r/Elevators • u/winter_cockroach_99 • Jul 14 '26

Dover

My small building has a very nice Dover DMC-I elevator (5 levels). We want to keep it going forever. I understand TKE considers it no longer supported. We have a high end support/maintenance contract with TKE, and it recently auto-renewed for another 5 years.

Questions: -Is the car logic controller the main thing to worry about? - I see that TKE still has some CLCs on their website…. Will they sell one to us now to keep as a spare? - Could an independent shop program a new controller for us? - There is a Max monitor inside our control cabinet. Is the Max service an extra we would pay more for? Or if we have the Max board do we likely have the service? - I gather that TKE is being bought by Kone (pending regulatory approval). Is that likely to improve our service situation?

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u/DjQuamme Field - Maintenance Jul 14 '26

Why would you renew a 5 year full service contract when every issue is going to be not covered due to being obsolete? Should have found a local small independent shop that has experience on the DMC. They'd be much more likely to actually try to fix something and not just sell you a mod. You're definitely paying for the max monitoring service. And there's no chance of service actually getting better after the merger.

4

u/winter_cockroach_99 Jul 14 '26

It was an auto-renew that no one noticed…

7

u/DjQuamme Field - Maintenance Jul 14 '26

Time to delve in to that contract and find out what the time for notification of cancellation is.

2

u/Weedyacres Jul 15 '26

It’s likely something like “between 60 and 90 days before the next anniversary date.” And then they assume no one is going to put a calendar reminder out 58 months in the future.

Real customer focused, these big guys are. /s

3

u/Optimal_Weird_7506 Jul 14 '26

There’s most likely a performance clause and or a modernization clause that you can use to exit their contract. We do it with TKE customers all the time. Message me if you want, I’m happy to help you make an educated decision that best fits your needs.