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Srinidhi Elevators

How often should an elevator be serviced?

A passenger lift runs on two different clocks at once: a routine maintenance visit every 15 to 30 days under most maintenance contracts, and a statutory safety inspection every 6 to 12 months set by the lift rules in force where the building stands. The routine visit is written into the contract you sign with a maintenance company; the statutory inspection is signed off by a regulator or approved inspection body, independent of who maintains the car.

Which end of each range applies to a specific lift depends on the drive type, how hard the car is used, and what the local code requires. A gearless machine-room-less (MRL) lift and a hydraulic lift do not wear the same components at the same rate, so the checklist executed at each visit differs even when the calendar interval looks identical on paper.

Elevator Service Interval Reference
Check item Interval Unit Typical failure caught
Routine maintenance visit 15–30 days Door operator misalignment
Statutory safety inspection 6–12 months Worn brake lining
Landing door fire rating 30 minutes (EI30) Compartmentation breach
Rope & guide shoe check 15–30 days, within routine visit Rope strand wear
Low-rise car speed 1.0–1.6 m/s Levelling drift
High-rise car speed 2.5–6.0 m/s Overspeed governor trip
Peak traffic design 12–15 % population / 5 min Queue overload at peak
Maintenance checklist 20–30 points per visit Alarm / car lighting failure
Routine visit versus statutory inspection interval Bar chart comparing the 15 to 30 day routine maintenance visit against the 6 to 12 month statutory safety inspection. Days between visits (routine) 15 days min 30 days max Months between visits (statutory) 6 months min 12 months max Routine visit bars scaled to 30-day axis; statutory bars scaled to 12-month axis.
Fig. 1 — Routine maintenance visit (15–30 days) plotted against the statutory safety inspection (6–12 months); the two run on separate schedules.
Travel time for a 100 m rise at four car speeds Bar chart of time in seconds to travel a 100 metre rise at 1.0, 1.6, 2.5 and 6.0 metres per second. Time to travel a 100 m rise, by car speed 100 s at 1.0 m/s (low-rise) 63 s at 1.6 m/s (low-rise) 40 s at 2.5 m/s (high-rise) 17 s at 6.0 m/s (high-rise) Pure travel time, before door open/close and levelling.
Fig. 2 — Pure travel time across a 100 m rise falls from 100 s to 17 s as car speed rises from 1.0 to 6.0 m/s.

Procedure: setting your service interval

  1. Confirm the drive type and rated load on the lift’s data plate or installation certificate before the first maintenance contract is signed.
  2. Book routine maintenance visits every 15 to 30 days; a visit skipped past 30 days is the single most common cause of an undetected door operator misalignment.
  3. Have the maintenance engineer log the 20 to 30 point checklist at every visit: brakes, door operators, ropes, guide shoes, safety gear, alarm, levelling and car lighting.
  4. Escalate a worn brake lining or a rope strand wear finding to an emergency callout within 24 hours, not the next scheduled visit.
  5. Schedule the statutory safety inspection every 6 to 12 months according to the lift rules enforced in the building’s jurisdiction, separate from the maintenance contract.
  6. Renew the inspection certificate on the date it expires; an expired certificate is grounds for a building to be refused occupancy sign-off in most jurisdictions.

Go deeper

Maintenance Intervals

What gets checked at every 15–30 day visit versus the 6–12 month statutory inspection, item by item.

Read the checklist

Capacity & Car Sizes

Match rated load, persons and door width to your building’s floor count and traffic before you order a car.

See the chart

Traction vs Hydraulic vs MRL

Pick a drive type from floor count, machine room space and required speed before you buy.

Compare drives

Questions building owners ask

Our lift almost never breaks down, can we skip the 15–30 day visit and go straight to annual?
No. The routine visit is what catches a door operator misalignment or an early rope strand wear finding before it becomes a breakdown. The statutory inspection at 6–12 months checks a different, slower-wearing set of components and does not replace the routine visit.
Isn’t the statutory inspection the same thing as maintenance?
No. Maintenance is a contract between the building and a service company. The statutory inspection is carried out against the lift rules in force locally, usually by a separate approved body, and the two run on independent schedules.
What actually fails if we stretch the interval to 45 days?
Door operator misalignment and levelling drift are the two faults most often found late when a visit slips past 30 days, because both worsen gradually rather than failing outright.
Does the landing door rating matter for maintenance?
Yes. Landing doors are fire-tested to at least 30 minutes (EI30) under EN 81-58, so a door knocked out of alignment is a compartmentation breach, not just an inconvenience, and gets flagged at every routine visit.
Who decides the statutory inspection frequency, us or the maintenance company?
Neither. It is set by the lift rules enforced where the building stands, typically once every 6 to 12 months, and the maintenance company’s contract sits on top of that minimum.