Took me a decade to figure out my governor rope tension check was wrong

I was doing a full test on a traction job in a Cincinnati office building last Tuesday. The governor rope felt fine, but the safety gear wouldn't trip during the overspeed test. My apprentice, a new guy fresh from trade school, asked if I was checking the tension with the car at the top landing. I'd always done it with the car in the pit, which is how I was taught. Turns out, that extra rope weight at the top changes everything. I redid the tension with the car up top and it was off by almost 30 pounds. How many of you were taught the old way versus checking it at the top?

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3 Comments

paulw635mo ago

Honestly, is 30 pounds really enough to make the safety gear fail? Seems like the system should have a bigger margin for error than that.

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charles9195mo ago

Wait, what's the actual safety margin supposed to be?

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wesley_thompson5mo ago

That tiny margin is everywhere now, drives me nuts.

3