Lift Cars & Machine Rooms

Lift cars and machine rooms are the spaces of the lift installation: the car interior that passengers ride in, the landing entrances on each floor, the machine room or control space, and the shaft and pit. The machinery itself is on the lifts page; this page covers the spaces. Functionally the car must be safe, accessible, lit, ventilated and presentable; the machine room must keep equipment cool, dry, secure and reachable; and the pit and shaft must stay dry and clear.

In buildings with several lifts, the condition of cars and landings is a daily signal of building quality to every occupant and visitor, and dated cars can undermine an otherwise refurbished lobby.

What shortens fitness for purpose:

• Goods and furniture carried in passenger lifts without protective blankets.
• Hot machine rooms shortening controller life.
• Water in pits and shafts.
• Machine rooms used for storage.

Car interiors are usually refurbished with controls modernisation, so their timing is tied to the lift cycle.

Interior damage and wear

Car walls are dented and scratched by trolleys, furniture and building materials; floors wear at the entrance; handrails loosen; mirrors crack. The car interior is the lift's face to users and dates the building quickly.

Accessibility shortfalls

Older cars lack braille and tactile buttons, audible announcements, handrails, adequate size for wheelchairs, and visual indicators; these are usually corrected at modernisation.

Car ventilation and lighting

Failed car fans and lights make cars hot and dark, and trapped passengers distressed.

Machine room overheating

Machine rooms without adequate ventilation or cooling overheat; electronic controllers and drives fail or trip, causing breakdowns concentrated in hot weather.

Water in pits and shafts

Groundwater, failed sumps, cleaning water and leaks reach pits, corroding buffers, rails and safety gear and causing electrical faults; flooding can take lifts out of service for long periods.

Storage and security

Machine rooms used as storerooms, left unlocked, or reached only by unsafe ladders and roofs expose workers and equipment to risk.

Sill gaps and levelling at landings

Worn landing sills and poor levelling leave trip edges at entrances; see the lifts page for causes.

In machine-room-less lifts, the control equipment sits in a cabinet at a landing or in the shaft, so access and heat problems move into corridors and shafts.

Machine rooms on roofs also suffer roof leaks that drip onto controllers.

Lift lobbies and landing areas also suffer damage when goods are wheeled to the lift, so landing frames and nearby walls wear at the same rate as the car.

On site

• Car interiors dented, scratched or with protective blankets permanently fitted.
• Buttons without braille or tactile marking; no audible announcements.
• Hot, dark or stuffy cars.
• Machine rooms hot, unlocked, or used for storage.
• Water or oil in pits.
• Damaged landing frames and sills.

In the records

• Lift breakdown records, especially in hot weather.
• Machine room temperature records.
• Pit inspection notes from the lift contractor.
• Modernisation history.

• Control cabinets at landings in machine-room-less installations, with their locks and ventilation.

• Roof leaks or staining in rooftop machine rooms.
• Trapped passenger incidents and how long they lasted.

Water in a pit after every storm points to groundwater or a failed sump; water after cleaning points to washdown entering the shaft.

If breakdown records show controllers and drives failing mainly in summer, check machine room temperatures before replacing components; cooling is often the cheaper and lasting fix.

Findings are graded by what they demand: safety (can hurt someone now), failure (failed and damaging the building), condition (distress present and progressing), lifecycle (renewal due on age and exposure), deadline (a regulator or ordinance sets the date), check (investigate before sizing works) and nil (cosmetic or stable).

Most findings in these spaces are building responsibilities that reduce breakdowns and entrapments when fixed, and they are often cheaper than the breakdowns they cause.

A lift consultant leads with the building surveyor, coordinating with the lift contractor for access to machine rooms, shafts and pits.

• Car inspection of every car: walls, floor, ceiling, lighting, ventilation fan, handrails, mirrors, fixtures, braille and tactile buttons, audible announcements and visual indicators.
• Machine room inspection: temperature against equipment limits, ventilation and cooling, lighting, access route and ladders, security, housekeeping, lifting beams and fire separation.
• Pit inspection with the contractor: water, sump and pump, debris, lighting, ladder.
• Landing survey on each floor: door frames, sills, indicators, buttons and fire rating labels.
• Records review: breakdowns by season and cause, inspection reports, modernisation history.

The report should separate building items (heat, water, finishes, access and housekeeping) from lift contractor items, and align refurbishment with modernisation.

Where the lift contractor has already reported building-side defects, start from their reports, which often list heat, water and access problems repeatedly over years.

• Car refurbishment with durable, impact-resistant finishes, ideally timed with controls modernisation so accessibility features are upgraded at the same time.
• Protective pads and procedures for moves and deliveries in passenger lifts, or directing goods to a goods lift.
• Machine room cooling and ventilation sized to the equipment heat, with temperature alarms.
• Pit drainage and waterproofing, with sump pumps and alarms where groundwater is present.
• Accessible fixtures: braille and tactile buttons, audible and visual indicators, handrails.
• Machine room access and housekeeping: safe access routes, locks, lighting and removal of storage.
• Landing repairs to frames and sills.

• Roof and shaft waterproofing for rooftop machine rooms and shafts.

Car interiors are priced per car and are best done with modernisation to avoid two disruptions. Machine room cooling is a lump sum per room; pit works per pit; landing repairs per floor. Interior refurbishment is lifecycle; accessibility and access safety items are code compliance; heat and water works are condition items that cut breakdowns.

Heat and water fixes in machine rooms and pits are usually cheap relative to the breakdowns and damaged equipment they prevent, and should not wait for modernisation. In strata buildings, these spaces are common property and their costs fall to the owners corporation.

• Australia. The AS 1735 series governs lifts and the Disability (Access to Premises — Buildings) Standards set accessibility for new and upgraded lifts, including car size, controls and indicators; work health and safety laws govern safe access to machine rooms and pits.
• United Kingdom. BS EN 81-20 covers lift construction including machine spaces, and BS EN 81-70 accessibility; LOLER requires thorough examination; the Workplace Regulations and Work at Height Regulations govern access.
• United States. ASME A17.1 sets machine room and pit requirements, including temperature limits, lighting and access; the 2010 ADA Standards govern car accessibility; state elevator authorities inspect.

In all three countries, machine rooms and pits are restricted spaces that only authorised lift workers may enter.

Accessibility upgrades usually follow modernisation.

• Breakdown records by season and cause.
• Machine room temperature records.
• Pit inspection notes and sump records.
• Accessibility audit of lifts.
• Modernisation history and plans.
• Car interior refurbishment history.

• Entrapment records with durations and causes.
• Lift contractor reports noting building-side defects such as heat, water and access.
• Records of roof or shaft leaks affecting lift equipment.