrison (JIMM@highwood.mhs.compuserve.com), September 17, 1997

Answers

Mrvfs are junk

Otis has lost a fortune on the mrvf design. There have been so many retrofits to those elevators I have lost count.Otis discontinued that type of elevator because it was so bad. Sorry but if you haven't had the retros you are really in trouble. Even the gearbox shafts are known to break, that is why they have rope drags installed.

-- anonymously answered, September 18, 1997

I hate to inform you that the MRVF is referred to as the "Otis battery operated elevator" We all know about the battery operated toys that always cause us to laugh when we see the notice "batteries not included". In the case of the MRVF the "elevator was not included"

My recommendation to anyone owning a MRVF is to replace it, at once, with solid equipment. There is a serious liability exposure with the MRVF. In some States the owner of an elevator or escalator is considered a "common carrier" as to the required level of care on the owner's part.

-- anonymously answered, October 08, 1997

mrvf can run all year with no calls

ok ,the mrvf was a great idea back in the early 80"s its to bad that ex u.s.president cut the price down so it was built with cheaper parts.Do these things and the unit s will run great i promise.. 1.install solid state steppers 2.install new hoistway reader box. 3.remove old screw utoo operator,,replace with gal or ql unit 4.do all engineers changes. 5.relax paint machine room 6.go have coffee

give units back to OTIS AND THEY WILL DO ALL THE UPGRADES!

-- Doc otis (Darkaa@aol.com), March 19, 2003.

While many great advances have been made in elevator drives and system designs, the MRVF was not one of them. Too often in our trade ( I am an IUEC member with 23 years experience as well as an engineer) R+D work is preformed at the expense of the customer. My serious advise for you is to bite the bullet and install a quality non-proprietary product and to hire a reputable consultant to make sure you get what you pay for.

-- Don Smith (dmuzkman@earthlink.net), March 07, 2005.

The problem with upgrading an MRVF is that the buildings usually only ran single phase to the machine room. Makes the upgrade much more expensive.

MRVF ( Miserable Riding Vibrating F*****) the gift that keeps on giving.

Actually they can run well if treated right.

Dan

-- Dan (justsomeguylookin2@hotmail.com), March 07, 2005.