Door Industry Journal - Winter 2018

Also online at: www.dijonline.co.uk 118 THE door industry journal winter 2018 Locks & Building Hardware Making the right choice Choosing the right door closer for most projects has, until recently, been a relatively simple affair. All that mattered to many was whether the product met the relevant performance standards and fitted in with their budgets. Post-Grenfell, the situation has changed significantly. Social landlords, estate managers, owners and specifiers in the public and private sectors are now taking much greater care over the specification, installation and use of door closers, particularly where they have a direct impact on fire safety. Performance is paramount Door closer performance is key in two vital areas, fire safety and accessibility. From a fire performance perspective, door closers which carry the CE mark are essential. This is assured by compliance with BS EN 1154 in the case of controlled door closing devices. Door closing devices which incorporate an electrically powered hold open device, such as Free Swing door closers, should also comply with BS EN 1155. BS EN 1154 includes a number of requirements, chief amongst which are successful fire testing to BS EN 1634-1 and cycle testing to at least 500,000 opening/closing cycles, which is equivalent to ten years in a high usage environment and should, reasonably, be expected to be covered by a manufacturer’s product warranty of ten years. Accessibility is governed by BS 8300 and Approved Document M (Section 3 in Scotland, Part R in Northern Ireland), which stipulate maximum forces required to open a door. It should be noted that these requirements are applicable to the entire door assembly and, therefore, door