I used to think a little extra slack in the governor rope was fine until a safety circuit on a 15-story Otis unit in Philly tripped because of it.

Barbara Carter · 2026-03-25T02:20:08.534495+00:00

What's your go-to method for checking governor rope tension now, because I'm clearly rethinking my old habits?

Check it with the spring scale like the book says every time. That Philly story is a good warning, but I've seen tight ropes cause just as many problems with binding. You really just need to hit that sweet spot in the middle.

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hannah_fox5mo ago

My old foreman in Tampa swore by the quarter trick. He'd have us lift the rope at the midpoint, and if it gave more than a quarter-inch of play, we'd re-tension it. Honestly, it felt a bit superstitious, but his units never had a callback for governor issues in the five years I was there.

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keith2645mo ago

Wait, that was a 15-story drop on an Otis? That's a whole different level of scary.

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