Reviewed by Lukasz Zelezny for the Sodimas range. Sodimas lifts carry passengers and goods in offices, retail, hospitality, healthcare and residential buildings throughout the UK. Because commercial lifts are engineer-only equipment, nothing here is owner-serviceable. What the page does is arm the facilities manager with accurate fault language, the right Sodimas warning message, and a shorter path to first fix.
Quick Diagnosis
Answer up to three questions. We'll point you at the most likely Sodimas fault on this page — full detail stays visible below either way.
Common Sodimas Faults
The sodimas lift problems reported most often to UK service desks — expanded in the order owners typically encounter them. Several are resolved by routine Sodimas 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 Sodimas repair.
Sodimas lift shows Out of Service and won't accept calls
Engineer onlyThe Sodimas commercial lift has fault-locked itself and the car display reads Out of Service.
Before you phone anyone about a Sodimas repair, work through the description below. A Sodimas commercial lift showing Out of Service has fault-locked from the controller — an issue the drive.
Brake, door or safety circuit has flagged and refuses to clear without engineer authority. Facilities staff should note the exact wording on the Sodimas display.
The time of day, whether the car is stopped at a floor and level with the sill, and any noise or vibration that preceded the fault.
All of that goes to the Sodimas service desk on first call; nothing on a fault-locked lift is appropriate for building staff to touch. Do not reset the mains isolator to the Sodimas lift.
That clears the controller's own fault log and makes the underlying cause materially harder to trace on the first engineer visit.
Faults in this family are largely prevented by keeping to the Sodimas servicing schedule, so check the date of your last Sodimas maintenance visit while the paperwork is out.
Sodimas lift doors keep reopening and won't leave the floor
Engineer onlyThe Sodimas car doors close, then reopen without any command and the lift does not depart.
This symptom accounts for a steady share of the Sodimas repair enquiries we see each month. Repeating door-reopen cycles on a Sodimas lift are a safety-edge or light-curtain fault.
The full-height infra-red curtain across the Sodimas car opening detects anything from a shopping trolley left in the doorway to a strip of dust on the vertical lens.
Facilities staff can safely wipe the vertical rails of the Sodimas door opening with a soft cloth, remove any obvious obstruction from the sill, and see if the doors seat cleanly.
If they still reopen, log a call to the Sodimas service line. Do not force the doors closed and do not hold the door-close button.
The reopening behaviour is the safety-edge doing its job and defeating it is not appropriate. Add it to the log. Planned Sodimas maintenance is always cheaper than reactive Sodimas repair.
The log is what turns a vague complaint into a booked servicing job.
Sodimas lift stops slightly above or below the floor
Engineer onlyThe Sodimas car floor comes to rest 10–40 mm above or below the landing sill.
This is one of the most common reasons UK owners look up Sodimas troubleshooting in the first place.
Levelling errors on a Sodimas lift are a trip hazard and must be reported the same day, ideally with the car out of service until an engineer attends.
On modern Sodimas traction lifts the drive re-levels the car automatically once passengers step in or out; when the re-level begins to drift or fails, it points to encoder feedback loss, brake wear, or drive gain adjustment.
On older hydraulic Sodimas fittings, the car sinking below the floor after a load steps out is a valve or seal issue. Building staff should not try any Sodimas isolator reset.
The correct action is to sign the car out of service on the Sodimas lift log and log the fault with the manufacturer's callout time in mind.
Where the checks do not settle it, describe the symptom in your own words when you ask for Sodimas repair. A plain description helps far more than a guessed diagnosis.
Sodimas display shows a warning message
Engineer onlyA status message or warning indicator has appeared on the Sodimas car operating panel display.
Of every Sodimas troubleshooting question sent to us. This symptom is among the most frequent.
Any message on the Sodimas car display beyond the floor indicator and direction arrows is a controller status intended to be read and logged.
