Electrified Hardware
I was at a security meeting for one of my projects recently, and I heard the security consultant refer to the “secured side of the door,” meaning the inside – the area that is protected by the security system. I don’t know about you but my brain was imprinted long ago with the method of [...]
Today is the 3rd anniversary of iDigHardware (aka iHateHardware)! WOOHOOOO!!! If you were wondering what to send as an anniversary gift, all I want is your experience and expertise. I have had several questions lately that I could use your help with. I am always amazed by your willingness to add your two cents to [...]
I’m in San Antonio, Texas at a beautiful hotel and conference center for our annual sales meeting, and there are A LOT of doors with mag-locks. Check out the coordination of the bank of pairs below…concealed closers, overhead stops, and mag-locks all coexisting in the same space. Notice that the mag-locks have a split armature [...]
My site has been moved to a new server so hopefully all of the technical difficulties are behind us and I can get on with the important stuff – DOORS! If you find any glitches, broken links, etc., please let me know. And if you need a new website or help with an existing one, [...]
I swear, I didn’t send him the camo underwear. Check out Bill’s blog at blog.accesshardware.com.
That’s the question I was asked on Friday…“If someone orders a delayed egress exit device or delayed egress mag-lock, when do they need the ‘BOCA’ feature?” Incidentally, the person who asked me the question was one of my college classmates. There are actually a few graduates of Vermont Technical College who ended up in the [...]
I have a special place in my heart for locksmiths. Maybe it’s because I’ve been “saved” a few times…like the time I locked myself out of my apartment in my PJs at 6 a.m. Or maybe it’s because I like the mechanics of what they do. I always loved helping our in-house locksmith with masterkeying, [...]
As many of you know, I was away last week to do some specwriter training. While I thoroughly enjoyed hanging with some of my peeps for a few days (not to mention 12 hours in the car with 3 of them), my email really piled up. I was so happy to find these photos in [...]
Every so often a set of photos comes across my desk and I don’t know whether to laugh or cry (remember these?). The photos below left me speechless. I could have saved them for Wordless Wednesday since I have no words, but I couldn’t wait to share. Thank you to Michael Glasser of Kroll Advisory [...]
This post was printed in the March 2012 issue of Doors & Hardware An electromagnetic lock is basically an electromagnet mounted in an enclosure on the frame head, with a steel armature mounted on the door. When the door is closed and the magnet is energized, the magnet bonds to the steel armature and locks [...]
This post was printed in the January 2012 issue of Doors & Hardware Delayed egress hardware prevents a door from being opened from the egress side, usually for a period of 15 seconds. This type of device is often used to prevent theft, while maintaining life safety. The system is most commonly comprised of an [...]
Last week someone called me with a “quick question” about a double egress pair in a hospital. The hospital wanted to install shear locks on a pair of double egress doors, to use during emergency lock-downs. Unfortunately, as some of you have figured out by now, I don’t usually have a quick answer. There are [...]
Many of Schlage and Von Duprin’s electronic access control product numbers have changed within the last couple of years, and I’ve gotten a lot of calls about converting products and finding current information. The Electronic Access Control Catalog is now available on the Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies website, and the Search feature makes it much [...]
Well…the latch is retracted and it involves a wire! As a follow-up to yesterday’s post about retrofit dogging accomplished with a tie-wrap, here’s a photo from Brendan Daley of Horner Commercial Sales that was taken in a new hospital. I’m guessing they weren’t happy with the lock function so they came up with this ingenious [...]
Someone recently asked me why, after going to architectural school, I decided to become a hardware consultant instead of an architect. Right around graduation, I decided that I couldn’t become an architect because the process was way too subjective for me. I like right/wrong, black/white. I like math…you get an answer and it’s right or [...]
An EPT is an electrical power transfer, which is used to transfer wires from the door frame to the edge of the door. It is used when there is a door-mounted piece of electrified hardware which requires power and/or sends a signal to a remote location. The security consultants that I have worked with all prefer [...]
Fair warning…this is going to be one of those posts that makes your eyes glaze over, especially if you haven’t had your coffee yet. But since I’ve seen several people come to my site looking for this information and leaving without it, I need to post about it before the next person comes looking. I’ll try to [...]
