Confused about door closers...

[Tim+]

We want a door closer for our small cloakroom which has an outward opening door.

The door closer needs to be on the inside pulling the door closed. We have used one of these in the past but they're a bit basic (and irritating) in the way that they work.

It would be nice to have something that give a bit more control over door closure and doesn't look too "office like" although I accept the latter may be hard to avoid. I don't really want to go hacking the new door about to make clearance for rising butt hinges either.

The are plenty online but working out which one push or pull is hurting my brain. Any advice?

Tim

[harry]

You know the ones you link to are adjustable don't you? They come with a tool that grips the chain while the screw on the end of the chain is adjusted.

[Fredxxx]

Most of the larger hydraulic ones can do either push or pull, depending on whether the unit if fixed to the door or above/on the door frame. There are sometimes an accessory bracket to allow the unit to be door mounted so the arms don't tie themselves in knots.

[Tim+]

Had one for years. Apt to make "scrawnching" noises and you can't really control the door closure. Cheap and cheerful but rather very crude.

Tim

[Tim Streater]

We got these for our redone bathroom and separate loo. Work fine. Note that you prolly need two of you to wind them up. After the hinges are on and the door is hung, you need to unscrew a pin at the top of each hinge. Then someone else uses an allen key to tension the spring by two complete turns, aligning the hole for the pin again. The pin-remover then screws the pin back in again and that hinge is done.

[David Lang]

These pull or push and have adjustable close and latch. I've used them lots of times.

[Dave Liquorice]

Agreed along with this type:

e/20622

Even set for minimum force to just close a fully open door it still slams shut. Must replace it with a proper closer, one that "catches" the door before it slams then slowly but powerfully fully closes it. TMH's £20 from toolstation looks intersting, presumblably "FD60" is a

60 minute fire door?

The door here that needs the closer is not offically a fire door but it is one with itumescent strips and smoke seals as it does join two "compartments".

[Dave Liquorice]

Is that lots of times across a small number of doors as they keep breaking generating repeat business or lots of times across lots of doors with no call backs or complaints?

[Tim+]

Cheers Tim. I fancy something a bit more controllable but swmbo likes the discreetness of these so we'll give them a whirl.

Tim

[Tim+]

Would suit me but alas my wife doesn't like the look. Thanks anyway.

Tim

[Brian-Gaff]

Yeah, a bit like my pulley water filled bottle and pulley device m made some years ago. Work but hardly elegant.

There used to be one that although no hidden exactly, worked on a kind of double jointed arm and plunger arrangement with aan adjustable spring inside that shut the door fast to almost shut, then pulled very hard but slowly over the last bit of travel. The snag was that opening the door could be quite a lot harder than was required. It seems such a simple task, yet so many variations and success or otherwise!

Brian

[David Lang]

The latter. The former would make no sense.

[David Lang]

Sometimes you just can't win...... :-)

[F Murtz]

:)

[Dave Liquorice]

That's just what I want.

That's just what I don't want.

TMH, does that "cheapy" suffer this hard(er) to open issue? A little bit of resistance is acceptable but changing isn't. Esstentially the door needs to open with the same "feel" as now close automatically past the smoke seals to latched without slamming.

[Dave Liquorice]

"The only stupid question is the one that isn't asked". B-)

[Tim Streater]

I forgot to mention that these don't actually *close* the door - they just pull it to (even if the door was wide open). But that's all we need, here.

[David Lang]

You can adjust the 'close' and 'slam' independently. There is a slight resistance to opening but nothing drastic.

[Dave Liquorice]

little

Thanks, a bit of resistance is expected, after all you have to compress the spring that provides the force to close the door. Now I wonder when I'll next be passing a Toolsatan, when they are open.

[Andrew Gabriel]

One problem with these is you can't close the door faster than it would close itself on its hydraulic damper. You can get ones which have an extra joint in the arm which allow this (allows the second arm to fold if the door is pushed shut manually), but they're much rarer.