Reviewed by Lukasz Zelezny for the Dewhurst range. Lifts badged Otis, KONE, Schindler or TK Elevator frequently contain Dewhurst components. This page helps the engineer or technically-minded building manager pin down which Dewhurst part is fitted, understand how it tends to fail, and order the right spare first time. It is not for end users — all mechanical component work is engineer-only.
Quick Diagnosis
Answer up to three questions. We'll point you at the most likely Dewhurst fault on this page — full detail stays visible below either way.
Common Dewhurst Faults
The dewhurst lift problems reported most often to UK service desks — expanded in the order owners typically encounter them. Several are resolved by routine Dewhurst maintenance rather than a call-out, and the rest are far quicker to fix when you can describe the symptom precisely to whoever handles your Dewhurst repair.
Identifying a Dewhurst drive or machine in the machine room
Engineer onlyConfirming the Dewhurst drive, motor, or gearless machine fitted to your lift.
Most people arriving at Dewhurst troubleshooting pages describe the problem in roughly these words.
The drive or traction machine of a UK commercial lift is the single most expensive component in the fitting, and identifying it accurately protects the value of every spare and every service decision.
The plate on a Dewhurst machine gives the model designation, serial number and often the maximum load — photograph it in full.
On modern MRL (machine-room-less) lifts the Dewhurst machine is above the shaft rather than in a separate machine room. Either way, only a competent lift engineer should be inside the space.
Building operators should ask their contractor for a photo of the Dewhurst plate at the next visit and file it with the lift's log. Write down what you saw and when.
Regular Dewhurst servicing catches most of these early, and good Dewhurst maintenance notes shorten the engineer's diagnosis.
Dewhurst brake not holding or not releasing
Engineer onlyThe Dewhurst traction brake is showing symptoms of holding failure or drag.
Before you phone anyone about a Dewhurst repair, work through the description below.
The brake on a Dewhurst traction machine is a safety-critical component: it must hold the loaded car at the floor with the motor de-energised. Must release cleanly when the drive commands a start.
When a Dewhurst brake fails to hold, the car rolls slightly at every stop and produces the classic levelling error above or below the floor; when it fails to release.
The drive trips on over-current within seconds of the call. Both are engineer-only diagnoses on any Dewhurst machine and both are more and more urgent.
A brake fault is one of the fastest routes from "in service" to "unsafe". Building operators noting the symptom pattern accurately helps the Dewhurst engineer diagnose the fault at the first visit.
If it becomes a repeat event, treat it as a Dewhurst servicing question rather than a one-off Dewhurst repair; recurring symptoms usually trace back to a missed maintenance interval.
Dewhurst encoder feedback loss
Engineer onlyThe Dewhurst drive has tripped with an encoder or feedback fault.
This symptom accounts for a steady share of the Dewhurst repair enquiries we see each month. The encoder on a Dewhurst traction machine reports position and velocity back to the drive.
It is the reference the drive uses to command the motor.
An encoder fault on a Dewhurst drive shows up either as a specific coded trip on the drive display or as more and more erratic levelling at floors.
Diagnosis is engineer-only; the Dewhurst drive log records the trip and the underlying cause is usually an encoder cable fault, a connector working loose with vibration, or the encoder disc itself contaminated.
Building operators seeing the same Dewhurst trip repeatedly should pass the trip code to the contractor rather than accepting a mains reset as the resolution. Keep the Dewhurst maintenance paperwork with the lift.
Whoever attends the Dewhurst repair will want to see when the last service was done.
Dewhurst motor overheating
Engineer onlyThe Dewhurst traction motor thermal is tripping the lift out of service.
This is one of the most common reasons UK owners look up Dewhurst troubleshooting in the first place.
A Dewhurst traction motor has a thermal cut-out that fault-locks the lift when the motor winding temperature exceeds its rated limit. Repeated thermal trips on a Dewhurst motor are always symptomatic.
They can be caused by airflow to the machine or MRL space being blocked, by ambient temperatures in the machine room rising above the design limit in summer, by mechanical drag increasing the load on the motor, or by a fault in the Dewhurst drive that is pulling more current than the motor can shed as heat.
Building operators should check the Dewhurst machine-room airflow is clear and log any recent changes. The underlying cause is a Dewhurst engineer diagnosis.