I didn’t want to scare anyone by adding more information to my previous post about stairwell re-entry, but I do get questions about how to accomplish this. The stairwell re-entry requirements state that the stair side lever must unlock on fire alarm or on a signal from the fire command station depending on the code [...]
Every so often I love to have a guest blogger write a post for me, so I can have the night off to do something fun and exciting like attend a PTO meeting (sad, right?). My colleague, Steve Ostapower, was recently involved in a situation where the power usage of a Von Duprin EL (electric [...]
Kidzilla and I went to New Haven yesterday for what will hopefully be our last trip to Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital. Thank you to everyone who has inquired about her…she’s doing great and is back to her old tricks. I saw this set of gates near the hospital and I immediately recognized that the *interesting* [...]
OMG – I LOVE this video. Maybe I’ll get inspired to do a series of “Hardware Gal” videos. Here’s a link to Bill’s blog, where you can find more videos and information about the products sold by Access Hardware Supply. Thanks to Hal Kelton of DoorData Solutions for bringing it to my attention!
This post was printed in the January 2011 issue of Doors & Hardware A while back I wrote a post about spending time in a maternity ward, which was a completely locked unit requiring remote release from the nurses’ station to exit. Although the 2009 edition of NFPA 101 allows egress doors in certain health [...]
An electromagnetic lock is basically an electromagnet mounted in an enclosure on the frame head, with a steel armature mounted on the door. When the door is closed and the magnet is energized, the magnet bonds to the steel armature and locks the door. In order to allow access or egress, the magnet must be [...]
I went to see an architect on Friday, for what I thought would be a 2-hour meeting to discuss the security requirements for a new project. 3 1/2 hours later (time flies when you’re talking about hardware!) I emerged to the sunlight (and the parking ticket), after literally resorting to cheerleading to get the architect [...]
This article was published in the February issue of the Locksmith Ledger: An electromagnetic lock is essentially an electromagnet in a housing mounted on the door frame, and a steel armature mounted on the door. When the magnet is energized, it bonds to the armature and locks the door. To allow access or egress, a [...]
I saw this keypad lockset in a rest area on the Jersey Turnpike recently. Can you identify it? Is it a Schlage AD-Series or a CO-Series? <—Here’s a hint. While there are plenty of differences “under the hood,” there are 3 physical differences to look for when you’re trying to determine whether a Schlage electronic [...]
Someone recently asked me whether a low voltage license is required for wiring electrified hardware in Massachusetts. I asked my Panel of Experts and did some research on the Mass.gov website, and (regardless of what actually happens out in the field on a daily basis) a license IS required for connecting wires to electrified hardware [...]
I’m getting ready to head to NYC to do a presentation for the DHI chapter there, so here are some quick photos of a cross-corridor fire-rated pair sent in by Andy Olson of Reliable Glass and Door. There has to be some sort of rule against this.
Remember him? I guess I’m dating myself if I admit that I do since he made his debut in the mid- to late-80′s, right around the time that Bill Lawliss, John Gant, and I all graduated with degrees in Architecture from Vermont Technical College. Just think where we could be now if we took those [...]
Last night I went to a presentation at one of our 3 local middle schools, which I’m guessing was built in the 70′s. What struck me right away was that the exterior doors are all about 10′ tall, and the interiors are about 9′ with a transom panel above. What a strange application for a [...]
This post was printed in the December 2010 issue of: Someone brought this to my attention yesterday and I thought there had to be a mistake. I was handed a slide from a recent presentation on NFPA 72 – National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code, which said that all exit doors with access control had [...]
Today my oldest daughter and I participated along with some of my coworkers and some of our compañeros from Trane, in the Quannapowitt Take the Lake 5K. It was a beautiful morning and we walked/ran in honor of some of our friends and coworkers who have battled cancer or are still fighting. One of the [...]
All of today’s reader photos came from my compañeros at Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies: From Tim Weller, a door which requires 3 motions (and a key!) to exit…a knob, an exit alarm, and a key-operated deadbolt. If this is a required means of egress, the codes require a single motion and no prior knowledge to [...]
My friend Nolan Thrope of Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies really knows how to make a girl cry: Now that I think about it, Jeff Tock of Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies makes me cry too: I know Eyal Bedrik of Entry Systems Ltd. is NOT responsible for any of these applications, but I love when he [...]
