Eurolock / locksmith visit was required

[Colin Wilson]

Wonder if anyone has an idea how I can avoid calling a locksmith in future :-} (barring the obvious from the paragraph below)

Me and the missus both tried to open the front door from both sides at once, and the locking lever managed to find itself ~90 degrees out of where it should have been.

No amount of wangling with the keys would reset the position, and the door wasn`t lockable due to the position of the operating lever and the relative position of the keys - the keys would only be released when the operating lever was in the "wrong" position on the door, which meant the mortice protruded about 5mm and the door wouldn`t close.

Is there a knack to being able to reset the operating lever, rather than having to replace the lock barrel ?

--- Please add "newsgroup" in the subject of any personal replies ---

--- My anti-spam address has "ngspamtrap" & @btinternet.com in it ---

[EricP]

Why worry about replacing it when "anybody can easily break one of these locks in under 5 seconds". (Mail on Saturday).

Anybody care to comment on this "secret" that has now been revealed?

I would like some security on my front door.

[marble]

Why should it be the barrel? You can remove the barrel by removing the long screw to be found slightly higher than the lock on the edge of the door then rotate the key in the lock about 45 degrees and it should pull out.

I Think the problem is either the mortice lock is broken or needs adjusting. There is often a screw which needs tightening on occasions. If the lock broken then you have a *big* problem as they are not standard, your best hope would be to contact the door manuacturer with fingers crossed.

Removing the mortice lock usualy goes something like this:

Remove handles and spindle, remove barrel as above, unscrew the metal strip on the edge( The screws that connect the strip to the shoot bolts at the top and bottom and to the mortice dont always need removing so you can save time by not doing so).

I assume by "operating lever" you mean latch, in which case hopefully it is just a simple tightening of a screw at the back of the mortice lock.

[marble]

Is this just PVC doors or all Eurolocks? Any links?

[Steve Walker]

If this is true, I would be surprised that it hadn't been raised in forums like this before. I wonder if this is an example of that chip-wrapper's unthinking aversion to anything 'euro'..... ?

[Lobster]

Someone showed me this article yesterday too: it referred specifically to the type of lock which has locking mechanisms all down the opening edge, and where you need to lift the door handle to engage the lock before turning the key - not sure whether that implies "all PVC doors" or "all Eurolocks"!

IIRC it was down to some retired locksmith-type person playing around with one; all it required was 5 secs use of a simple tool (no more specifics given).

I just looked for a link but there doesn't seem to be one on the Mail's site.

If anyone does know how it's done, then for obvious reasons it's probably not a good idea to broadcast it here, but I'd quite like to know what I should be doing to render mine 'safe'!

David

[Steve Walker]

I can't see any way for us to all know how to render our doors safe unless it's 'broadcasted'. However, I still have degree of scepticism towards the original claim.

[Colin Wilson]

I think its normally about 30 degrees, from "flush" with the barrel, but ours was more like 135 degrees (90 degrees from where it should have been)

As I said above, the barrel itself went askew, the locking mech on the door itself was fine* - as was confirmed by dropping in a new barrel with "normal" alignment. By operating lever, I mean the moving part in the middle of the lock barrel.

• he even commented that he had the same mech on his own door, but ours was the smoothest action he`d ever come across on that type of door

The chap who came out said he sees them on a regular basis in exactly that condition, and hasn`t yet figured out why - he laughed and told me he`d been threatening to take one apart to figure it out for ages.

[Dave Fawthrop]

Ok so what is a Eurolock, never heard of one. So that I can check my main door :-(

[Michael Chare]

Some of these locks just have a knob on the inside. So you can always get out!

[T i m]

idea' .. easier to get out in case of a fire' etc.

Then I realised that it would also be easier for a burgular to get out with armfulls of gear (rather than having to climb back out through the broken window etc)?

It might (depending on if they are just turnable knobs rather than 'press/ turn' etc) also make it easier to break in ..?

All the best ..

T i m

[T i m]

That brass / chrome large keyhole profile thing that you may have near the door handle on yer dg door where other folk have Yale / Chub locks? ;-)

It is of continuous section, would be about the same length as your door (and furniture) is thick and is held in place by a single machine screw set at 90 deg to the lock and in through the doors outer edge.

The 'tang' that holds the (often multipoint) mech in in the 'locked' position also stops the lock itself being removed by just shearing the retaining screw (it's only about 5mm? dia).

Sometimes the ratio of the bit between tang and outside is equal to that of the inner bit and sometimes not. ;-)

IHTH ;-)

T i m

[T i m]

Like pretty well anything with a lock it can be opened without key.

If it's being opened by a locksmith he would have suitable 'tools' to do this (as you would imagine / hope). Similar concept to the AA getting into your car etc .. sometimes it can be done cleanly with 'tools', sometimes stuff must get broken (eg glass) ;-(

Therefore it's not difficult to imagine the same tools could get into the wrong hands ... ;-(

Some locks could be more vunerable to one form of (fast) attack depending on how they were sized / fitted ..

All the best ..

T i m

[EricP]

It was the usual reveal-a-secret type scare. Basically it was that anyone can easily break this type of lock, They said Eurolocks but did qualify it by saying it was the type where you have to hold the handle up whilst turning the key to lock it. You don't have to hold the handle up to lock on mine, the only joy in their piece.

Sounds like you can break them by inserting something into the barrel and lifting the handle.

I had hoped someone here would be informed about it.

[EricP]

It was certainly the usual frightener revealed in the most unhelpful manner.

Just enough info to frighten but nothing of real substance to qualify the information.

[Steve Walker]

Ah, I see. 'Break' is of course quite different to 'break into'

[nightjar]

The correct name is Europrofile. They have the cylinder separate from the lock, so that you can change the keying without changing the entire lock mechanism. Some low security (5 pin) cylinders are shown here:

higher security, the cylinders are also available with six or seven pins.

Colin Bignell

[nightjar]

There is a small mechanism between the cylinders that allows the operating lug to be turned by one cylinder without the other needing to turn. I could see that wear in the mechanism could result in the problem you describe. In good quality locks, it is made from brass or steel. In cheap locks it may be made from something softer; plastic or a casting metal, for example.

Colin Bignell

[Colin Wilson]

It looked like plastic on ours, but it was tight as a ducks ass, definitely no play in it whatsoever.

[Colum Mylod]

Same here, the "hold lifted while locking" did imply good news. But as the article is shoddy journalism at its worst, my hopes are still low. Reading on it says "[the problem] has been addressed across Europe [DM's Europe excludes the UK] but 22 million doors in Britain are still vulnerable". OK, who counted all those 22mil? And what lock types are vulnerable? But the good news is that "all police forces are now being told of the method but are keeping it secret". Phew! Luckily the boys in blue never leak such things, do they?

Me2. Nothing on the referred "Secured by Design" site (remove the spaces and add dot com to get to that but keep expectations low).