The useful discipline for building staff is the same regardless of brand: photograph the display, note the time, note whether the Sodimas lift kept running or stopped, and pass all three to the service desk on the first call.
Do not clear the message by cycling the Sodimas mains isolator. That erases the controller's own log and materially delays the engineer's diagnosis on the next visit.
Repeated instances of the same Sodimas warning within a short window show a component drifting toward failure and should be treated as urgent.
A short entry in the Sodimas maintenance log now avoids any later doubt about whether the fault was reported before the next Sodimas servicing visit.
Sodimas lift alarm rings but the intercom is silent
Engineer onlyPassengers press the alarm on the Sodimas car and get no voice response.
Read this through before booking any Sodimas repair. The answer is often simpler than it looks. Since 2018 every new commercial passenger lift in the UK, including Sodimas fittings.
Has been needed to have two-way voice communication from the car to a 24/7 monitored line.
When the alarm rings on a Sodimas lift and nobody answers, the emergency line is either not configured, the SIM in the Sodimas auto-dialler has expired, or the telecoms line into the machine room is down.
The auto-dialler unit on a Sodimas lift lives in the machine room and needs a monthly test call.
This is a building-owner compliance need and one of the most common items to fail a LOLER report.
Log the fault as urgent; a car with a non-working intercom must not be left in service. Whatever the outcome, note the date and the symptom in your Sodimas maintenance record.
A clear history makes the next Sodimas servicing visit quicker.
Sodimas lift ride is rough or noisy
Engineer onlyThe Sodimas car judders, vibrates or is markedly noisier than usual in travel.
Most people arriving at Sodimas troubleshooting pages describe the problem in roughly these words.
A Sodimas passenger lift developing a rougher ride than normal is a mechanical wear indicator: brake pads glazing, guide-shoe roller wear, rope wear, or bearing noise on the Sodimas traction machine.
Building staff should not diagnose any of these.
The intent of noting the change is to raise it with the Sodimas service contractor at the next planned visit rather than waiting for the ride to degrade to a fault-lock.
Describing the change ("noise now audible from floor 4 upward". "vibration on down travel only") is more useful than a generic complaint.
All mechanical work on the Sodimas lift is engineer-only and off-limits to building staff. Write down what you saw and when.
Regular Sodimas servicing catches most of these early, and good Sodimas maintenance notes shorten the engineer's diagnosis.
Sodimas repair
Before booking a Sodimas repair, separate the symptom from the cause. A commercial elevator that halts mid-travel, one that will not start, and one that starts then stops are three different jobs even when they look identical from the landing. Note which of the three you have, plus the last thing that changed — a power cut, a new floor covering, a delivery knock — and hand that to whoever attends.
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 Sodimas 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.
On a commercial installation, repair also has a paper trail. Log the fault with building management the same day, keep the reference, and make sure the report reaches the company holding the maintenance contract rather than a general facilities inbox.
What Noise Is Your Sodimas 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 Sodimas equipment.
Grinding — likely causes on a Sodimas lift
⚠️ Engineer only- Traction sheave or brake pad wear on a geared or gearless machine
- Guide-shoe wear against the rail
- Roller-guide bearing failure
Grinding from a Sodimas passenger lift is never a building-manager job.
Put the lift on Fireman's or Independent service if you can, or place a barrier at the landing, and open a priority ticket with your service company today.
Note the floor at which the noise is worst. Whether it is loudest on the up-run or the down-run. How long the sound has been present.
Do not enter the shaft, the pit or the machine room. Do not try to move the lift by hand. Building maintenance duty here is limited to reporting, barriering and logging.
What Light Is Your Sodimas Lift Showing?
Lifts also talk in light. Pick what you can see.
Steady red — on a Sodimas lift
⚠️ Engineer only- Fault-latched shutdown on the controller
- Fireman's or Independent service engaged and locking the car out
- Door-fault indicator held until service reset
On a Sodimas lift, a constant red light is a stop signal: something in the safety chain is open, or a fault has been recorded and latched.
