Crash Bar Adjustment

[Jim Katen]

At this entry door, if the user fully depresses the crash bar, the door works perfectly. However, if the user only partially depresses the crash bar, the door unlocks but the lower pin doesn't fully retract and it drags on the ground. Of course, as the door closes, the dragging pin catches on the threshold and doesn't fully close.

The contractor says that he's tried every possible adjustment and can't get it to work properly when the bar is only partially depressed. He believes that this is simply the way that the hardware works and that the residents should be instructed in proper operation of the door.

I say that if the bar is depressed enough to cause the latch to retract, then the pin ought to lock up. However, I've never actually installed or adjusted one of these things.

Anyone have experience with these things? Am I off base?

[kurt]

What make?

I ask, because a lot of the cheap one's suck. Almost impossible to adjust correctly.

OTOH, it's fair to the installer to require folks to use the door in a manner that insures it works properly.

[Tom Raymond]

The bottom head is shot.

The quick fix is to shorten the rod between the touch bar and the head. The pin will stop dragging but the latch may not always engage. If it is a cheapo, a new head will get you a thousand cycles or so before it acts up again.

A new quality device is the only long term fix. I like Yale or Hager. A high cycle vertical road device should run around $500. If you want decades of trouble free operation you want Von Dupren. Your client will faint when they see the $900 price tag, but it's way less expensive than installing $250 S Parker devices every 18-24 months.

If this is a fire rated exit expect to add $2-300 to those estimates, double that for the Von Dupren.

[Chad Fabry]

The bottom head is shot.

The quick fix is to shorten the rod between the touch bar and the head. The pin will stop dragging but the latch may not always engage. If it is a cheapo, a new head will get you a thousand cycles or so before it acts up again.

A new quality device is the only long term fix. I like Yale or Hager. A high cycle vertical road device should run around $500. If you want decades of trouble free operation you want Von Dupren. Your client will faint when they see the $900 price tag, but it's way less expensive than installing $250 S Parker devices every 18-24 months.

If this is a fire rated exit expect to add $2-300 to those estimates, double that for the Von Dupren.

Freak

[Tom Raymond]

Thanks.[]

[Jim Katen]

The bottom head is shot.

The quick fix is to shorten the rod between the touch bar and the head. The pin will stop dragging but the latch may not always engage. If it is a cheapo, a new head will get you a thousand cycles or so before it acts up again.

A new quality device is the only long term fix. I like Yale or Hager. A high cycle vertical road device should run around $500. If you want decades of trouble free operation you want Von Dupren. Your client will faint when they see the $900 price tag, but it's way less expensive than installing $250 S Parker devices every 18-24 months.

If this is a fire rated exit expect to add $2-300 to those estimates, double that for the Von Dupren.

Thanks. I'll try to find out the make. The building is 9 months old and the problem has been there from day one. Every other door in the building works perfectly.

[Jim Katen]

. . . OTOH, it's fair to the installer to require folks to use the door in a manner that insures it works properly.

I disagree. A door is one of those things that shouldn't require special instruction to operate properly.

Besides, even if you could hold a training class for all of the residents and staff, how are you going to instruct the delivery guy, the bike messenger, visitors, etc?

[gtblum]

The quick fix is to shorten the rod between the touch bar and the head.

It's also not unusual to have to shorten them during the initial installation. I've had to do it on school jobs.

[kurt]

. . . OTOH, it's fair to the installer to require folks to use the door in a manner that insures it works properly.

I disagree. A door is one of those things that shouldn't require special instruction to operate properly.

Besides, even if you could hold a training class for all of the residents and staff, how are you going to instruct the delivery guy, the bike messenger, visitors, etc?

I suppose, but it's hard to tell what's going on 1500 miles away.

Just put in a decent Yale crash bar and hardware set. Cheap hardware always screws up; it's the number one cause of commercial door failure I see on a daily basis. Doesn't matter if the other doors are OK; they'll screw up soon enough.

[gtblum]

The contractor says that he's tried every possible adjustment and can't get it to work properly when the bar is only partially depressed. He believes that this is simply the way that the hardware works and that the residents should be instructed in proper operation of the door.

For the last two days, I've been trying to think of some of the stuff I had to play with when installing these things. Since it was at least four years back, and just something I dealt with on a case by case, I'm not coming up with any, "Oh yeah I remember that's". However, did the contractor ever check the bucks or the doors themselves? If they're off, he could waste a month adjusting and never get it right. Did you guys lay a level to the bucks? Could it be a matter of throwing the door and not adjusting the hardware?

[Jim Katen]

Update.

The hardward set is made by Dorma. At my urging, the contractor got the manufacturer to send out a rep who shortened the bar. It now works perfectly.

Thanks for the help.

[hausdok]

Bump, Bump, Bump,

Another one bites the dust.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike