r/Elevators

I'm a recent graduate of Woodbridge High School, in Woodbridge new Jersey and I watched students and staff struggle every single day just to move around the building. For anyone using a wheelchair, on crutches, or dealing with mobility challenges, basic access was nearly impossible. This isn't about being nice—it's about equality.
I started a petition asking the school to install a wheelchair accessible elevator. The ADA legally requires equal access to educational facilities, yet Woodbridge still doesn't have one. Other schools in our district have made this work. Meanwhile, students here are being left behind—literally locked out of parts of their own school.
If you went to Woodbridge or know someone there now, you've probably seen this problem. What would you want someone to do if it was your kid or sibling facing those barriers every day? If this matters to you too, consider signing and sharing. Let's push for the change this school actually needs.
Created by change.org

Would like some insight from some elevator guys if possible. Im 27 and currently work in a steel mill, rotating 12 hour shifts so days/night and alternating , I make about $3/hr less than my local elevator mechanics currently. A semi-nearby local is about to be hiring within a couple months and I’m very interested in applying (I know it’s extremely competitive to get in and nothing is guaranteed) but if I were to get a shot should I jump on it? I currently am in an operations Role, and work with maintenance fairly regularly, on a technical level I’m not great but I can turn a wrench and know tools pretty well, for the most part my job is fairly laid back and stress free. I aspire to be more mechanically savvy than I am, and absolutely hate the rotating shifts and even the free time I’m not fond of , but feel dumb for wanting to walk away from a good paying job that’s not strenuous and is close to home. It would be a well over hour drive each way until I could either relocate or transfer to the slightly closer local (45ish mins) knowing what you know now about the elevator trade, and what I’ve described, what would you recommend someone in my shoes to do? Any advice is appreciated (edit: I am aware of the apprenticeship pay scale in the local I’m applying to, I can handle the paycut as long as I thought it will be a worthy decision in the long run )

Congrats to everyone who was able to get an application last month! As of a few minutes ago, the application submission deadline has officially passed. Hopefully everyone who intended to apply was able to get everything submitted on time.

The EIAT will take place in September. Anyone who passes the exam can expect interviews to be scheduled sometime between October and November.

Best of luck to everyone throughout the process, and have a safe and happy 4th of July weekend!

Title pretty much sums it up. I've been working as an elevator mechanic in Korea for about 4 years and I'm still on the job.

The problem is the pay here just isn't cutting it — after taxes, I take home around $2,000 a month, so roughly $28k a year. That's why I'm hoping to move to North America and keep working in the same trade.

My concern is that my Korean experience and certifications probably won't transfer over directly to the US or Canada, and honestly I have no idea how the licensing/apprenticeship process works over there.

Has anyone here made a similar move, or does anyone know how this works? Even if you're from somewhere other than the US or Canada, I'd appreciate any insight.

So like I said, Im 16, starting to think about my future and understand from my uncle who is an ironworker, that elevator technicians/mechanics make very good salary. Im not planning on college so Ive been also looking into trades and this is definitely up there for pay.

So as someone who has expensive hobbies (cars, fishing, hunting, etc.) and eventually wants to start a family, I thought that this would be a good job to look at getting into.

However I wanted to understand when I should apply for an apprenticeship, what all I need to study for the trade, etc.

Hi everyone,

I'm from South Korea, and I'm trying to make one of the biggest decisions of my life.

I'm 37 years old and have 13 years of experience in the elevator industry. My background is mainly B2B sales, project management, specifications, and working with major construction companies and government housing projects. Although I'm not currently a mechanic, I've worked in the elevator industry for a long time and also hold the Korean Elevator Engineer certification.

My plan is:

Study the 2-year Mechanical Technician – Elevating Devices program at Mohawk College (possibly Durham College as another option).

Graduate and get hired as an Elevating Devices Mechanic Apprentice.

Work under a PGWP and hopefully obtain Canadian permanent residence.

However, I recently learned that NOC 72406 (Elevator Constructors and Mechanics) is no longer included in the Express Entry Trades category, which has made me seriously question my entire plan.

I would really appreciate honest answers from people who actually work in the industry.

How difficult is it for a Mohawk (or Durham) graduate to get hired as an elevator apprentice in Ontario?

Are international students actually getting apprentice jobs, or do most companies prefer Canadians?

