TIL elevator cables are way bigger than I thought

Was replacing some governor cables on an Otis Gen2 last week. Looked up the spec sheet - that 3/8 inch cable handles like 23,000 pounds of tension. Blew my mind. Never really stopped to think how much force those things take every single day. Any of you guys ever seen one snap from wear?

2 comments

2 Comments

faith_torres8318d ago

Wait, does that 23,000 pound number include the safety factor or is that just the working load? I mean, I get that elevator cables are way bigger than people think, but idk if that spec sheet number tells the whole story. Maybe it's just me, but I've always heard those cables are actually way stronger than they need to be on purpose, so they don't really snap from normal wear that often. Like, most of the time when a cable fails it's from something else, not just the tension building up over time. I'd be more worried about the sheave wearing down or something like that.

noah_rivera5718d ago

Read something a while back from a mechanical engineer who worked on skyscrapers. He said those cables have like a 12 to 1 safety factor built into them. So that 23,000 pounds is probably the working load, but the actual breaking strength is way up there, maybe 275,000 pounds or more. That's why they hardly ever just snap from wear and tear, like you said. It's usually the sheaves or the governor mechanism that goes first.