Faults in this family are largely prevented by keeping to the Dewhurst servicing schedule, so check the date of your last Dewhurst maintenance visit while the paperwork is out.
Dewhurst drive tripping on over-current or over-voltage
Engineer onlyThe Dewhurst VVVF drive is showing repeated over-current or over-voltage trips.
Of every Dewhurst troubleshooting question sent to us. This symptom is among the most frequent. The Dewhurst VVVF (variable-voltage, variable-frequency) drive protects itself and the traction machine by tripping on abnormal current or voltage.
Repeated Dewhurst trips on the same indicator are diagnostic: over-current usually points to a mechanical load fault (brake dragging, guide-shoe seizure), over-voltage to a regenerative-braking issue where the Dewhurst drive can't dump the energy of a descending loaded car quickly enough.
Neither is a building-operator diagnosis. The Dewhurst drive event log is the primary source of truth.
The value of building staff noting the pattern is that it tells the engineer whether to bring parts for the mechanical or the electrical suspect. Add it to the log.
Planned Dewhurst maintenance is always cheaper than reactive Dewhurst repair. The log is what turns a vague complaint into a booked servicing job.
Dewhurst traction machine bearing noise or vibration
Engineer onlyThe Dewhurst machine is developing a rumble or vibration that carries into the car ride.
Read this through before booking any Dewhurst repair. The answer is often simpler than it looks.
Bearing wear on a Dewhurst traction machine is characteristically an ageing symptom: the ride quality of the Dewhurst lift gradually degrades, a low-frequency rumble appears on travel that wasn't there at start-up testing, and vibration more and more transmits into the car.
Left alone, bearing wear ends with a machine seizure and a long out-of-service period.
The value of catching it early is huge — a planned Dewhurst bearing service is a fraction of the cost and time of a failed-machine recovery.
Building operators should log ride-quality changes on the Dewhurst lift on the maintenance log rather than waiting for a fault to be reported by users.
Where the checks do not settle it, describe the symptom in your own words when you ask for Dewhurst repair. A plain description helps far more than a guessed diagnosis.
Dewhurst repair
A genuine Dewhurst repair starts with an accurate description of the fault, not with a part number. Record the error shown on the display or keypad, when it appears, and whether the lift component behaves differently on the way up than on the way down. Engineers quote far more accurately from that detail, and you avoid paying for a diagnostic visit that only repeats what you already know.
Anything behind a cover or panel, in the pit or shaft, or involving doors, gates and interlocks is engineer-only work. Your part of a Dewhurst repair is to check and report: mains power on, isolator on, emergency stop out, nothing in the door threshold, and a written note of the fault code.
What Noise Is Your Dewhurst Lift Making?
Lifts talk. Not eloquently — but a grind, a beep or an ominous silence each means something. Press play, compare, and pick the closest match.
Example sounds are synthesized approximations to help you compare — not recordings of Dewhurst equipment.
Grinding — likely causes on a Dewhurst lift
⚠️ Engineer only- Motor bearing at end of life on a drive unit
- Door-operator gearbox worn out
- Sheave or pulley bearing failure
Grinding from a Dewhurst lift component in service is a bearing or gear reaching end of life — motor, sheave, door-operator gearbox, or drive input.
The correct response from a lift engineer is to spot which unit is the source (bearings and gears each have distinct signatures on a stethoscope), order the correct Dewhurst service part, and plan the shutdown.
This is not a page for end users to work from: any mechanical work on Dewhurst drive. Motor or door components needs manufacturer training and the correct lifting equipment.
Building managers should log the fault and route the Dewhurst part number to their contractor.
What Light Is Your Dewhurst Lift Showing?
Lifts also talk in light. Pick what you can see.
Steady red — on a Dewhurst lift
⚠️ Engineer only- Drive-unit fault LED latched on the controller
- Door-operator fault indicator raised at end-of-stroke
- External enable input from the whole-lift controller withdrawn as a fault
Solid red on a Dewhurst lift is the controller saying it will not move until an open safety input is closed or a latched fault is cleared.
The common causes here are the boring ones, which is good news. Go round the lift once, calmly, and confirm the doors close fully. That no stop switch is left operated.
That nothing visible is holding a safety contact open. A red that clears after those checks is fine to use once travel returns to normal. A red that stays is latched.
Leave the lift powered, stop retrying, and report the exact light state to your service provider.
