Elevator calculators that show their working

Free elevator calculators that show their working and name the clause. Each result shows the formula with your numbers in it, the code clause and edition it rests on, and a drawing that updates as you type. Every page works in US or metric units.

Not engineering advice; a licensed professional checks every result. This is a first build. The ASME and EN limits in calculators 1, 2, 4, 9, 10 and 12 still need a trade check against licensed copies of the cited editions, and each of those pages lists what is unconfirmed.

Calculators

• 01Size and hoistwayPlans the hoistway width, depth and height from the car's inside size, door type and counterweight position. It draws a live plan and section, checks the ASME A17.1 running clearances and gives the car's minimum rated load.
• 02Rated load and capacityMinimum rated load from the car's inside platform area, or the largest car area a rated load allows, by the ASME A17.1/CSA B44 passenger formula, with the EN 81-20 person count.
• 03ADA car size checkerChecks an elevator car's inside dimensions and door width against the 2010 ADA Standards: passenger elevators (407.4.1), LULA elevators (408.4.1) and private residence elevators (409.3 and 409.4.1).
• 04Pit depth and overheadMinimum pit depth and overhead for a traction elevator from rated speed, buffer type, runbys and car heights, by ASME A17.1/CSA B44 or EN 81-20.
• 07Traffic and how many elevatorsUp-peak round trip time, interval and 5-minute handling capacity for a group of elevators, and the number of cars needed to meet your interval and handling targets, with every step of the working shown.
• 08Speed and travel timeFlight time between floors for a jerk-limited (S-curve) elevator ride from travel distance, rated speed, acceleration and jerk, with whether rated speed is reached.
• 09Escalator dimensionsEscalator horizontal run, incline length and overall length from rise, angle and end lengths, with angle, speed and step width checked against ASME A17.1/CSA B44 or EN 115-1.
• 10Escalator capacityTheoretical escalator capacity in persons per hour from speed and your persons per step planning input, the capacity you plan to use, and how many escalators a demand needs, with the speed checked against ASME A17.1/CSA B44 or EN 115-1.
• 11Counterweight and balanceCounterweight mass from the empty car mass, the rated load and the balance ratio, with the out of balance empty and full and the largest out-of-balance force the machine holds.
• 12Rope safety factorFactor of safety of elevator suspension ropes from rope count, roping, breaking load, car mass, rated load and the rope hanging in the hoistway, checked against EN 81-20 or the ASME A17.1 minimum for your speed.

Articles

• Elevator Machine Room Temperature and Heat Load Planning
• ADA Elevator Door and Signal Timing for Boarding

Plain-language notes on planning questions, each with its sources. All articles.

Manuals library

Free elevator, escalator and lift manuals, linked from the makers' own sites, plus public-domain government guides. Search by maker, model or document type. Open the library.

For AI agents

Every calculator is also a tool on our MCP server, running the same functions as these pages. The site also publishes llms.txt, llms-full.txt and a JSON catalogue. How to connect.

How the numbers are made

Every calculator is written fresh from the governing standard or from first principles, then tested against worked examples that a second, separate implementation produced. Rules from ASME A17.1/CSA B44 and EN 81-20 are restated in our own words and computed for your inputs; the text and tables of those standards are not reproduced. ADA requirements are quoted from the federal text.