My house keys are stuck down an elvator shaft - how do i get them out?

Question

My house and car keys fell down an elevator shaft, it takes a few days for the service guys to call out, has anybody any idea as to how a non pro like myself could get the keys which have fallen all the way to the bottom of the shaft, ive tried a coat hanger and magnet, i can see the ground below through the elevator opening but cant see the keys - the only way was down for the keys - any ingenius ideas greatly appreciate ( of a non life threatening nature!) its bugging me a bit!

Answer 1

The pit for the elevator will be 4-5 feet deep

you can try the magnet trick and good luck reaching them

If it were me that dropped the keys I would go to my van and pull out my elevator key so I could open the doors. But those are hard to get a hold of for the average person.

Might try the building maintence pepole they should have one

Answer 2

There is a pit under the elevator but it takes a special key and know how to get to it. There are no trap doors or special doors.

The elevator does have to be taken up to at least the next floor level and all power to that shaft has to be cut off.

Only a technician has the key, the know how and the (Most importantly) insurance to go under that car.

I maintained an 84 unit apartment building in Chicago for 5 years. We had Otis.

Yes there is such a thing as an elevator key and I had to go through training on the proper use and safety procedures before they would give me one. Then I had to keep it locked away from the rest of my staff. And that was only to open the door from the outside in case anyone was trapped.

If you can't get to or see the keys then you have to wait for the tech. They do make house calls, most often at no charge. If it is maintained by Otis they will make three special trips a month at no charge to you or the building.

You want to take care too. In most states, what you are doing is illegal.

Answer 3

don't you people know that 99.9% of keys are made of brass  and a magnet will not work on brass

Answer 4

The people of the building must be seriously amused, while you aren't. I hate when people are like that. Usually there are crawl holes and basements under the elevator shafts that are accessible to people. They just think it's funny so they aren't telling you about it. They have to have spaces in there for the maintenance people to get in and fix things.

Tell them you know they have a space under there accessible to people and if they don't let you in you will call an officer out there for holding onto your keys, because it is an emergency.

Answer 5

How about tying a big magnet to a long string and seeing if you can get them with the magnet?

Answer 6

There is an safety access pit under the elevator.  It is there so if someone is working on the elevator shaft, the car will not crush them.  That is where your keys are.

The only way to get to them is to stop the car above the lowest level and manually open the doors to the shaft.  You should find out what this will cost, it might be cheaper to get new keys made and wait until the next scheduled maintenance for someone to scoop them up as a favor.

Call the elevator company from the maintenance sheet that is in where the emergency phone is.  Ask how much it would be.

Answer 7

the person below me made a very good point, but actually there are long metal rods that actually are made for grabbing other metal objects in tight or hard to reach places and has a strong magnet at the end. I believe you can get them in hardware stores such as lowe's or home depot,....possibly even the auto/ home part of sears. hope this helps!

Answer 8

The only thing I could see you using is a string with the magnet tied with the string and then lower it so it reachs the ground where the keys landed, If you could get a mechanic's mirror that has a light you could look for them and then lower the magnet down, hope that helps that's the best I could come with. Good Luck

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