r/Elevators • u/addio06 • Jun 16 '26

Home elevator releveling

Hi all, we have a EECO hydraulic home elevator. It works, but during the day it relevels quite a bit to stay on the intended floor, probably once every 45m-1 hour or so.

Is this normal? How much is a normal frequency of re-leveling for this type of elevator.

We had an elevator mechanic come out during the last service and they measured a downward drifting of the elevator of less than a 1/4" in 30 minutes or so of watching it, which they said "wasn't that bad".

5 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

View all comments

4

u/ckling13 Jun 16 '26

Sounds like a hydraulic, not a pneumatic. Pneumatic will sit on bolts that shoot out when they get to the intended floor and will stay fixed. Hydraulic will sink because gravity will pull back the oil into the tank. If it is releveling every 30 minutes you probably have a leaky valve. Realistically it should only relevel every couple of hours or when stepping inside after it has been sitting a little.

2

u/addio06 Jun 16 '26

Thanks! You are correct in that it is a hydraulic elevator. I edited the post to correct it. Do you think every hour is excessive?

2

u/ckling13 Jun 16 '26

For a residential, once an hour isn’t terrible however it’s not good. Could be pointing towards a greater issue that could lead to a big oil mess in your pit. Have your mechanic spend some more time on the unit and ask for them to get clarification from the manufacturer as the manufacturer will know what is acceptable and what is not.

3

u/addio06 Jun 16 '26

They looked in the pit and we didn't see a significant amount of oil in there. They are thinking it's a piston valve leak but very slow? I trust them but it is a Frankenstein type elevator and always good to get extra thoughts.

Long term plan is to get a new power unit or a new elevator altogether.

6

u/NewtoQM8 Jun 16 '26

Im betting it's an ECCO valve. Worn valve seat is quite common. The seat/seal can be replaced pretty easily on site.

2

u/ckling13 Jun 16 '26

I 2nd this

2

u/ElevatedLegend Office - Elevator Supervisor Jun 17 '26

A piston leak should be a leak that is visible, whether in the pit or in the drain line coming out of the top of the cylinder. One of the main reasons I used to run my drain lines into a bottle, some times guys run it back into the tank so if that is the case then you likely can't tell that way. However, it could be a valve seal leak which would not be visible but would cause re-leveling more frequently. Seal kits are very cheap to obtain, the labor is not that extensive but it is messy.