Creepy Old Soviet elevator

A classic Soviet elevator with a nice motor sound! Looks very creepy!
The car button panel must have been re-wired at some point, as the "1" button does not work, instead the ground floor is reached by pressing "2".
This elevator may be replaced soon with a modern and accessible lift, due to a city-wide campaign to replace all Soviet elevators.
======== Technical information ========
* Manufacturer : KMZ ?
* Type : traction, two-speed
* Capacity :
* Installed in the early 1970s
* Floors served : 6
Location : Abovian 11, Yerevan, Armenia
© The French Elevator Channel

[@OstentatiousHempcat]

Elevator that predates video game consoles stays in service long enough to have an ad for the PS5. Incredible.

[@CaeiTridz]

Love this, it's like a time machine. That shot at the end with the closing doors was awesome too, very cold and harsh the way it just slams shut like that!

[@thefrenchelevatorchannel]

These doors are very dangerous as the safety latch sensor could not always detect an obstacle like someone’s arm and could start moving.

[@richardkitson6625]

This elevator is a Goddamn

[@ElevatorsRo]

Amazing old Soviet-style elevator 👍

[@watchmakerful]

One "feature" of this model is a set of mechanical position sensors (3-way switches) on each floor in the shaft. The position of each switch determines the direction in which the lift starts up if the corresponding floor is called. Similar European and American systems used a positioning device in the machine room, not in the shaft.

[@thefrenchelevatorchannel]

This is actually a very simple yet a very ingenious system to determine the position of the lift car.

[@austrianelevators696]

Cool elevator 👍

[@melevator]

Incroyable !

[@Dmitrytln]

Karacharov Mechanical Factory. The most expensive elevator brand in USSR.

[@serbianelevators]

Why does it have more floor buttons than floors served?

[@thefrenchelevatorchannel]

Soviet elevators were built in standardized batches that could fit all buildings without needing to customize for each different building. Same parts were used for all buildings, no matter how many floors. That’s communism 😄 nothing in one place must be different than another.

[@idl3k_elev]

Seems that old Soviet elevators are more fun to ride than old Greek elevators!

[@thefrenchelevatorchannel]

Always an adventure when you enter one of these: you never know if you’re gonna reach your destination 😅

[@permin9533]

Something I can say about greek elevators, been riding soviet knes countless times, never got stuck, rode pretty old one in greece, we gor stuck ​@@thefrenchelevatorchannel

[@thefrenchelevatorchannel]

@@permin9533 Soviet elevators have such simple mechanical equipment and logic that the failure points are very low. On some elevators, you can even force the doors open without disabling the elevator itself, showing how dangerous these Soviet elevators are.

[@upanddownadventures]

"This elevator may be replaced soon with a modern and accessible lift, due to a city-wide campaign to replace all Soviet elevators." What do you mean by this? Are most/all of these residential buildings still under government ownership/management (and the government has decided to modernize/replace the elevators)? Or are most/all of these buildings privately owned (the elevator modernization/replacement being due to elevator codes/building codes)?

[@thefrenchelevatorchannel]

Most of the Soviet buildings in the city belong to the municipality, and so the municipality has decided to replace almost all of these old Soviet elevators. There have been several incidents and accidents in the past few years involving these old elevators. There are no specific building/elevator codes in Armenia. The elevator modernization campaign is also aiming to improve disabled accessibility but there is a problem: almost all of these Soviet buildings have steps at the entrance…

[@razvanschuster5058]

3:06 I like how the doors violently smash while wobbling. Also, are the doors filled with beer bottles? It sure sounds like it.

[@thefrenchelevatorchannel]

That sound you hear is just loosen bolts and metal wheels holding the doors on their rails. The "rails" are tilted downwards on Soviet elevator doors, thus doors close by gravity. On most Western elevators thought, there are counterweights fitted inside the doors, which allow the doors to close, also by gravity.

[@razvanschuster5058]

Damn. Cool. My elevator is also made in the communism-era, but it got renovated ages ago. Now the renovated needs renovating, because the circuit board is held on by hopes and dreams. Yes my elevator has some chips and dents, but this is just... wow. This elevator's mechanic boutta have a good lawyer if the elevator fails 💀

[@magnetique12]

C'est commun en Russie et tout les pays de l'Est (Ex-URSS), voir dans l'Ex-Yougoslavie. Le manufacturier est bien KMZ!

[@nazikkavkaziklolipopik1698]

This one would be as (Samarqand-1970) if this right

[@magnetique12]

En Arménie, je ne suis pas sur qu'ils aient les moyens de remplacer ces vieux ascenseurs, c'est très commun dans les Khrouchtchevka par exemple. Si vous allez en Géorgie, à côté, les ascenseurs de ce type ont été modifié pour fonctionner avec des pièces, pour avoir l'argent pour l'entretien de ces ascenseurs, faute de moyen de faire autrement. En Ukraine, il y avait un système de carte de crédit de voyages, qu'il faut recharger, pour utiliser l'ascenseur.

[@thefrenchelevatorchannel]

Et pourtant la municipalité de Yerevan a décidé de remplacer tous les ascenseurs soviétiques, environ 4500 appareils d’origine vont être remplacés. Certains l’ont déjà été, j’en ai filmé plusieurs. C’est essentiellement l’argent public qui finance cette campagne de modernisation.

[@magnetique12]

@@thefrenchelevatorchannel Ok, merci pour la rectification, tant mieux pour eux. Je ne sais pas pour le reste de l'Arménie.

[@LDTV22OfficialChannel]

The doors slide like cardboard boxsprings

[@batatogamer]

😮😮😮😮

[@ParrotPentester]

legend has it if you press 1 then 9 then 2 and then another 2, the soviet anthem will start playing and you will become *OUR* property, and if you press 1 then 9 then another 9 and then a 1, the elevator will fall down as fast as possible and crash

[@Azety93]

Me French man living 8 years in Ukraine. I miss it

[@dabiggestbird-yw6xj]

Why do the doors close like that, and why don't they open all the way?

[@thefrenchelevatorchannel]

Lack of maintenance I guess

[@Azety93]

D'ailleurs je suis en Ukraine actuellement, je t'envoie des vidéos d'ascenseur si tu veux

[@thefrenchelevatorchannel]

Salut, oui ça m’intéresse énormément, avoir des vidéos de vieux ascenseurs soviétiques, et en plus d’Ukraine, c’est le genre de vidéos que je veux. C’est encore plus intéressant sachant la situation actuelle de l’Ukraine. On peut échanger par mail: [e-mail]

[@Azety93]

@@thefrenchelevatorchannel le souci étant que je viens de quitter Kharkiv pour Kiev. Va falloir que je cherche des ascenseurs et j'ai pas trop le temps. Donc faut que tu me donnes des adresses à visiter.

[@thefrenchelevatorchannel]

@@Azety93 je connais pas du tout l’Ukraine… l’ascenseur dans cette vidéo est en Arménie.

[@Azety93]

@@thefrenchelevatorchannel OK. On va improviser. Regarde tes mails

[@Paulie1232]

Everything is creepy in Russia 🇷🇺

[@serbianelevators]

This is in Armenia