Elevator hacks Video

Elevator hacks Video Transcript

>> Tom: Personally I find elevators terrifying ever since I got stuck in one when I was 3 in a Tennessee Valley Authority Power Plant outside of Memphis, so I want to spend as little time in there as possible. Facing my fears I'm going to show you a few tricks for speeding up the ride on this episode of Hacks. ^M00:00:17 [ Music ] ^M00:00:26

>> Tom: First off a warning, we can't actually advocate you do any of these tricks 'cause it could mess up the elevator system and it could definitely get the passengers upset and want to mess you up. Let's start with a classic, the My Floor Express. Now, allegedly if you hold the Close Door button while you press the floor you want to go to it will actually skip the floors in between. Bloggers say it works, experts say it shouldn't, let's find out. Okay, so I'm gonna press 4, we've got somebody on 3 then I'm gonna hold the Close button and press 6. Let's see if it works. ^M00:00:58 [ Music ] ^M00:01:06

>> Tom: Oh, look, there's Lynn, didn't work. Reports are that this trick works on most Otis models except for those built in 1992, Dover models EL546 and Elod 862 and Desert models except for ELD5433 and ELF3655. Let me know if you find any other makes this trick works on. Also, reportedly pressing and holding a floor button until you reach your destination can bypass any stops. ^M00:01:31 [ Music ] ^M00:01:40

>> Tom: Yeah, that one didn't work either. Now what about the smart-aleck who gets on the elevator and presses all the buttons and then leaves? Hey, cut that out. Well, in this model elevator you can actually hit a button twice and t hat makes that floor selection go away, that's not cool if the person who wanted to go to that floor is still in the elevator with you. Finally, one that every apartment dweller probably knows. If you want the lift to wait for you while you go and grab something. While the doors are open press the Emergency button, the doors will stay open until someone else gets in and presses another button. That's also good in a TV movie if your character wants to have a dramatic conversation.

>> What did you do that for?

>> Just wanted to see what would happen.

>> You pulled the Emergency Stop button on an elevator and it stopped, what did you think would happen?

>> Tom: Once again, be warned if you try any of these tricks you could harm the elevator, you could also get yourself in trouble and you could definitely get some people angry at you so be advised. That's it for this edition of Hacks; I'm Tom Merritt, CNET.com. ^M00:02:40 [ Music ]