Coming up next: How to fix an elevator in under 20 minutes by 12voltvids.

It gets old once you've counted everything 10 times and worked out the square feet of the elevator! I've been there, but 3 hours is ridiculous!

Oh man, that happened to me at a hotel late at night once. Was in there for a bit over an hour. Luckily, I had just picked up a six pack and was on my way back to my room, so I sat down on the floor and cracked em open. By the time they got the elevator unstuck, I didn't care all that much anymore, lol.

If it was me... after 15 minutes not answering, they have to completely rebuild the elevator

Absolutely unacceptable for “Otis line” to be dropping calls like that, and apparently not staffing their call center with enough people to answer emergency calls from elevators. Not like you were calling to tell them how much of a nice ride you had in their product. Glad it wasn’t the paramedics trying to get to someone, or trying to get someone out to the hospital.

Irony would be being stuck in an elevator with elevator music being on hold with the elevator company while listening to other bad elevator music while on hold!

It needs a new belt, and the motor bearings need lubrication. The shaking is due to wow and flutter. The cassette door had to be forced open.

I imagine they expect you to "use an app" or tweet for help these days. And I know people who actually think that is the way it should be done :D And the guys He-man ringtone! Great timing!

This is sign that you now need to expand into elevator repair.😉

I was stuck in the oldest working elevator in London, ON once. It's an office building, so it didn't take long to get help. There was a pregnant woman in there with me and I was envisioning me having to deliver a baby. I hate residential building elevators because there's never anyone around.

This is definitely one of my biggest fears of riding inside of an elevator 😳 Especially being in there alone! Taking 3 hours for them to get you out of there is totally unacceptable! Smh 😡

That is totally unacceptable. Elevator phones need to be maintained, and the emergency call centers open and adequately staffed.

Been in the business 50 years, started with Otis. Labour stripped back to the bone, so few to answer or attend calls. Even in my days with them 70,s/80’s, there were only 2 fitters on service of a night in the city. Having said that, if the lift was installed correctly, it’s one hell of a reliable piece of kit compared with the stuff you work on , in the domestic market.

At least you had a lit elevator! Been there done that for over an hour in the dark when there was a power outage from a power pole being struck by a car. Richmond elevator answered and sent someone to lower the elevator and open the door. I was wondering which corner I would pee in if it came to that, lol.

Holy cow! I thought being stranded at the doctor's office was bad this last Thursday. I finally got a ride home 30 minutes later. Your situation, I would had panic attacks like never before. Sorry you went through this! They need a wi-fi signal in all elevators so a person can call out using wi-fi.

The last time this happened to me, was when i was in Las Vegas.... I was there for a convention called DEF CON. This happened at a hotel remote to the convention itself, so i don't think any con attendees had anything to do with it, but what i ended up having to do, was force open the control panel and pick the key switches to take manual control since the phone system in the elevator was dead. Im just glad i had my pick set with me on my way back to my hotel room....

Got stuck in an elevator for 20 minutes once in college. 3 hours? Call a lawyer.

It turns out the Otis people were stuck in an elevator at the exact time Dave was , go figure

I was assuming Dave was gonna take apart the elevator and repair the problem like he does in his other videos. I was not expecting that he was actually gonna be stuck for over 3 hours. Good to know that his ordeal ended.

About 25 years ago my son and I got stuck in the Space Needle elevator in Seattle for a long wait on the return trip to the ground. At least we had windows to look out so it didn't seem claustrophobic.

The elevators in the government building, where I worked in the 1990s, had a mind of their own at times. Sometimes miss a floor and stop at the next without any issues. Other times would stop a few inches high or low, doors opened ok. Sometimes slow to approach a floor but but keep going slowly until the next floor. People would end up on wrong floors a lot. Then they broke not infrequently, usually with symptoms such as the lift would move from floor to floor randomly but all buttons were locked out. The indicator panel would show multiple floors at the same time. Otis could never figure out why.

