United States
Set completely apart from the rest of the elevator, the machine room is a room that is specially designed for holding the equipment needed to power the elevator. Machine rooms for traction elevators are usually accessed on a rooftop, penthouse, or through a mechanical equipment room whereas machine rooms for hydraulic elevators are nearly always on the ground floor or in the basement.
The machine room holds the elevator’s drives and controllers and is where you will find the main control systems for the elevators as well. While machine rooms can be used in both hydraulic and traction elevators, they are not required for all installations. For example, most residential applications use machine room-less (MRL) systems.
