The Most Urgent And Critical Codes Of Compliance For Spring Hinges

Buyers, be aware of fire door hinges regulations – the life-saving codes of compliance!

Code of practice and fire door hinges regulations are established to ensure the overall quality of spring-loaded door hinges:

• The assurance of one million cycles:
  ANSI A156.17 ANSI A156.17: SELF CLOSING HINGES & PIVOTS

This standard contains requirements for cycle tests, finish/material, and dimensions.
Notably, the cycle test for the Grade 1 hinges is 1,000,000 times. Buyers can confidently purchase spring hinges with the Grade 1 certificate without worrying the frequent replacement and untrusted reliability.

Attention! The door or gate shall move to the closed position in 1.5 seconds minimum!

• ADA 404.2.8.2

“Spring Hinges. Door and gate spring hinges shall be adjusted so that from the open position of 70 degrees, the door or gate shall move to the closed position in 1.5 seconds minimum.”
This code ensures the safety of all users, physically challenged or not because slower door closing speed creates a hassle and risk-free door entry.

• California Building Code 2016 (1126A.4.2 Spring hinges)

“Spring hinges shall be adjusted so that from the open position of 70 degrees, the door or gate shall move to the closed position in 1.5 seconds minimum.”
Here we see the uncontrollable speed of spring-loaded door hinges is being scrutinized and action is taken: the minimum closing time is again 1.5 seconds.
In public premises like public libraries, most times the door closing speed is too fast, and the uncontrollable door hits older users on their backside. This is not a simple matter of annoyance; this is, in fact, a matter that should be treated as a public health issue.

In the UK, spring hinges are prohibited from application on fire doors due to the uncontrollable speed. Here are some interesting codes:

• 2.2.6, Code of Practice: Hardware for Fire and Escape Doors(UK):

Here the code of practice rules out the competence of spring hinge for fire safety:
“Spring hinges are NOT recommended for use on fire-resisting doors.”

• 3.2.7, Code of Practice: Hardware for Fire and Escape Doors(UK):

This code points out that poor adjustability is the reason why the spring hinge is not suitable for safety-related applications like fire doors.
However, a new generation of “self-closing hinges” can perfectly fit fire-rated doors with flexible adjustability. Famous businesses like KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) even use these self-closing hinges on their fire doors.

See story: The New Door Closing Hinge Adopted by KFC

“Spring hinges, which are purely spring urged and do not control the
closing speed, are unable to comply with BS EN 1154 and therefore
should NOT be used for fire doors.

• 3.3.8, Code of Practice: Hardware for Fire and Escape Doors(UK):

In addition to the absence of adjustability, the weak closing power also makes spring-loaded door hinges utterly unfitting hardware for safety concerns:
“These uncontrolled closers do not meet the requirements in Approved
Document B 2006 edition for self-closing devices (see 3.1 Introduction
for details)……On unlatched doors, they are unlikely to hold the door leaf closed
against the pressures are known to exist in fire situations until any heat-activated sealing system has operated. ”

A New breed of spring-loaded door hinges

A new type of spring-loaded door hinge is booming. These new spring hinges are often referred to as “self-closing hinges” or “door closer hinges” with much greater capacity, flexible adjustability, and way higher durability. The Waterson Self closing hinge is one of the examples:

1. Fire-resistant: 3hrs fire rating
2. Adjustability: 7-speed adjustable
3. Durability: 1 Million cycles per ANSI A156.17, grade 1
4. Loading: from 10 to 200 KG
5. Barrier-free: ADA compliant; easy entry for all users

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Please note that Waterson Closer Hinges start from a size of 4″x4″. If you’re in need of smaller self-closing hinges, we’d recommend checking out some other resources! Also, we only provide single acting closer hinges. Thank you.

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