Should lift motor rooms and lift controllers be included in an electrical thermography survey?

Yes, in most commercial buildings they should. Lift motor rooms hold the lift’s incoming isolator, controller and drive, which carry real load every time the car moves. They are often left off survey routes because the lift contractor holds the keys. Plan access with them, survey while the lifts are in normal service, and keep the findings in one report.

Why lift equipment gets missed

On a typical office, hospital or residential block survey, the route covers the main switchroom, risers and floor distribution boards. The lift motor room is usually at the top of the building, locked, and looked after by a separate lift maintenance contractor. Machine-room-less lifts are harder still, with the controller in a landing door frame or at the top of the shaft. So the equipment that keeps people moving around the building often has no thermal record at all.

What can be surveyed

The lift supply isolator and the cable terminations feeding it, usually the last point on the building’s distribution before the lift contractor’s equipment.
The lift controller: contactors, terminals, fuses and the incoming connections, where the panel can be opened safely.
Drives and motor terminations, where they are accessible with covers removed by the lift engineer.
Lighting and small power boards in the motor room itself, which are easy to add while the room is open.

In taller buildings the motor room is often fed from the top of a rising busbar or rising mains, so it makes sense to survey both on the same visit.

Getting the timing and access right

Lift load is intermittent. A controller that has been idle for an hour will show very little, so the survey needs the lifts working: either at a busy time of day, or with the lift engineer calling the car up and down while the thermographer images. The lift contractor’s engineer opens the controller, because it is their equipment and their safe system of work. Booking them for the same visit is the single thing that makes this work, and it usually only adds a short slot to the day.

What thermography doesn’t replace

A thermographic survey is not a lift inspection. It doesn’t replace the thorough examination carried out under LOLER, or the lift contractor’s own maintenance. It shows how the electrical connections in the supply and controller are running under load, measured and recorded, which is evidence the other inspections don’t produce. Ti inspects and reports; the lift contractor or the site’s electrician investigates and carries out any work.

What the report shows

Each lift appears in the same report as the rest of the building, with thermal and visual images, the measured temperature, exactly where it was taken, the ambient, and the difference in °C from a like-for-like reference such as the other phases. If a lift couldn’t be loaded on the day, the report says so, so it can be picked up next time rather than quietly dropped.

Frequently asked questions

Do the lifts need to be taken out of service?

Usually only for a short spell while the lift engineer has the controller open, and often not even then. Agree it with them in advance so building users aren’t caught out.

Can machine-room-less lifts be surveyed?

Often, yes, where the lift engineer can give safe access to the controller and supply isolator. The report notes anything that couldn’t be reached.

How often should lift equipment be included?

Normally at the same interval as the rest of the building’s electrical survey, so there is one consistent record year on year.