Does my 13 years of elevator industry experience from South Korea provide any real advantage when applying?

If I perform well in school and actively network, is finding an apprenticeship realistic?

Since Elevator Mechanics are no longer in the Express Entry Trades category, has obtaining permanent residence become significantly more difficult?

If this were your situation, would you still choose this career path for immigration in 2026?

I'm not looking for false hope. My wife and young son would be moving with me, and I would be leaving a stable career in South Korea.

I'd really appreciate honest opinions from people who know the industry.

Thank you.

I work at a small non-union elevator construction firm (believe me, I’m not that thrilled either) and I’m wondering, is it normal to have like a 4-1 Installer to service ratio? We genuinely only have like 3 service guys, and about 12-13 installers, and us on the service side are being run pretty ragged by the sheer volume of units we have to service. Is this typical in other shops, union or not? I’ve been pushing to bring a few installers over, but my office is a bunch of hardasses and I’m trying to get numbers to back myself up. Any info helps!

Hi everyone. I work in NYC and had something happen while leaving work today that triggered my health anxiety.
I was exiting an elevator and put my hand out as I was leaving, but the doors still seemed to start closing. I’m worried they may have lightly hit my body or the sides of my body, though I’m honestly not even sure if there was real contact. I thought elevator doors had sensors, so the fact that they started closing made me anxious.
I’m not asking for a medical diagnosis I’m mainly wondering from people who work with elevators: is it normal for elevator doors to begin closing before the sensor/door edge reverses? Would I clearly know if the elevator door actually hit me? And would a normal elevator door closing on someone lightly be enough force to cause serious injury, like internal/organ damage, or would it generally just be a light bump?
I know I have health anxiety, so I’m trying to understand how elevator doors normally work. Thanks.

I have pressed that button with the force of a thousand suns while watching someone awkwardly jog toward the elevator, and it has never closed a millisecond faster. It’s just there to test our patience.

We have a 3-floor house and are planning to install a lift mainly for my elderly parents. I'm slightly

concerned about running costs. We're already paying decent electricity bills, and I don't want a massive

addition.Any suggestions?

I’m building a G+3 house in Hyderabad and trying to finalize the floor plan right now. I asked my architect about planning for a future home elevator, but the answer was basically “leave some space near the staircase” without much detail.
I’m trying to avoid under-planning and realizing later that the shaft is too small or needs structural changes. For those who’ve installed or worked with residential lifts, what’s a realistic shaft footprint for a standard 3–4 person home elevator?
Would also be helpful to know if there are any common mistakes people make while planning for one during construction.

How hard is it to be accepted In the IUEC apprenticeship? Do I really need to know someone In order to have an upper hand? If I apply will I just waste my time?

Hello all . I need help please.

We have an Arkel ARCODE 4C35A controller rated 15 kW / 35 A driving a Schindler FML200-6C414 gearless synchronous motor. Motor nameplate is around 8.4–8.7 kW, 340 V, 26–26.7 A, 13.7 Hz, 0–255 rpm. Brake type is ERS VAR 15-11-A, marked Hold 103.5 VDC, Overexcitation 207 VDC, torque 4 x 126 Nm. The encoder is ECN 1313-2048 EnDat; we tested both the original Schindler encoder and a new encoder, both communicate correctly, auto-tuning/fine-tuning completes successfully, and the encoder board appears installed and powered. Motor parameters were entered from the nameplate, and the machine is set as synchronous/gearless. The problem: during an unloaded motor test / à vide test, when giving a run command, current rises to about 51–52 A but speed stays 0 rpm and the motor does not move. In normal operation, the lift can go up when empty, but when going down empty it struggles or does not move; if we add load in the cabin, it starts working downward. Our brake supply currently uses a transformer/rectifier giving about 103 VDC, but we are not sure if the brake ever receives the required 207 VDC overexcitation pulse before dropping to 103.5 VDC hold. Could this be caused by the brakes not fully releasing because we only supply hold voltage, or should we suspect encoder offset, motor phase order, brake timing, ARCODE settings, or another issue?

They were originally introduced to psychologically trick passengers, In the early days of high-rise buildings, people complained that elevators were too slow. Instead of making them faster, engineers added mirrors. People got distracted looking at themselves, and the complaints about slowness virtually disappeared.