Short answer: New York City does not accept the national capacity plate wording. Appendix K deletes ASME A17.1 Section 2.16.3.2.1 and writes its own, and it adds a subsection to the data plate section that does not exist in the national standard. A plate ordered off a generic A17.1 spec can be short one line in this city.
Appendix K is New York City's modified version of ASME A17.1-2013, which is why the section numbers below look like A17.1 numbers. Every quote here is the city's own text. More on that in what elevator code edition NYC actually uses.
The capacity plate, as New York City writes it
Appendix K opens Section 2.16.3, "Capacity and data plates", with an instruction to "Delete and revise Section 2.16.3.2.1", then gives the replacement:
"2.16.3.2.1 Capacity plates must indicate the rated load of the elevator in pounds or kilograms and pounds (see Appendix D). In addition, this plate or a separate plate shall indicate
(a) the capacity lifting one-piece loads where the elevator conforms to Section 2.16.7
(b) for freight elevators designed for Class C2 loading, the maximum load the elevator is designed to support while being loaded or unloaded (see Subsection 2.16.2.2.4(c)), and
(c) calculated per Appendix D, the number of persons on passenger elevators and freight elevators permitted by Section 2.16.4 to carry passengers."
Three things worth reading twice. The rated load is in pounds, or in kilograms and pounds, not kilograms alone. Item (c) makes the person count a calculated figure out of Appendix D, not a number somebody rounded. And the section allows the extra items to go on the capacity plate or on a separate plate, which is why some machine rooms have two.
The line NYC adds that the national code does not have
This is the one that catches people. Appendix K says "Add new Subsection (f) to Section 2.16.3.2.2", then:
"2.16.3.2.2 Data plates shall indicate
(f) the weight required for balanced load."
"Add new" means exactly what it says. A contractor reading a plain copy of ASME A17.1-2013 will not find subsection (f), because it is not in the national standard. It is a New York City addition. If a data plate was specified from the ASME book alone, the balanced load weight is missing.
That is what the balanced load data plate exists for, and it is why we cite 2.16.3.2.2(f) on it rather than a generic A17.1 reference.
Does a modernization need new plates?
Start with which rules reach an existing elevator at all. Appendix K Chapter K3, Section 1.5, tells you: existing installations have to conform to, among others,
"(b) Requirements 8.6, Maintenance, Repair, and Replacement; and 8.7, Alterations"
So Section 8.7, Alterations, applies to the elevator that is already in the building. An alteration is not a grandfathered situation.
Then read what the city added to 8.7 about weight. "Add new Section 8.7.2.15.2.1 to read as follows":
"8.7.2.15.2.1 When weight is added or removed from a counterweighted elevator, the counterbalance prior to the alteration shall be maintained."
Read that against subsection (f) above. The balanced load figure on the data plate is a statement about the counterbalance. If an alteration adds or removes weight and the counterbalance is required to come back to where it was, the figure on the plate is the figure the work has to land on. It is the acceptance criterion, sitting on a plate.
What Appendix K does not do is set a general rule that says "replace the data plate after a modernization". We are not going to invent one. What it does is make the plate's numbers binding, and require new tags on the controller once the work is tested. That is the next section.
What an alteration makes you take down
Two places in Appendix K order signage removed, and both are easy to miss on a punch list.
Where an intermediate hoistway entrance is put out of service, new Section 8.7.2.10.6 requires, among four items:
"(d) Associated labeling and signaling shall be removed."
And where an alteration decreases travel at the top of the hoistway, Section 8.7.2.17.1, subsection (c), item (4):
"(iv) Associated floor labeling and signaling shall be removed."
A floor that no longer exists in service cannot keep its jamb plate or its hall lantern. That is a signage line item on a modernization, and it runs the opposite direction from the one everyone budgets for.
The same item (4) also creates a legend that has to go up. The by-pass switch for the new top terminal stopping devices:
"The switch shall be manually operated, be labeled "Terminal By-Pass", and shall have two positions; By-Pass and Normal."
What ends up on the controller when the work is done
Three separate tags, three separate sections, and they are not interchangeable.
Acceptance, Appendix K's replacement for Section 8.10.1.1.4:
"8.10.1.1.4 Acceptance test tags. A metal tag with the date (month and year) the acceptance test was satisfactorily performed, and the name of the applicant of record, shall be installed to be readily visible and shall be permanently attached to the controller of each unit."
Brake service, new Section 8.6.4.6.1.2:
"8.6.4.6.1.2 A metal tag indicating the elevator maintenance company and date of service shall be attached to the elevator controller."
And periodic testing, Section 8.11.1.6, which is the CAT 1 and CAT 5 tag. That one has its own article, because CAT 5 is four locations and not one: where CAT 1 and CAT 5 tags go.
Where this article stops
You will notice we have not quoted A17.1 Section 8.9, the code data plate section itself. Appendix K does not modify 8.9, and the stock ASME A17.1-2013 text is copyrighted and not something we will paraphrase from memory. We print a section number only where we can show you the section. That is also why several products on this site carry a specification and no code citation at all.
What we stock against the sections above: the capacity and equipment data plate, the balanced load data plate for 2.16.3.2.2(f), the DLM modernization code plate for K-1 and K-3 work, and the CAT 1 and CAT 5 maintenance tag for 8.11.1.6.
If you are pricing a modernization and want the plate list checked against the scope before you order, send it over on WhatsApp. Related reading: every sign NYC names around an elevator machine room.