After hours service tends to suck, because they have a single operator for pretty much the entire country. I had the numbers for the actual staff in my phone though, plus the office number, so the lift being stopped would result in a lot faster service. Of course I also had the keys to the motor room, so could go there and reset the controller anyway and clear the trip fault. Friend gets a little stressed in these situations, and he kind of self rescued, though the block wanted to make him pay for the lift he took apart from the inside to exit. Apparently those doors are not supposed to be able to be ripped off the rails and folded into half from the inside without tools. Yours dropped dead on a floor, most likely a shaft sensor issue, it collected the sensor ribbon that runs the length of the shaft, with assorted steel flags bolted to it to do floor sensing, and ripped the polyamide belt out of the mountings as it jammed, probably due to worn guide shoes. Otherwise a worn emergency cable and overspeed regulator that triggered the cage brakes. In any case you are perfectly safe, unless it had shifted out of the guides, which would result in the cage jamming hard, but still not moving and still with at least 4 brake systems still operational. Yes it sucks, but at least you were only on the 3rd floor, imagine that poor tech having to walk up a 30 floor building to the motor room for a power failure, to get to the controller and grab the brake release lever, so he can raise the car to the next floor by turning the motor flywheel by hand. Note you raise, the car when under half load typically wants to go up with brake released, and unless you packed like sardines in the lift it will never actually be at full load. To test with load they bring in lots of 20kg masspieces, to get to two and a half times the rated load, on the floor of the car, and run it to every floor both ways, checking levelling is still correct.

you can always try to call 911. your phone picks another cellphone carrier with no coverage

Wonder if that's the same OTIS that's in the UK. I often have to deal with the lift guys so that I can ride on the of the lift to install the smoke detectors at the top of the lift shafts. Sometimes it's VESDA pipework. Also have to integrate the lifts with the fire alarm system so that they ground when the fire alarm is activated.

That happened to me some years ago and was stuck for a long time in the elevator. They did answer when I called, but told me there was nothing they could do. Luckily i had phone service and my daughter called me to ask where i was, because it was my birthday and she was meeting up with me. She called the fire brigade. I was unwell afterwards. The elevator was out of action for about a year! Now I have a fear of elevators.

If i have to wait anymore than 5 minutes, I'll start taking things apart

I was half expecting you to pry that cover off and whip out the trusty ESR meter. "No one's answering so I'll get myself out of this!"

At least the phone number went to the right place. I know a bank of Otis elevators in a modern hotel that haven’t had their autodialer updated. Even after the last time someone got stuck it still goes to an invalid number. Yes, these Otis elevators give the “technical difficulties” message too.

Real emergency: I have to poop.

I'm learning something through your own misfortune. YIKES! Christ, the pandemic has even caused lack of availability of lift operators! As an aside, it was always interesting to take the lift [elevator] at Bush House in London when it housed the BBC World Service. It was always uncomfortable being caught in the lift with two members of staff arguing with each other. That is the only thing I would dislike, being stuck in a lift, that of being stuck with someone I couldn't stand being with in an open field, let alone a 2m square metre aluminium box!

This is one of my issues with lifts/elevators. If you get stuck will the procedure for summoning help work as intended or will the alarm button go to a non functioning number? I used to have a real phobia of lifts but its not so much of a problem now. Nonetheless I do feel stairs should always be made available to people who need to use them in the same way that lifts/elevators are. In the office building I work in you have to swipe your ID badge on a reader to access the door to the stairwell. Also stayed in at least one hotel before with a similar system. With features like that in place surely its perfectly possible to keep the building secure and allow people to use the stairs? With

Beam me up Scottie ! There is no intelligence life in this place !!

A year later.......never get tired of this video......and your frustrated voice......it sure makes this video

That's crazy. Why didn't the people on the outside call 911 or the building manager instead of standing around?

Long time ago i had similar situation at home, but it was power surge, and i was between floors. My elevator is very old and very simple, it took me around 5 minutes to realize how to open the door myself and get out of there. I also had a case where i dropped my keys into the elevator's bottom shaft and had to open the door at first floor to get them, but as i said my elevator is very old and simple, if it is new like yours i'd hat hard time open it but i would try my best at all cost, there should be some service panel inside.

Nightmare lol! Thanks for sharing this - made an interestig vid!

Does it has air inside? This is frightening experience. What if there is no signal? or a person with no cellphone. Also just curious why you stll have the msk on ?. It helps you breath freely. Glad that you are safe.

the He-Man theme song playing in the background at the end LMFAO!!!!!!

Bad surface mounted caps in the lifts electonic module. They have leaked and caused corrosion on the board.

