Subscriber Discussion

Any Tips For Putting A Maglock On An Automatic Sliding Door?

DM
David Matyas
Mar 17, 2017

Any tips for putting a maglock on an automatic sliding door?

 

My method that I am going to try is to have the REX switch  (or in this case a delayed egress controller) Initiate a ELK 912 relay which will cut power to the maglock( a shear maglock SD-993B-SS). It will also initiate an ELK-960 timer relay which after a small delay will engage power to the automatic sliding door. 

The REX toggle switch should only be switched back when the door is fully closed, but as a safety precaution, I am thinking about putting a NC magnetic contact on the door frame, that will act as a relay and only allow power back to the maglock when the door is fully closed.

Does my plan work? Is there a better way to go about this?

 

Thank you

 

U
Undisclosed #1
Mar 17, 2017

Google "Maglock on sliding door". There are a lot of variations. Need to know the details as type of door, wire mesh, glass, frameless glass, metal etc. As far as egress I would submit a detail to the local AHJ for approval, they usually have stipulations that point towards which designs are acceptable.

DM
David Matyas
Mar 19, 2017

The FAS Model 2000 does not work with dual sliding doors.

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Michael Silva
Mar 18, 2017
Silva Consultants

We always recommend that any modifications to automatic sliding doors be made by the company that installed and/or services the door. There are numerous complications with simply trying to add hardware to an automatic door. I have seen this go wrong more times than I have seen it go right.

You also need to consider that many sliding doors have a "breakaway" feature that allows the door to swing out for emergency egress. You need to make sure that anything that you install doesn't interfere with this feature.

For new construction, automatic sliding doors can be ordered with a "security feature" that provides positive locking of the door within the door operator mechanism. If the door in question was installed fairly recently, it may be possible for the door company to install this feature in the door on a retrofit basis.

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U
Undisclosed #2
Mar 18, 2017

As usual, you a spot on Michael. 

I would never consider adding a maglock to an automatic door.

Have the provider of the automatic door install a locking mechanism inside the assembly if one doesnt already exist (they all have the option), connect to that, and do it the right way. 

DM
David Matyas
Mar 19, 2017

Unfortunately the sliding doors are pretty old with no way of directly locking them.

We are required to lock them as this is a nursing home and their is an elopement risk.

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Undisclosed #2
Mar 19, 2017

 

I have typed out two long responses, but I'm going to simplify to this --

I would strongly recommend against this.

There are a multitude of reasons why, but this is not something I would attempt to do to solve an elopement problem.

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