If the close door button is designed to do nothing, then the Otis elevator company can say that “the close door buttons always work like a charm”, without stretching the truth.
Rocket … pssst: Do “close door” buttons on elevators ever actually work?
For years, I was convinced no one ever wired up the “Close Door” button until I started my current job. Not only do the buttons work in this building, but the automatic close delay is something like 30 seconds, meaning everyone automatically hits the “Close Door” button immediately after hitting their floor number.
FWIW, the “close door” button has always worked for me in many different elevators.
The *close door * buttons all work perfectly well in the lifts in this building.
Now for a more important question… do the crosswalk buttons at intersections do anything, or are they there just to make pedestrians feel like anyone cares about them? 
Crosswalk buttons are also sometimes purely decorative, like the majority of elevator close door buttons, but most of the crosswalk buttons (in my experience) do have an effect. At many intersections (including all so equipped intersections in Bozeman, so far as I can tell), one will never get a walk signal without pushing the button. On some intersections, however, the button will only hasten the signal, which still comes eventually. I suspect that when the button at such an intersection breaks down, it’s just a very low priority to fix it. In fact, there’s one such button on the Villanova university campus which went from working to not working in the time while I was there (and yes, I did time it).
For that matter, the close door button also works in my 9-story apartment building. Like Ponder, I now hit it automatically, but before the floor, rather than after. That way, I can hit the floor button while the doors are closing, since the elevator isn’t going anywhere until they close, anyway.
I have never come across a close button that doesn’t work. My addition to this though (and actually the reason this thread caught my eye, and inspired me to register) is the idea that some elevators can be put into “express mode” by holding the close button and the floor at the same time. When i heard this it was purely about Otis elevators (all we seem to have around here) and every time i’ve tried it it *seems * to work.
Hardly a scientific test mind you, for all i know there was simply no-one on the floors between me and my destination. When i have some free time i’ll test this out in one of the larger buildings at uni with some friends waiting on different floors. A quick search just then came up with a lot of discussions about this with no clear winner either way. So I’ll ask here: Has anyone come across this before? Any success? Complete failure?
A few years ago, after they replaced the elevator, we noticed it now took three times as long for the door to close. We were told this was in keeping ADA guidlines. If we were to press the close button, the doors would close after a few seconds wait. In addition, there was an electric eye within the doors, so that you don’t have to touch the doors to open them and that the elevator now automatically returns to the bottom if no button is pressed.
I read that recently as a hack on Boing Boing. Haven’t had a chance to try it, but only because I live in a town where the elevators only go two floors. Well there’s this one hotel, but I haven’t been by there to try it yet.
Of course, I grew up in a town where the only elevators were full of grain. 
Glad to hear it might work.
whistlepig
I agree with the majority that the close door buttons in the US do not work, at least in Austin, Texas. But when I came to Malaysia, a nice surprise is that the C.D. button works and give immediate results on all the elevators that I’ve come across. In fact, on a visit back to US, I actually felt a bit let down when using the elevators, having got used to way of things in Malaysia. I think it’s representative of the inborn impatiance Malalysians seem to have when it comes to such things like waiting, standing in line, right-of-way, driving in general, etc. A friend of mine coined it the “Me First!!!” attitude.
In some localities, I believe the function/malfunction of “Close Door” buttons in elevators is the result of competing laws. Many local disability laws (for example, in D.C.) require that doors not be allowed to close too soon in case a disabled person is attempting to enter the elevator. This means that elevator maintenance personnel must delay or disable the close door button when the elevator is in normal operation. However, in many localities (such as also in D.C.), the fire code requires the “Close Door” button to function in a precisely proscribed manner when the elevator is in fireman’s recall mode (a special mode that the elevator is in when fire departments activate it).
It is a bureaucratic catch-22, with one inspector telling the elevator guy that his close door button must be delayed or disabled, while another inspector is telling him that the button must work correctly.
It is much like a story I once heard (that I do not know whether is true or not) that on the same day the Department of Transportaion passed a regulation that all heavy equipment vehicles must have aubible beepers when they back up (presumably to protect construction workers who might be run over), the EPA issued a rule that all construction workers working near heavy equipment must be afforded earplugs (presumably to protect their hearing).
Tom, welcome to the Straight Dope Message Boards, glad to have you with us.
I assume that you meant your post to be part of this thread, so I’ve merged it in, rather than keeping it as a separate thread. Easy mistake to make, no prob, and, as I say, welcome!
Thanks Ponder, I knew I was forgetting something.
From Eric Tyson’s post;
Pun intended or unintended, this one made my day!
Thanks Eric
Have you considered the merits of up? Up is quite nice today. Are you sure? You wouldn’t want to hurt my feelings, would you?
I often feel up and down when using elevators. Would it be a hijack to inquire what are the fireman controls for? They always say don’t use the elevators in case of fire, what do the firemen use them for?
Civilians aren’t supposed to use elevators in a fire because [list=a]
[li]there won’t be enough elevators to handle a panicked crowd, and[/li][li]civilians generally don’t actually know whether the elevator will take them someplace safe or not.[/li][/list]Firemen make their own decisions.
I am not an expert on elevators, but I thought I would give my experience connected to this topic. When a fire alarm panel is activated, the elevators in the building all immediately return to the lobby and open their doors. They then sit there unable to be used until an elevator key is retrieved and puts them into firefighter mode. In firefighter mode, they are able to move to all floors. The fire fighter inserts the key into the switch that you see in the elevator and turns the control to “fire”. He then has to use the close door button to close the door completely. After the door is closed, he can then push the desired button for whichever floor to go to and the car will move to that floor. He then must push the open door button until the door is completely open and remove the key. The car will then remain on that floor until the key is reinserted and the reverse process is completed. The reasoning behind this is to keep the fire fighter from opening a door into a room full of flames and having the doors open completely and have to wait for the automatic close interval to be reached before the door closes. They also remain where they are when the key is removed so that the fire fighter will have a place to retreat to should he need an escape. This is how elevators are set up to work in our city and that is how they must work according to our local code. Sorry for such a long post on my first time in the forums. :smack:
Great response, Itlon. Exactly the info I was seeking and wondered about. Thank you for posting.
Raguleade, here’s Cecil’s column on crosswalk buttons: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_153.html
Where does a firefighter get the elevator keys? Does one key fit all worldwide, whether the elevator is made by Otis or Acme, and must there be a key in every firefighter’s back pocket? Or are elevator keys always in the same general location inside a building? Under welcome mats, perhaps? If so, what if that part of the building is a mass of flames?