Panic Hardware

Panic Hardware on Electrical Rooms – Follow-Up

A while back, I wrote an article for Doors & Hardware about panic hardware requirements for rooms housing electrical equipment. Someone asked me recently how the voltage and amperage are determined. Do you add up the voltage or amperage of each piece of equipment and look at the total? Or is it the highest voltage/amperage of any piece of equipment that determines whether the room is over the threshold where panic hardware is required?

By |2015-06-16T13:35:50-04:00June 16th, 2015|Panic Hardware|14 Comments

Can fire exit hardware be installed on a non-fire-rated door?

As much as I like black/white-yes/no answers, sometimes it's not that easy.  This is one of those questions, and it keeps coming back.  Here's the scenario...I have an exterior aluminum door serving a large Assembly occupancy, with no fire rating required.  I don't need the ability to dog* the device, and I have fire exit hardware left over from a previous project.  Can I install the fire exit hardware on the aluminum storefront door?

By |2015-06-18T10:03:27-04:00June 11th, 2015|Panic Hardware|16 Comments

FF: Fire Exit Hardware

I can't count how many times I've been asked for help when a label from a listing laboratory has been removed by the painter/cleaner/installer/meddling kid from the door/frame/armor plate/fire exit hardware. Unfortunately, I'm not much help...I can't send you a new label to stick on. That's what makes these Fixed-it Friday photos so sad...

By |2014-10-17T11:47:04-04:00October 17th, 2014|Fire Doors, Fixed-it Friday, Panic Hardware|4 Comments

6 Accessibility Changes to Watch Out For (November 2014)

The 2010 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Standards for Accessible Design went into effect in March of 2012, but there are several requirements that continue to surprise architects and specifiers as well as door and hardware suppliers. These issues can be costly to resolve if they’re discovered after the doors and hardware are on-site, so it’s important to stay current on the requirements...

Access to Panic Hardware

I'm sure you've seen panic hardware with some sort of guard or protection above, below, or around the panic. Should the codes define a certain area of free space around the panic hardware, ensuring that the actuating portion is obvious and readily available to someone using the exit? How much clear space is needed?

By |2014-09-19T12:52:04-04:00September 18th, 2014|Code Development, Means of Egress, Panic Hardware|11 Comments

Assembly Doors with Mag-Locks

In a recent discussion about code change proposals, there was a question about whether electromagnetic locks should be an acceptable alternative to panic hardware, on doors serving Assembly occupancies - essentially the application shown in the photos below. If approved, a door serving an assembly space, and perhaps even Educational occupancies depending on how the proposal was written, could have mag-locks released by a sensor, and no panic hardware - no latching device at all...

By |2014-09-18T00:20:20-04:00September 11th, 2014|Electrified Hardware, Means of Egress, Panic Hardware|16 Comments

FF: Service Call

Jon Dudley from Allegion sent me this Fixed-it Friday photo after being called out to a hospital because of a panic device that was not functioning properly. The access control system would operate the device electrically, but two self-tapping screws had been installed on the underside of the device which prevented the touchpad from being actuated manually.

FF: Fire Exit Hardware Modification

Fire doors are required to have an active latchbolt, so fire exit hardware (panic hardware for fire doors) is not equipped with a mechanical dogging mechanism that could be used to hold the latch retracted.  When the lack of dogging creates an inconvenience, creative modifications sometimes occur.  The added slidebolt on this fire exit hardware will prevent the fire door from functioning properly during a fire.  I wonder what the insurance company would have to say about that.

By |2014-06-05T13:13:30-04:00June 6th, 2014|Fixed-it Friday, Panic Hardware|7 Comments

Shorty Panics

When panic hardware is installed, the actuating portion of the panic hardware must "extend at least one-half of the door leaf width." I have been taught since my first days in hardware school, that this means the width of the touchpad or crossbar has to measure at least half the width of the door. But lately I've had a couple of situations where someone interpreted this in a different way...

By |2014-03-28T16:45:16-04:00March 3rd, 2014|Means of Egress, Panic Hardware|20 Comments

FF: Rodless

Instead of maintaining the fire exit hardware on this pair of fire doors, the rods and most of the latches were removed and an exit alarm was installed.  The most disturbing part is that there are doors like this EVERYWHERE...fire doors and egress doors that will no longer perform as designed, tested, and required by code, because of lack of maintenance or improper modifications.  And without widespread adoption of the fire and egress door inspection requirements, we're left to address these problems one door at a time.  In each fatal fire the main focus seems to always be on sprinklers, but compartmentalization is key to preventing the spread of smoke and flames.  It goes without saying that code-compliant egress is a life safety feature which can't be compromised.

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