Getting Acquainted With a Commercial Door Closer

You know how important doors are. In your house, the door is that part that facilitates entry and exit of people to and from the house. The door is not just a fixture that functions as an entry and exit point. In general, it also provides reliable and effective security. When you are inside the house and you need to make sure your home will not be intruded by strangers and burglars, the door’s lock function is used. This way, no other people from the outside could be allowed to enter without full consent.

Imagine a business establishment where potential and current clients come and go all day. In strict definition, a commercial door closer is a mechanical device installed in a door inside a commercial establishment. Of course, from the name, you can tell that a commercial door closer is used to facilitate automatic closing of the door. Thus, take notice that when you enter some doors in select commercial centers, the doors automatically close without you having to do anything to open or close it.

To date, there are two basic classifications of commercial door closer products out in the market today. Commercial establishments and business should carefully assess the two and appropriately install them where they could be properly used. The categories very clearly tell where the commercial door closer types should be installed and put.

For crowded areas

The first commercial door closer category is the Grade 1 closer. This is basically installed with multiple control systems for latching, sweeping and backchecking. Of the two types of such door closers, Grade 1 is known to be the more popular and the more used. In the market, you could easily find this type compared to the other.

Function wise, a Grade 1 commercial door closer is typically designed and manufactured to facilitate endurance when installed in high traffic areas, or venues more frequented by people. In reality, these door closers are found in main entrances of almost all major commercial businesses. These door closers are designed and made to endure and last about 300 to 400 door closing activities per day. Despite its heavy use, you can be assured of the high powered endurance. In general a Grade 1 commercial door closer can last about three to seven years.

For less crowded areas

The second type of commercial door closer is the Grade 2. These door closers are well designed and produced to endure areas with medium traffic in a commercial establishment. Grade 2 commercial door closers are basically less popular and less used than Grade 1. That is because these closers are generally more susceptible to high and frequent stress.

For comparison, a usual Grade 2 commercial door closer can be used to close doors about 50 to 100 times in a single day, compared to up to 400 times in the Grade 1 category. This commercial door closer type is also using a minimum of double valves for the control of the closing door’s speed. Valve number 1 is designed to sweep in a point when the door is opened fully until it reaches around 10 degrees before being closed. At this door closure degree, the second valve will then take over to regulate the succeeding and final door closing speed, the latch speed.

For commercial establishment operators and owners, there is a need to discern between the two types. There are still some commercial centers inappropriately using Grade 2 for the functions of Grade 1 commercial door closer. This practice is detrimental. It is just fine to use Grade 1 closer to takeover the function of a Grade 2 commercial door closer, but the reverse is not true.