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              Door closers on store front doors are meant to close the door when some one walks through it. They are not meant to stop the door from opening to far. This usually happens when wind takes the door and forces it open past it’s normal opening point. To help stop the door from opening to far, safety chains are ideal. A heavy duty safety chain installed correctly, will allow the door to open, and activate the spring in the safety chain at about 80 degrees. This will give extra spring action to help stop the door from opening to far. Thus saving strain on the door closer and closer arm. The door should still open at least 90 degrees. 

When a door closer is installed properly, the door should close at a steady slow pace. It should not slam. Slamming of doors causes door handles, locks, and other hardware on the door and frame to get loose. This will cause more problems. I like door closers with 4 adjustments.

One: back check. This is an adjustment that hydraulically slows the opening speed if the door is opened forcefully.

Two: spring adjustment. This feature is not found on many closers. I like this feature because 4 years down the road the spring can be adjusted up, giving the closer more life. The closer should never be adjusted past the reccomended guide lines for opening a public door.

Three: Close adjustment. This adjustment is found on most door closers. Most door closers will not have features one and two because of cost reasons. They are simply cheaper. The close adjustment slows down the closer during 90% of its closing travel. Some inexpensive closers only have this one adjustment and controls the full 100% of closing travel.

Four: Latch adjustment. This is the final closing percentage of the closing sweep. This adjustment should be a smooth transition from the closing speed adjustment. This last adjustment slows down the closer even more but allows the door to shut. 

The door should close and lock (if necessary) with out slamming. If your door needs to shut forcefully to lock, there might be problems with the door alignment or the lock itself. All these things should be working properly for the door closer to operate correctly.

             These same principles can be applied to any door that requires a closer to shut the door. Steel doors on the backs or buildings also use door closers. This helps to ensure that an employee or workman hasn’t forgot to shut the door and secure it. Normally these doors will have an exit device or panic bar, which locks automatically when the door is shut. 

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