Saw a weird hoistway setup in an old building in Savannah

I was working on a call at the old Cotton Exchange building downtown last week. They have these really narrow hoistways, maybe 4 feet wide, with the machine room directly above the shaft. The access door to the motor is through a tiny hatch in the ceiling of the car top. Anyone else run into a space this tight and have a good way to handle the motor work?

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3 Comments

the_holly7mo ago

Honestly, that sounds like a nightmare to work in. I read a forum post a while back about a guy who had to deal with a similar setup. He ended up using a bunch of those small, low-profile socket wrenches and a mirror on a stick to see what he was doing up there. Took him like three times as long as a normal job.

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josephbutler7mo ago

Sounds like that guy made it harder than it needed to be. I've done a few jobs in tight spots like that. A good magnetic pickup tool and a flexible head ratchet gets most things done without the mirror trick. Adds maybe an hour, not triple the time.

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evan_burns957mo ago

Triple the time just for a mirror, @josephbutler?

2