For some reason, I have trouble with the hydraulic door closers. These are
the heavy duty ones used commercially, usually in apartment buildings and
condos. When they no longer close the door the way they are supposed to:
1)a somewhat rapid first closing, 2) a slower closing as the door gets
near the jamb, then 3) with enough power to pull the door into the jamb
and set the latch, I try adjusting them, but with less than 100% success.

Mostly the closer no longer pulls the door into the jamb. I know there are
adjustment screws on them though usually they aren't labeled and since the
closer is old, and I didn't install it, no one has the instructions handy.
Are there rough guidelines for adjusting these so the closer works as it
did when it was new? When closers age, do they break and or leak so that
the adjustments no longer work, or can I adjust the close rate screws and
get them working again? After making an adjustment, I've tried putting the
closer through sereral cycles to make sure, then if I need to, try to
adjust again.

I'm going to try to google for instructions for the ones I'm working on
now, but I'd appreciate some general guidelines.

charles

Charles Bishop wrote:
For some reason, I have trouble with the hydraulic door closers.
These are the heavy duty ones used commercially, usually in apartment
buildings and condos. When they no longer close the door the way they
are supposed to: 1)a somewhat rapid first closing, 2) a slower
closing as the door gets near the jamb, then 3) with enough power to
pull the door into the jamb and set the latch, I try adjusting them,
but with less than 100% success.

I find that when I am no longer able to get 100% success, it means they
are worn out and need replaced.



Mostly the closer no longer pulls the door into the jamb. I know
there are adjustment screws on them though usually they aren't
labeled and since the closer is old, and I didn't install it, no one
has the instructions handy. Are there rough guidelines for adjusting
these so the closer works as it did when it was new? When closers
age, do they break and or leak so that the adjustments no longer
work, or can I adjust the close rate screws and get them working
again? After making an adjustment, I've tried putting the closer
through sereral cycles to make sure, then if I need to, try to adjust
again.

I'm going to try to google for instructions for the ones I'm working
on now, but I'd appreciate some general guidelines.

charles

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

The normal adjustments a

swing speed - how fast the door closes from full open toward the
jamb
latch speed - a position just before latching that slows the door
so it does not slam
back check if so equipped - a position at full open that increases
the resistance to opening so you don't rip the closer arm off the
door/jamb.

Some closers have a single strength, some have an adjustment to
increase the power of the closer. If you don't know closers, I
would not recommend this adjustment.

It sounds as if you might need to let the door swing faster and
reduce the latch slowing speed. With the appropriate Allen wrench
turn one of the Allens one full turn -it should be quite obvious
which adjustment you are modifying.

You may get some good information he
http://www.lcnclosers.com/pdfs/tech_consid.pdf
scroll about 1/2 way down to the section titled proper door
control.

I agree that there are times when replacement may be the best
solution, but would point out the original LCN closers installed
in the late 1800's are still working fine. If you are buying new
closers, I would recommend LCN. We had hundreds of Yale pot
closers that only lasted 50 years.

(top posted for your convenience)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Keep the whole world singing . . . .
DanG (remove the sevens)




"Charles Bishop" wrote in message
...
For some reason, I have trouble with the hydraulic door closers.
These are
the heavy duty ones used commercially, usually in apartment
buildings and
condos. When they no longer close the door the way they are
supposed to:
1)a somewhat rapid first closing, 2) a slower closing as the
door gets
near the jamb, then 3) with enough power to pull the door into
the jamb
and set the latch, I try adjusting them, but with less than 100%
success.

Mostly the closer no longer pulls the door into the jamb. I know
there are
adjustment screws on them though usually they aren't labeled and
since the
closer is old, and I didn't install it, no one has the
instructions handy.
Are there rough guidelines for adjusting these so the closer
works as it
did when it was new? When closers age, do they break and or leak
so that
the adjustments no longer work, or can I adjust the close rate
screws and
get them working again? After making an adjustment, I've tried
putting the
closer through sereral cycles to make sure, then if I need to,
try to
adjust again.

I'm going to try to google for instructions for the ones I'm
working on
now, but I'd appreciate some general guidelines.

charles

In article , "Joseph Meehan"
wrote:

Charles Bishop wrote:
For some reason, I have trouble with the hydraulic door closers.
These are the heavy duty ones used commercially, usually in apartment
buildings and condos. When they no longer close the door the way they
are supposed to: 1)a somewhat rapid first closing, 2) a slower
closing as the door gets near the jamb, then 3) with enough power to
pull the door into the jamb and set the latch, I try adjusting them,
but with less than 100% success.

I find that when I am no longer able to get 100% success, it means they
are worn out and need replaced.

I'd be happy to think that as well, but since I don't do them frequently,
don't know this is the case. Also, since I run into several different
models, adjustment may not be the same in each case. I'm looking for an
overview that will let me be a little more confident that I'm adjusting
them correctly.

For instance the current ones are LCN 4041 and similar. The main
adjustment is labeled, but the closing speed and latch speed aren't. It
seems to take just a small adjustment of these last two to make a
difference, but the difference isn't consistent. It would be good to have
an instruction like "the latch speed adjustment is on the lower left,
adjust it one half turn ccw, then cycle the door 5 times" and so on.

I suppose I may be asking for 20 years of experience to be distilled to 20
minutes of typing, but I thought I'd ask.

Oh, and I googled for a diagram that labeled the adjustments, but all I
got were sites selling the things.

[snip]