Smell the Ocean Air, in the Elevator?

By Sebastion Lury
Special to the Critic

Students may have noticed the sticker in the Vail elevator had expired and that it smelled of sea salt; but there is a good explanation for each.

“Everything’s up to date,” says Tom Archer, director of physical plant at LSC, “and they always were.” The elevator, Archer explains, is inspected two to three times annually by Vermont Inspection Services and the college has a maintenance agreement with Bay State Elevator to provided necessary maintenance every three months or so.

“It was a paperwork glitch,” says Archer. The reason for the expired sticker is a paperwork issue, not a safety issue according to Archer. Students will notice that the elevator now displays a faxed copy of the updated sticker and will continue to do so until the physical copy is received.

However, that does not explain the awkward smell on the first floor.

That smell is the byproduct of LSC’s efforts to be environmentally friendly. Archer explains that instead of the elevators using hydraulic oil, it uses vegetable oil.
According to Archer, most piston-powered hydraulic systems leak a bit due to the downward thrust of the piston into the oil. However, the difference between hydraulic oil and vegetable oil is that vegetable oil will biodegrade. When this occurs, the smell is produced.

When possible, the maintenance crew can clean the small leaks and the smell goes away. They do this by pumping off the rest of the oil and adding fresh and also by adding an environmental fungicide, Simply Green, and deodorant. For bigger leaks, Bay State Elevator is called in to remove excess oil.

Archer thinks that the reason for this elevator having the smell and others not having it is that the Vail elevator has a seal that leaks more. Archer assures that the seal is functional, however, because if it were not the elevator would not work.
“We spend a lot of money on these elevators,” says Archer about the smell and the inspection sticker. He also thanks LSC students for their concerns and questions and encourages students to be aware of these things.