How to Escape from an Elevator

Those who read this blog, know that I write about crafty, do-it-yourself, self-sufficient projects that any urban dweller can do. Well, sometimes the DIY project chooses you, rather than you choosing the project. Like rescuing yourself from a stuck elevator!

Urban dwellers rely on elevators as part of their daily lives. If it were not for the invention of elevators (and air conditioning) sky scrapers would not be possible. But what happens when you get stuck in an elevator? How do you get yourself out? There may be emergency workers who can help you but there may not. In the end, you need to be responsible for your own safety, disaster preparedness and rescue. You are the only one who can lose if you fail to do so.

First off, call for help. Try the emergency button in the elevator. At most large buildings someone will answer who can help you or call someone who can. If the call button is broken or if no one answers, use your cell phone (if you get a signal) and call the police/fire department.

I called for help but they were not helpful. They were going to call the repair man so god knows how long that would take. So I decided to take matters into my own hands.

Assuming there are no mercenaries or terrorists outside the elevator door, I would focus your energy there rather than trying to go through the roof. In all but the most extreme circumstances, I think going through the ceiling is a pretty bad idea. From what I understand, elevators do have service hatches in their ceilings. However, chances are you will not be able to locate it or get it open without tools (another reason to bring a Leatherman with you wherever you go!). Chances are you will also do a lot of damage which the building may hold you responsible for. Then, once you're on top of the car, you're not that much closer to rescue. You need to climb up the ladder to the mechanical room and find your way out. There is a good chance of the elevator going up and hurting you, falling off the ladder, electrocuting yourself, crushing yourself in the cable or counterweight or climbing to the top only to find a cage covering the shaft preventing things (or birds) from falling in. But in an extreme scenario, where life and limb are at stake, this course of action may be warranted.

For the vast majority of all circumstances, you can rescue yourself through the elevator doors. Despite the admonishment from the helpless guy on the intercom, I decided to open the elevator doors myself. Chances are no matter where you are stuck, there will be the door exits to a floor at either the top or the bottom of the interior door.

The interior doors were fairly easy to open. They were counterweighted with weights off to the side but were not latched internally. With these open, you can see the rear side of the door to the floor. If you think about it, these would be the doors that would be latched. You don’t want the exterior doors to open randomly when a car isn’t there because someone could fall into the shaft.
The floor door has a latch with a series of rollers. One part of the latch moves to release the second part of the latch. Fiddle with this and it will release the lock. Once you've released this latch, the door will open just like the interior door- with counterweights pulling it closed. Note that the floor doors will open slightly without opening the latch. I think this allows rescue workers to install pneumatic airbags or scissor jacks to open doors that are jammed for other reasons.

Here is a picture of the release latch from the interior of the elevator. Note that I took this off another website- I didn’t take the time to take pictures in the middle of this ordeal!
A disclaimer: I am not an elevator expert. I figured this out on my own. There are several types of elevators and many different models. They may not all work the same way!