Opening a locked uPVC door that won't

I have several uPVC doors in my property. They were all a bit stiff. A couple though had the same symptoms as yours.

The first thing I did was send some 3 in 1 oil into each mechanism. You can use penetrating oil or Singers but NOT WD40 it isn't a lubricant.

Give it time before:

... when the key has reached as far as it will go, pull it towards you and continue to try and turn it in the direction you want it to go.

Good luck.

Alan

Lift the handle up when you turn the key?

Oh, I was going to suggest trying to lift the door a little with the handle, or push it in towards or away from the hinges a little, in case it wasn't heel'n'toed properly and has sunk.

Tried lifting the door with the handle to give it a bit more upwards gain. My son has since returned and said it was getting a little sensitive and the key needed to be in just the right position!

The key its self rotates nicely but comes to a mechanical "stop" at which point it would normally click and de-latch or whatever the term is but it feels like its simply hitting an interlock which from my limited experience would be because the gearbox hasn't wound the "slider" out far enough.

'tis a dilemma and no useful youtube videos showing the same problem that I can find but it must be fairly common.

Thanks Alan, Same thing happened at home but fortunately I was able to catch the door and get a replacement mechanism/gearbox ordered.

I'll give your idea a go and hopefully a bit of jiggling might just catch it one more time... Good luck indeed welcome.

:)

There is another spray product called "WD40 Dry PTFE Lubricant" which is supposed to be good for locks and other door/window hardware.

There are quite a few different WD40 products these days including lithium grease, PTFE, penetrant etc.

(having said that, I don't buy the "WD40 is not a lubricant" line anyway

- one of its constituents is a light machine oil - so it definitely does lubricate. It may not be as good as alternatives in some applications - but it will work)

Yup, that can cause problems in hot weather as the door droops more...

I've used that, and it works very well on seized locks.

It also contains a grease, so there are applications where it will initially help, but fail with time as the lighter components evaporate.

It was no good for the sliding parts of plotters, for example, so presumably the same would apply to printer carriages.

Depending on the type of lock mechanism oil can cause problems - it can stop the internals from moving as it thickens with age. The traditional lubricant is graphite, but that can cause problems anywhere that you don't want a fine conductive powder. Light lubricants containing PTFE are a good compromise in terms of penetrating and easing, then leaving an effective dry lubricant behind.

I'm a big fan of the PTFE based lubricants BUT I used it a little excessively on the UPVC back door at home when the mechanismwas getting worn and when I finally had to replace the gearbox the PTFE had gummed everything up so it's worth bearing in mind that PTFE spray is something that should in my experience be used lightly and very infrequently for "blind" lubrication as it builds up and doesn't seem to wear away.

I have silicone oil in my armoury and some copper grease but in aerosol form that might work although, like John, I believe WD-40 type products do indeed lubricate although they "may" attract dirt unlike PTFE but as I've found that also presents it's own issues.

Cheers Pete

The ‘traditional’ WD-40 is a water dispersant but does constant an ‘oily’ substance - I think originally whale oil based but that may be incorrect. I certainly doubt it is whale oil now. It can lubricate but it also goes ‘sticky’. Inside locks oils ( and WD40) can cause the ‘pins’ to stick up, preventing the lock from working. This is especially true in locks design to be ‘anti pick’ which have two part pins to (in theory) make it impossible to ‘lift’ a pin an hold it up by tension - the theory behind picking a lock or using the wrong key to ‘bounce’ the pins one at a time.

From your description, I suspect the problem wasn’t the lock pins. Probably either the level on the lock was sticking - I had this recently on a wheel lock- or in the door mechanism.

We had a door lock fail in a similar manner. Fortunately it was still under warranty but I wasn’t around when they fixed it to see how they opened the door. Certainly the lock rotated as it should and they replaced the Euro lock. As far as I know, that is all they replaced so I suspect a lever problem.

Thanks for the tip.

Right, WD-40 "original flavour" does lubricate but it's not the best choice when that's the main function you want.

I'm surprised I haven't heard complaints like "WD-40 isn't as good any more since environmentalists made them stop using whale oil!"

TMH would have squirted WD40 into it without question:-)

Don't crimbos punch out the euro cylinder lock and get in that way ?.

Something to try as last resort I guess, but I have no idea how they do it.

But if the O/P can turn they key, yet still not open the door, it might not be any better snapping the cylinder ...

Bloomin' Thunderbird... Not sure when it changed but forever the "reply" button replied to the usenet post but now it replies directly to the message posters' address which almost certainly is inactive...

Anywaythe "Followup" message I sent but didn't is as follows:

On 16/07/2022 15:52, Andy Burns wrote: > Andrew wrote: >

I'm thinking I might have to snap the euro lock. (having just found that is a method used by crims and lock people alike and how to apply pressure with an adjustable spanner to break it)

I can turn the key without issue but right at the bit it should clunk and retract the deadbolt it just hits a solid stop. I've tried liftinng and wiggling etc but it seems to me that the gearbox has worn to the point it no longer moves the locking bits far enough to through their cycle to disengage whatever bit stops the barrel fully rotating.

We have another door on the property which never gets used and that one had dropped and was rectified with hinge adjustment. I can get access to the outside so will give the hinges a full "tweak" but given the amount I've already been moving the door I don't believe it's a door drop issue.

It's odd that it might be gearbox though as the door although 20 years old has had extremely limited operation in its lifetime so perhaps lack of use has caused a problem.

Either way it's still not opening so I think a more brute-force method might need to be applied but I WILL try the hinges again and see if they go any further.

Cheers all for input and ideas.

Pete