silent door hardware?

[ruliving]

I have a situation where we could use much quieter door hardware. We currently have Von Duprin push/panic bars that latch on the top. The push to exit is loud and the latch when closing is loud. this is a smoke wall and needs to be latching.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[cda]

Welcome

There is a door guru on the site hopefully will see this soon and give a great answer

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[Yikes]

I'm not the guru, but I have questions an:

1. Are they single doors, or pairs of doors?

2. Is the noise coming from the panic bar itself (the part you push on), or from the latch on the top?

3. Is the closer slamming the door, making it louder than necessary?

4. What kind of use is the space (for example, is it the main exit doors on a church sanctuary?)

5. Aside from the code issues, do you as an owner need the doors to always be closed and always latch for other reasons (such as lock security)?

 

[ruliving]

I'm not the guru, but I have questions an:1. Are they single doors, or pairs of doors?

2. Is the noise coming from the panic bar itself (the part you push on), or from the latch on the top?

3. Is the closer slamming the door, making it louder than necessary?

4. What kind of use is the space (for example, is it the main exit doors on a church sanctuary?)

5. Aside from the code issues, do you as an owner need the doors to always be closed and always latch for other reasons (such as lock security)?

1. They are double egress doors from a pod (for lack of a better word of what the actual area is called)

2. When exiting the room the noise comes from both the panic bar and also as it latches when closed. When entering the room you use the lever handle so the door only makes noise when latching.

3. I know what you mean here, but really it's not the check speed alone but it might have to be slowed down to a crawl to not make any noise.

4. It's a low stimulation patient care room for a hospital.

5. The room itself is in a secured area so the answer would be no...

I was hoping it could be as simple as dawging (SC) the door open so one could just push the door to exit and the latch would not be functional. Looks like that is not an option.

thanks for the reply

 

[cda]

Use Power operated doors? Like you find in a hospital

And why can't the doors be dawged?

 

[LGreene]

The actuation of the touchpads shouldn't be loud...there is a fluid dampener inside the mechanism that should keep the touchpad pretty quiet as it is pressed and as it comes back out. If you need help checking to see if those are still in place, let me know. Of course, "loud" is relative...what might sound loud in a quiet hospital ward barely makes a whisper in a school. Full disclosure: I work for Von Duprin.

If the doors are fire-rated, the panic hardware can't be dogged mechanically. I'm guessing they are fire-rated because otherwise you would have the dogging mechanism in place. So assuming they are fire-rated, you have a couple of options - 1) hold the doors open with magnetic holders or electronic closer/holders - the doors would have to close on fire alarm, or 2) if you don't want to hold the doors open, you can hold the latches retracted, but it would have to be done electronically so the latches would automatically project and latch the door upon fire alarm. Von Duprin has an electric latch retraction retrofit kit that can be added in the field (as long as the panics are not really old), but this would also require a power transfer, power supply, and fire alarm connection so it would be more expensive than holding the doors open.

If you need help, I can refer you to the local office. Happy Thanksgiving!

 

[ruliving]

The actuation of the touchpads shouldn't be loud...there is a fluid dampener inside the mechanism that should keep the touchpad pretty quiet as it is pressed and as it comes back out. If you need help checking to see if those are still in place, let me know. Of course, "loud" is relative...what might sound loud in a quiet hospital ward barely makes a whisper in a school. Full disclosure: I work for Von Duprin. If the doors are fire-rated, the panic hardware can't be dogged mechanically. I'm guessing they are fire-rated because otherwise you would have the dogging mechanism in place. So assuming they are fire-rated, you have a couple of options - 1) hold the doors open with magnetic holders or electronic closer/holders - the doors would have to close on fire alarm, or 2) if you don't want to hold the doors open, you can hold the latches retracted, but it would have to be done electronically so the latches would automatically project and latch the door upon fire alarm. Von Duprin has an electric latch retraction retrofit kit that can be added in the field (as long as the panics are not really old), but this would also require a power transfer, power supply, and fire alarm connection so it would be more expensive than holding the doors open.

If you need help, I can refer you to the local office. Happy Thanksgiving!

Thank you for your help Lori,

The door hardware was installed new in 2003. There is magnetic door holds existing on the door but not used, for all other rooms in the unit they are used. They release on fire alarm. This particular room now needs doors closed all the time because of the status of "low stimulation room" or quite zone.

cda

Use Power operated doors? Like you find in a hospital. It is a hospital, power operated doors can still be very loud. We do use the quieter power assist doors in a couple areas of the hospital.

And why can't the doors be dawged? They need to latch on smoke / fire alarm.

 

[cda]

Does the door "by code" require panic hardware?

If not change it out to a lever or something else

 

[cda]

You are going to have some noise

 

[cda]

Thank you for your help Lori,The door hardware was installed new in 2003. There is magnetic door holds existing on the door but not used, for all other rooms in the unit they are used. They release on fire alarm. This particular room now needs doors closed all the time because of the status of "low stimulation room" or quite zone.

cda

Use Power operated doors? Like you find in a hospital. It is a hospital, power operated doors can still be very loud. We do use the quieter power assist doors in a couple areas of the hospital.

And why can't the doors be dawged? They need to latch on smoke / fire alarm.

give lori a shout maybe this will solve the problem:::

http://w3.securitytechnologies.com/industries/custom/quiet/Pages/default.aspx