After 3 hours stucked in a elevator: Now we can go up to your place and fix your tv. Respect😊

That is a deserving blast to Ottis. Absolutely inexcusable service. Good thing nature didn't call the whole time. 😖

This is possibly due to, the fact that the phone goes to a central line which could be anywhere in the US or out of the US. so, they may have a line of calls, which yes the comp. has a time out limit. the staff there may not have any onfo, on how long you might have to wait, as if the FD/PD, may be on another call.

WOW!! That is ridiculous! Good going OTIS!

Imagine being stuck in there for 10 FUCKING HOURS. I WOULD JUST START PANICING LIKE FOR REAL

haha it's that skit Eleven! 1:46 from Reservoir Dogs he's like "I'm dying here man!"

That was *HORRIBLE!!!* I shudder to think if this were to happen in a hospital!!!

Was this in the Vancouver, Canada area? I am just amazed at how calm you were in this situation as I would have FREAKED out!! I have also advocated and argue all the time about stairwells being locked because I have a phobia of getting trapped alone in an elevator and I think it is against human rights to force people to take an elevator by locking the stairwells going up! Many people don't understand me and even tell me to "get over it" but I REFUSE to take an elevator alone and on weekends (less staff for rescue). Why don't people living in these types of buildings have the choice to use the stairs if they don't like elevators? If I were you I would have filed a law suite against this building and Otis.

Damn, this place sounds like a fire hazard. I would have tried to take a nap on the floor or something.

Wow, that's piss-poor from Otis. 3 hours.... At least you were on the clock ;) I've been stuck in a service elevator with 5 desk tops for company once but it was only about 45 minutes, wasn't much fun but could've been worse, could've been 5 of my then-colleagues.

Elevator difficulties happen, but being stuck in there for half an hour while the emergency phone rings and rings is unacceptable. I would absolutely be putting Otis on blast for that. Terrifying to think what would have happened if someone had a medical emergency.

It happened to me a few years back in the UK the scariest thing ever I will never go in a lift again . I think its a psychological thing now I always think something bad is going to happen if I get into a lift or elevator as you called them ....

That’s just like calling the sheriffs and them not answering.

Was stuck in an elevator in the dorm on Sunday evening after eating dinner. 12 of us in a small elevator, could not sit down, and we all just had food and drink. 90 minutes until we were out. Dorm didn’t allow us to use the stairs due to security concerns.

This elevator is an death trap.

For reference, if you have working cell service, call 911 or fire department. They'll show up quick and get you out quick. The elevator.may be a bit worse for wear by the time they're done but that's the building owner's problem.

That sure was a harrowing experience. Cheers!

I got stuck in a 1980s otis hospital elevator with a bunch of people including my father for 15 to 30 minutes (luckily no one was dying) when going to see my newborn sister in 2013 it had a similar fault to the elevator in the video i suddenly felt a jolt and it stopped but the doors didn't open and we knew we were stuck but could have been the first time it had that much weight in a long time as there were a lot of people and no one could find the emergency phone at first because someone was standing in front of it. Once we found it some people already had got a hold of the hospital so they already knew and got someone to free us they pryed the doors open we all carefully yet quickly stepped out because the floors weren't quite level and me and my dad went on exeited to se our new baby. but don't worry a few years later the hospital got all the elevators replaced but I'll never forget the 1980s elevators with bright orange paneled walls and floors.

The gen 2 voice kind of slaps third floor going down

I tried moving a photocopier in one a few years back, it was at a government office. The thing stopped halfway up and the doors opened showing a brick wall, didn't think it would bother me but that freaked me out. I rang my boss and he thought it was hilarious. He asked me, does that photocopier have a waste toner bottle. Confused I replied yes it does, he said well if you get caught short you know what to do.

It should be connected directly to the emergency (like 911 in the US.)

My ultimate nightmare 😱. I will only use an elevator if absolutely necessary.

Wow, I thought you did all the repairs at home? You actually still WORK as a repair tech? That's awesome, i didn't know there were any more service techs that worked on personal electronics!? I'm glad they finally came out, and that you didn't lose $$ over it.

I would be 'spitting blood' by the time i got out of this elevator.

That sort of thing could definitely give you PTSD symptoms 😉👍. I'd get yourself a lawyer.

You would have been better off with a direct line to Otis, the dimwitted sidekick in the movie Superman.

