Working on the old Otis units at the Grandview Hotel made me rethink my whole approach to door operators

I was fixing a stuck car door there last spring and found the old motor brushes were just worn down, but the manager kept pushing for a full operator swap that cost over two grand. I cleaned the tracks, put in new brushes for about eighty bucks, and it's been smooth for eight months now. Do you think we jump to replace parts too fast when a simple fix might work?

4 comments

4 Comments

derek_ross2mo ago

Sounds like the manager wanted to spend the hotel's money, not fix the elevator. Good on you for the cheap fix.

the_max2mo ago

But maybe the fix was just luck... @drew_walker's filter is different.

drew_walker2mo ago

Yeah, it's everywhere now. My coffee maker started acting up and the shop said I needed a whole new unit, but it was just a clogged filter screen. Feels like we're trained to see every little problem as a reason to buy something new instead of just taking a minute to figure it out. That manager probably gets a kickback or just doesn't want the hassle of a callback, so they throw money at it. Saves them time, costs everyone else more.

kai_ramirez3811d agoMost Upvoted

So you just get hit with that "buy a new one" script every time something acts up? I ran into the same thing with my lawnmower last year. Dealer told me the carburetor was shot and I'd be better off getting a whole new mower. Turns out it was just some old gas gumming up the works, a can of cleaner and ten minutes of my time and it ran fine. It's like they bank on people not wanting to get their hands dirty or just not knowing better. Makes me wonder how much perfectly good stuff gets trashed because someone was too busy or too lazy to poke at it for five minutes.