Yesterday I spent a few hours auditing a class on the Schlage AD-Series Electronic Locks. If you haven’t seen this lock yet, you should go to the website and take a look. The whole idea behind it is that it’s adaptable. You can change the type of credential reader (keypad, mag-stripe, proximity/Smart Card/Multi-Tech reader) , [...]
This is a very unusual door – stone clad and an exterior opening only about 100 feet from the ocean. The door and panic hardware were installed by Entry Systems Ltd., the stone, mag-lock, and wood surround were added by someone else. The photos were sent to me by Eyal Bedrik of Entry Systems Ltd., [...]
One of the disadvantages of a shear lock is the noise associated with locking/unlocking. This post has a video of the operation of a shear lock.
I know this looks like a really long and wordy post but you’ll be glad it’s here when you need to refer back to it. Grab a cup of coffee and skim through the first half…in case you haven’t noticed on previous posts, the paragraphs in italicized red text are the code excerpts and you [...]
This post was printed in the September 2011 issue of Doors & Hardware Stairwell doors are often locked on the stair side to prevent unauthorized entry into tenant spaces. The term “stairwell reentry” refers to the code requirements which allow a building occupant to leave a stairwell during a fire emergency, and find another [...]
I just noticed an article in the Edinburgh Evening News that was worth sharing. No, I don’t make a habit of reading Scottish newspapers, but thanks to Google I see all kinds of news items involving fire doors. The article, entitled “Pupil, 5, Escapes From School,” was about a 5-year-old girl who left school through [...]
I don’t know about you but I’m so overwhelmed with information and data that I can’t find anything. I hate spending time looking for what I need…Google has ruined me! I’m so used to being able to find an answer to any question within seconds, it drives me crazy when I can’t. Schlage recently introduced [...]
When someone wants to install an electromagnetic lock on the pull side of the door, I feel like it’s my civic duty to warn them that the installation will not be pretty. I was finally able to get a photo of this application in the T.F. Green Airport today, so I’ll be able to use [...]
I visited a jobsite today and saw some QEL devices in action. If you’re not familiar with the QEL device, it is a *quiet* version of the electric latch retraction exit device. When the access control system (card reader, key fob, etc.) signals the door to unlock, the latch(es) retract to allow someone to pull [...]
Have you ever run into one of those doors that needs access control, but for whatever reason it’s almost impossible to get the wires to the lock? Maybe it’s an existing door (especially if it’s fire rated), or an opening set into stone or a fancy surround like the door on the left. It might [...]
The open back strike hadn’t been installed when I took this photo, but what else is missing? It’s a tricky one, but you can click on the picture to enlarge it if you need to. If you think you know, add a comment by clicking this link and then scrolling down. I will hold all of the [...]
Do you ever look at a door opening or a particular hardware installation and ask yourself, “Why’d they do that??” I know you have! I’ve decided to create a new category of posts, where we can puzzle these out together. This pair is in the hotel which is my home-away-from-home this week. I noticed the [...]
This photo was taken by Jim Lenox of Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies of Metro-NY. What you can’t see in the photo is the pair of vertical rod panics which have had their rods and latches removed. This is my favorite part: To share this post, hover your cursor over the Share/Save button near the post [...]
I saw this application twice in one week…the exit sensor for the mag-lock mounted behind the exit sign. It definitely affects the range of the sensor. The code requirements for mag-locks do not address exact placement of the sensor, but this seems like common sense, no?
Jon Bossie of Surveillance Specialties sent me the photos below to see if any of my readers had ideas about how to add access control to these sliding doors. He and I both have some thoughts but maybe there’s something we haven’t considered. The doors are mounted on the outside face of the wall, each [...]
One of my favorite job-related activities is going into a facility and helping with their hardware problems. This week I was called into a police station to look at a door that had allowed several escapes, as well as the main entrance. I thought it would be fun to see what you all would recommend [...]
Last week I got a compliment about this site from a security consultant, and I asked him if there were any topics he’d like me to do a post about. He said that a post on electrified lever trim (E) vs. electric latch retraction (EL) would be helpful since he spends a lot of time [...]