In practice the trigger is usually something ordinary that the person using the lift can see. Before anything else, watch the car and landing doors close cleanly. Check nothing is holding a door edge.
Confirm no car-stop or emergency switch has been left operated. If it clears, resume normal use. If it persists, report it: keep the lift powered, avoid repeat attempts.
Give your service company the precise light state along with what you already checked.
Is It Safe to Keep Using It?
Three questions. Ten seconds. Answer honestly.
When to Call an Engineer
When these show up, stop and get help. Your Sodimas service provider, or the form below. Is the right next move if you see:
- The same fault returning within minutes of a reset.
- Burning odours, smoke, or damaged cables or control equipment.
- Water in the pit, machine room or car.
- The car outside its usual travel range or stopped off-level.
- Doors, gates or interlocks showing intermittent behaviour.
- Any mechanical fault on a commercial elevator — DIY scope is limited to checking mains power, noting what the display shows, and reporting to building management.
If this lift is in a workplace or managed building, see our LOLER thorough examination guide for the statutory inspection duties that sit alongside repair.
Sodimas servicing
Regular Sodimas servicing is the cheapest fault prevention available. A visit typically covers the drive and safety circuits, battery condition, charge points, limit and door detection, and a test of the alarm — the same items that generate most emergency calls when they drift out of tolerance.
Keep every service sheet. A dated history of Sodimas 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.
Servicing is not the same as a statutory thorough examination. In a workplace or managed building the two run alongside each other — see our LOLER thorough examination guide for how the duties differ.
About Sodimas
Reviewed by Lukasz Zelezny for the Sodimas range. Sodimas lifts carry passengers and goods in offices, retail, hospitality, healthcare and residential buildings throughout the UK. Because commercial lifts are engineer-only equipment, nothing here is owner-serviceable. What the page does is arm the facilities manager with accurate fault language, the right Sodimas warning message, and a shorter path to first fix.
Lift Troubleshooting is an independent resource and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Sodimas. See our full disclaimer.
Sodimas maintenance
Day-to-day Sodimas maintenance is mostly housekeeping, and all of it is safe from outside the equipment: keep charge points and landings clear, keep the commercial elevator on power rather than isolating it between uses, and keep the door threshold free of grit, rugs and packaging.
Nothing in owner-level Sodimas 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.
In a managed building, maintenance records and fault reports should sit in the same log. When you report a defect, record who you told, when, and what they said — that log is what proves the equipment was kept in a safe condition.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is my own Sodimas lift covered by this page?
Sodimas equipment appears in UK buildings across the commercial lifts segment. Confirm your exact Sodimas model from the rating plate before quoting anything to an engineer.
The fault behaviour below is written around what these machines share, not around a single model number.
Where does a Sodimas lift show its fault code?
Sodimas indications vary by model and control board. No single code list covers the range. Photograph whatever the Sodimas unit is displaying along with the rating plate, then report both.
Read the sign only — never open a panel or controller to investigate it.
Which Sodimas problem comes up most often?
The fault this page opens with is "Sodimas lift shows Out of Service and won't accept calls". The Sodimas commercial lift has fault-locked itself and the car display reads Out of Service.
The next most reported Sodimas symptom is "Sodimas lift doors keep reopening and won't leave the floor".
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 building manager to force a door, move a stalled car, remove a panel or enter a pit or shaft.
Is there an official Sodimas source for fault information?
Ask your maintenance contractor to supply the Sodimas document that covers your fitting. Makers publish service paperwork to registered trade accounts rather than openly.
Treat this page as orientation and the Sodimas manual as the authority.
Who is the dutyholder for a Sodimas lift under LOLER?
For a Sodimas passenger or goods lift in a workplace, the dutyholder is normally the building owner or their appointed managing agent: they arrange thorough examination by a competent person, keep the reports, and act on defects.
Your Sodimas maintenance contractor usually coordinates the inspection. However, the duty does not transfer to them.