Closers slamming

[seasickstevie]

Dad moved into a care home recently.

Although the staff don't seem to notice (or particularly care), the doors all slam every time someone walks through them.

They are all wheelchair-wide fire doors. Obviously heavy doors, and in my opinion need closers that are capable of controlling such heavy doors without slamming every time they're used.

Spoke to the maintenance guy. He says "they have to do that to make sure they close"

Photos:
//media.diynot.com/39000_38311_61803_36370552_thumb.jpg
//media.diynot.com/39000_38311_61802_37077137_thumb.jpg

It's my belief that they're not up to the job.
I realise it would cost a lot to replace them all throughout the building with better quality units - and that's not going to happen - but I'd welcome the opinion of anyone else as to if it's likely they could be adjusted.

Maintenance guy reckons they're up to the job.

 

[Porque223]

The ones I've seen close very slowly until they slam at the end. The makers can tell you if these meet specs and are adjusted properly if you time the door closing.

BTW, the closing force vs. rotation angle vs. closing speed for these hydraulic & spring closers must be a pretty interesting curve.

 

[DHFrames]

Have you tried adjusting it?? Should be 2 adjustment slots on one of the ends, one slot will control the 'sweep' of the door, the other will control the speed of the 'latch'. 30 sec job hopefully

 

[seasickstevie]

These are pretty much all the doors in the building, including doors that interlink with other 'wings' of the building that staff to & fro through all day long.

As the relative of a new 'resident', I'm not sure they'd take kindly to me getting on a chair adjusting every door throughout.
(Take more than 30 secs).

Looking online, some of these closers are expensive pieces of kit - over £60 each. Whilst ones which look like these are less than £13.

http://www.screwfix.com/p/eclipse-28730-overhead-door-closer-size-3/18938

How heavy is a 3ft wide fire door?
Will a close designed for a 60kg door be adequate?

 

[Porque223]

One scenario borrowed from car safety - airbags in vans have decapitated children and parents who sued alleged that the bags' speed-of-deployment was tweaked in order to make them work with vans whereas they were designed for passenger cars that behave differently during a crash. A van redesign would have been costly.

So...
The doors may have been tweaked incorrectly to solve other problems.

The manager may have ordered the wrong closers and will do almost anything to save face.

The closers might have a design defect.

Even if no one has been hurt yet these closers may be putting residents at undue risk. The closer maker surely has done these risk tradeoffs.

If you somehow cost the home money they will take revenge on your dad.

You are already on their RADAR for even asking about these closers.

 

[foxhole]

The closers should be matched to the weight of the door, heavy wide firedoors require good quality closers £60 is very cheap, our office door closer cost £120 each and they were long way off being the most expensive.
Check for signs of oil on the back of the doors failed units slam as there is no oil to damp the closing action.
They have two adjustments one for closing speed and the other for latching, they can be adjusted to close with a wisper.
Sounds like their maintenance man hasn't a clue.
I use to pay about £45 a closer to have them serviced and re-oiled, they probably just can't afford the costs involved.

 

[pinenot]

I would wonder if care homes were not a little bit worried today, in light of some of the recent exposures!
Whilst slamming doors are virtually commonplace in public/commercial buildings, this is mostly down to lack of understanding of how to adjust and a lack of respect in my opinion. Tell me are you stuck with this particular care home or is there another in your vicinity?
Re your question of door closer suitability, the fire service are responsible for inspection of these premises, door closers on fire doors are one of the top priorities, and although I don't think they will be allowed to provide YOU with the results of these inspections, they must report to someone and this someone is legally responsible to provide the public with this information, in some form. You could ask your nearest C.A.B. for an answer on this, whilst they themselves may not know, they all have lawyers in attendance who will know...worth a shot for a loved one I would think...pinenot