Flat door closer closes like Arkwright's till!

[Mike Halmarack]

My flat door, which is a fire door has a Briton 121 CE door closer. I can quite crudely adjust the closing speed but the latching action adjustment screw seems to have little or no effect on the last 15 degrees or so of closing. The choices there seem to be rip your arm off if trying to hold it back, or chop your fingers off if you don't get out quick enough. Both options would include an almighty bang.

Is finer adjustment of this particular closer likely to be possible somehow?

Or maybe a more expensive fire door certified closer with more subtle adjustments would be the answer?

[Dave Liquorice]

Is this a new closer or one that has been in use a while and might have been "adjusted" by others?

I think they work by a simple "cone in hole" flow restictor for the oil inside with the outlet for the "closing" speed blocked off when the door gets to the "latching" position. If the latching adjustment is very open then the closing speed adjustment won't work well and it'll latch quickly.

I'd try gently(*) adjusting both to the slowest closing you can get, then slowly increasing the closing speed (1/4 turn at a time) to something suitable, then increase the latching speed. This may well also increase the closing speed a little so that might need tweaking down a bit.

(*) You don't want to damage the cone or seat otherwise the adjustment becomes rather to coarse. If this closer has been "got at" before maybe this has already happened? If it goes from tortoise to mouse trap in less than a turn it's buggered.

[Mike Halmarack]

Thanks Dave, I followed your advice and now it closes like a dream instead of a nightmare.

[Dave Liquorice]

tweaking

Brilliant, glad to have been a help. B-)

[Brian Gaff]

Yes because in order to close most doors, extra force is needed at the end to overcome the latch friction, so it can seem that it almost closes and rests on the latch then suddenly it will close the last bit when it overcomes the friction. Brian

[Mike Halmarack]

Yes, well it was doing this with a crash and now it does it with a whisper.