Toilet door lock won't.

[T i m]

Hi all,

Niece apparently has a toilet door that has a brushed chrome combined handle and rotary thumb lock-knob on the inside (with I think an emergency slot on the outside) where the lock is supposed to stop the handle moving and so opening the door when the room is occupied.

This did work as expected for a few years but has now failed, where just using the handle to open the door (without unlocking it) easily overpowers the lock mech so I'm guessing something has broken / worn out?

They have tried to get a direct replacement but so far been unlucky so as I've never worked on one of these before, can tell me how they typically fail and if they can be fixed please?

Cheers, T i m

[Bob Eager]

Can't help there, but have you looked here?

[Tim+]

I doubt it's the handle that's failed, it'll be the lock mechanism.

I would just take the handle and spindle off and whip out the lock mechanism. It's a bit pointless speculating about what *might* be wrong when a minute's work with a screw driver will reveal what actually has gone wrong.

Any decent ironmonger should be able to supply a new lock mech if required,

Tim

[Brian Gaff]

It depends. Looking at the edge of the door will tell you. Mine has two independent tongues, one for the lock and one for the handle set. These never seem to fail, however the ones that push a little projection into the side of the handle set tongue to jam it tend to either wear out or just get stuck so they never quite engage fully and a bit of rattling on the main handle allows release. Brian

[Bob Eager]

I've never seen separate lock mechanisms available for the kind of simple turnbutton system, integrated with the handle, that was described by the OP.

[Capitol]

My experience with these is not good. Some have diecast parts which wear out, others are pressed steel which bends or wears away. Take the thing apart and look, there's no easy way. You can sometimes fabricate a new steel plate, but it's tricky to get the correct hardness.

[T i m]

No I hadn't Bob but I have now and this looks the nearest I can see on there, at least for general design (straight rectangular) and scale (locking knob right near the bottom and generally short body):

The handle looks more like the shape of the one here:

The nearest lock knob I can see is this one:

But the parallel bit is shorter on hers.

I think it may be satin chrome.

So, there is obviously some sort of detent around the lock part (possibly only in the inner panel?) that is supposed to stop the handle moving when in lock knob is in the locked position and that may have broken or worn short / away. Because I believe they have tried to find a replacement (and so far failed) I was wondering if it is something that could be (in the spirit of d-i-y) be repaired somehow?

Maybe if there is a tang that has worn down I could buzz a bit of MIG on it and re profile it (or some such)?

The only way I could know is knowing exactly how it worked and as yet I don't ... and they aren't round the corner for me to quickly find out for myself. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[T i m]

That sounds like a more robust solution.

Typical that they have the 'other one' then. ;-(

I think that's where they are with this one Brian.

I don't know but I imagine they have had a rattle about but I will check .

Cheers, T i m

[John Rumm]

If its like mine, there is no lock mechanism. The latch is your conventional tubular latch, and the locking component is entirely a function of the handle. When locked it prevents the handle moving and hence unlatching the door.

I had to mess about with one last week (basically the striker plate had broken, and when replaced I found the door could not be opened! Turned out the latch itself had worn internally such that it would no longer fully retract). In the process of taking the locking handles off and putting back on, I did get a spell where it failed to stay locked as you describe. Turned out the locking knob inside the bathroom had gone back in a different rotation, and it looks like there is an eccentricity in its machining which needs to be in a certain orientation to work. Once returned to its proper registration, it worked fine again.

[T i m]

Doh! ;-)

Ok.

Hmm, I *think* we can rule that out in this instance as I don't think anything had been touched since the handle was fitted (but I'm checking).

I think her Dad has tried to get a new handle / lock but it wasn't the exact same model (and more importantly fit) and they got a new lock spindle (?) but it was too long and someone else had to cut it down for them ... so now it's ended up with me. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[John Rumm]

They may simply have worn too much (much as my latch had).

When fiddling with mine I had to change the tubular latch - and the new one sat slightly deeper in the door and also needed a larger hole (redrilled with a larger auger bit). The slight change in position also meant I needed to drill a larger hole through the door for the handle spindle, and move one of the handles over a few mm). So all in all that

10 min job to replace the broken striker plate took over an hour!

[T i m]

I have since found out the handle was fitted from new when the downstairs toilet was created last December.

Great ... ;-(

Donch'a love this sort of thing. We should join the EU and get this sort of thing standardised (after all, who GAF what it looks like as long as it works ...). ;-)

And with all the right tools, skills and processes ... which is what always bothers me about going (some distance) away from my modest set of tools to do this sort of thing.

I think I'll get her to bring to door over to me ... ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[T i m]

Ok.

You would expect something like a 'door handle' to last at least 6 years not 6 months!

Unfortunately the door is a good few miles away from me so not something I can look at without a fair drive.

That was what I was wondering ... or to reinforce the existing plate with one of the liquid metal epoxy's etc?

I'll take you word for that. ;-)

Cheers, T i m ;-)

[Capitol]

I'm old!

[Tim+]

Well obviously it depends on what kind of lock the OP has but without a picture we're all just guessing.

Plenty of bathroom latches available on the net though for door plates with a thumbturn latch.

E.g. (First google hit)...

Tim