I got in the habit of using stairs unless I absolutely cannot. The reason is not because I fear the elevator breaking down but the pandemic. I do not want to be in a confined space with a bunch of people. Plus I hate confined spaces with lots of people in general. Furthermore, doing the stairs is one of best forms of exercise you can get.

The repair technician should change is He-Man ringtone. 3 hours to get you out is horrendous.

How ironic that the elevator emergency phone message sounds like your calling the bank ! Lol 😆

how are you gonna have a number for elevator emergencies and not answer it

8:35 Dave, you dont need a mask on when you are on your own! 😂🤣😂

Now THAT is one hell of a JC

The universe is telling you to take the stairs.

That is totally unacceptable! What if someone were having a medical emergency on that elevator and like you, had no cell service and thus that phone on the elevator was their only connection to the outside world and no one is answering, they would have been dead! And then to lock the stairwell what if there had been a fire in the building?! Whoever owns that building should drop “Otis Elevator” like a hot potato, and contract with someone else who will answer their emergency phone immediately when someone calls.

Just as well you didn't need to 'answer the call of nature' or need any emergency help (if you'd become breathless, had a panic attack or something!). Or, what if there was a fire, or smoke, what would have happened then? Surely if there is an elevator in a building there should be someone trained and able to answer the phone, or even better someone in the building who can do something to reset it? Or even someone who is able to get through to a mechanic sooner! Glad you made it out okay!

I got stuck in an elevator that would not stop. I held the stop button, forced the door open by hand, was in between floors, I moved a few times until I was half way lined up and opened the inside door, released the solenoid near the outer door, top and opened both doors and jumped out with my dog.

I would have left them a puddle to clean up!

Otis line” needs a reaming out big time DAM!

I've been stuck in an elevator for a freaking hour. but it opened back up after. I didn't even have to press the alarm button or use the phone.

In an OTIS Gen2 my favorite lift of all time smh see even OTIS has faults & they are the most reliable lift company in the world.

customer service is in philipines?

there not many tall buildings in Clacton where I am so lucky not to have to use these.

Unbelievable. Glad you got out

At least the alarm button is working. Last time i got stuck inside the elevator in my flat, that damn button did nothing. The idiots of the elevator company replaced the button panel an hour before i got in, but they where too lazy to properly test it so it failed an i got stuck. I had to call the fire dept. to get me out.

when a tool bag comes in handy :o)

Another thing to be uneasy about. I always assumed that phone would get you to someone that could help right away.

I know this maybe a dumb question so I apologize but couldn't you call from your cell phone to 911 or to otis directly?

You should have called JImmy Johns, super freaky fast. You will be ok, needs a drive reset...Those VFDS.. You didn't have to ? The horror.

Reminds me of last month when I was stuck for 2 hours at a train crossing on a narrow one-way street with a block of cars. Yet another example of how Portland Oregon is pure garbage.

modern elevator with out contactors must be solid state relay fried or more 3 layer surface mount components energy saving crap fried

It's weird how the tech couldn't just put the elevators in fire service using the fire key when he arrived. This would allow him to take command of the other elevator without needing any fobs. The mechanic should have a fire service key with him.

what a nightmare I fear this all the time ride one every day at work.

That's scary! Shame on you Otis

F'in hell! I was stuck once, and it just kept going up and down maybe ten floors like a yo-yo. I just sat down and closed my eyes. I didn't even know it stopped moving until the service guy opened the door.

Sounds like you got the shaft!

Wow,Dave ! Sorry to see that you got stuck for 3 hours !!, very frustrating !, I don't know if your cell phone would work in the elevator for you to call emergency services !!

Maybe they have outsourced the emergeny call central to India och Pakistan - like many other companies have done. Maybe they misspelled OTIS. It should be OSIS that in Swedish means "bad luck" or "unlucky"... By the way - why are you wearing a protective mask if you are alone in the elevator? (LOL) Thankfully I don't use elevators that often. ;-)

Sorry to keep sending you messages, but I just noticed, if you had a lock pick, you could try to open the firefighters panel and maybe override the elevator controls !!

Otis Gen2 MRL traction elevators are very sensitive, as jumping or stomping in the elevator stalls it out… AND DO NOT USE IT AS FREIGHT ELEVATOR!

LOL!!!!! Dave!!! Plus, U kind of sound like John Candy!!!

That's one of reason i don't use the elevator, I try and avoid it.