Is It Safe to Keep Using It?
Three questions. Ten seconds. Answer honestly.
When to Call an Engineer
If in doubt, hand it over. These five signs on your Dewhurst lift mean calling the service provider or using the form below:
- The same fault back within minutes of a reset.
- Any burning smell, smoke, or visible damage to cables or controls.
- Water present in the pit, machine room or car.
- The car outside its normal range or off the landing level.
- Doors, gates or interlocks behaving intermittently.
Dewhurst servicing
Ask any provider quoting for Dewhurst servicing what is actually included: number of visits, whether the alarm and emergency lowering are tested each time, whether batteries and consumables are covered, and what the response time is when something fails between visits. Two quotes at the same price often describe very different contracts.
Keep every service sheet. A dated history of Dewhurst servicing tells the next engineer which parts have already been changed, supports any warranty claim, and is the first thing a buyer's surveyor asks for when the property changes hands.
Dewhurst at a glance
Quick reference: how Dewhurst lifts are built, how they show faults, and where the official documentation lives.
- Segment
- Component (fixtures)
- HQ / market
- UK (global)
- Key products
- Push buttons, COPs, displays, fixtures
- How faults are shown
- Fixture-level diagnostics only
- Coverage on this page
- System-level
- Platform / ownership
- Fitted across many lift brands
- Official code source
- Dewhurst product documentation
About Dewhurst
Reviewed by Lukasz Zelezny for the Dewhurst range. Lifts badged Otis, KONE, Schindler or TK Elevator frequently contain Dewhurst components. This page helps the engineer or technically-minded building manager pin down which Dewhurst part is fitted, understand how it tends to fail, and order the right spare first time. It is not for end users — all mechanical component work is engineer-only.
Lift Troubleshooting is an independent resource and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Dewhurst. See our full disclaimer.
Dewhurst maintenance
The owner's share of Dewhurst maintenance is observation. Listen for new sounds, watch for a landing stop that is drifting out of level, and note anything that has changed since last week. Reporting a small change early is what keeps it from becoming a call-out.
Nothing in owner-level Dewhurst maintenance involves removing covers, entering the pit or shaft, or adjusting doors, gates or interlocks. If a check cannot be done from the landing with the equipment behaving normally, it belongs to a qualified engineer.
Frequently Asked Questions
What kind of equipment does Dewhurst make?
Dewhurst is a component (fixtures) manufacturer active in UK (global). The ranges most often met in the UK are Push buttons, COPs, displays, fixtures.
The fault-finding below is written around the behaviour those Dewhurst ranges share rather than around one model number.
So start here and then confirm your exact model from the rating plate before you quote anything to an engineer.
One thing worth knowing: the reference note for Dewhurst reads "Fitted across many lift brands". This can change whose manual actually applies to your machine.
What does the Dewhurst display or indicator tell me?
On Dewhurst equipment the sign is described as: Fixture-level diagnostics only. Codes are not standardised between makers, or even between board generations within Dewhurst, so photograph exactly what you see.
The characters, the lamp colour, the flash pattern — and report that with the model from the plate. Read the sign; do not open the Dewhurst controller or any panel to chase it.
What is the most common Dewhurst fault?
The fault this page opens with is "Identifying a Dewhurst drive or machine in the machine room". Confirming the Dewhurst drive, motor, or gearless machine fitted to your lift.
The next most reported Dewhurst symptom is "Dewhurst brake not holding or not releasing".
Work through the safe checks listed against each one, note what you observe, and pass that to a competent lift engineer.
All on this page stops at check-and-report: nothing here asks the maintenance contractor to force a door, move a stalled car, remove a panel or enter a pit or shaft.
How do I get the Dewhurst documentation for my machine?
The authoritative reference for this brand is the Dewhurst product paperwork. Dewhurst publishes to its own channels and to registered trade accounts rather than openly.
So if you have no account, ask your maintenance contractor to supply the Dewhurst document that covers your fitting.
Our own coverage of Dewhurst is currently rated "System-level", so treat this page as an orientation and the manufacturer's document as the authority.
Do Dewhurst parts have to be replaced like for like?
For anything safety-related, original Dewhurst parts protect the compliance of the fitting as a whole. The decision always sits with the competent engineer signing the work off.
If a contractor proposes a non-original equivalent for a Dewhurst item, ask them to record why it is suitable.