The Ron Barron Company

It may not seem that important an item, but, if the door doesn’t close behind you, the best lock in the world is not going to work! Just think, you spent two thousand dollars on a access control system with all the bells and whistles that can be installed in a lock…and it doesn’t do anything. Why, well, the best products in the world can’t function properly if the door doesn’t close. Hence, the door closer. Probably the second most important piece of hardware that you absolutely have to have to make the system actually do something. Its hard to see sometimes that a door really doesn’t close by itself. It has a little help in the way of a hydraulic device that is designed to control it. Opening speed and pressure, closing speed and pressure and of course the ability to have the door latch properly are the features of the closer and what makes the system complete.
Like most hardware products, door closers come in many shapes, sizes, functions and have a number of special features that sometimes can be useful if you need the door to do more than just close properly. Features like delayed closing, hold open, power assist opening, just to mention a few. But the real and most important feature of the door closer is its ability to actually do what it was designed to do, and that is to close the door so that your locks, access control devices and other products can do their job.
I can bet that 1 out of 4 door closers in the city have some sort of a problem that can very easily be dealt with. Maybe just a simple adjustment to make it slow down or to make it go a little faster, but an easy fix. The other more serious problem is that quite a few do need replacing. Oil leaks from the main seal around the drive shaft when the unit is blown and the tell tale signs flow down the face of the door. Those oil streaks came from the closer which needs to be replaced since it will either hurt someone or will damage the locks, hinges and if you have access controls, the system as well.
Get your door closers checked. Have them serviced regularly and adjusted as well. ADA requires that your door closers have to be kept in compliance and will levy a heavy fine if they are not.