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Few questions about pneumatic screen door closer slamming

Few questions about pneumatic screen door closer slamming


  #1  
Old 06-03-14, 01:29 PM
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Few questions about pneumatic screen door closer slamming

Hi guys. My closer has given me fits on and off through the years. Problem centers around being almost powerless to stop the screen door from slamming in windy conditions. I am convinced it is a pressure differential problem, not a physical "wind blowing the door closed" type of problem. If I totally tighten up the adjustment screw it will stop doing it but will be back to it's same antics at a later date. Plus when the wind subsides it is then way too slow (would allow in flies etc because of the slow rate of closure). The screen door in question is at the door to the house which is inside our garage, BTW.
SO. I decided to search the local big-box store for something different. I found that they do offer a "heavy duty" closer, so for $10 decided to try it.
Getting it home I found it to present almost identical to the existing trouble-maker, except the diameter of the gas tube itself is 1/4" wider. The existing one came with the door and is marked "LGR" (manufacturer name) and is 1 1/4" wide tube, the new one is Wright Products and it is 1 1/2" wide. All the bracketry looks identical in every way, I actually decided to reuse the existing brackets. So far the results are encouraging, it is a fairly windy day here and am thinking today is a good test day for this. Just thought I would ask as I could find no real good info on the net, just the same stuff about how to adjust the gas strut screw and you can "screw around" with that a lot and I've never found any real lasting fix to a slamming screen door on a windy day.
 
  #2  
Old 06-03-14, 08:56 PM
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Using the larger diameter closer is a good start. Put 2 of those closers on the door, one at the top and one at the bottom. But be realistic. You can't expect the door to work even close to the same when its windy vs when it's not.
 
  #3  
Old 06-04-14, 12:56 PM
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Thanks as always, xsleeper. So far it is working good with the one HD closer, and the weather has been changing a lot so these are the conditions that make it slam. Important to point out again the screen door is in the garage, not outside the house per se. It seems like it is the changing weather and windy conditions that come along with it that make this happen. It's not like the wind is directly on the door one way or the other. It's hard to describe what is going on. At any rate the brackets were identical and I had it mounted mid-door, so I just put it in the existing brackets. I was toying with the idea of doing 2 (top-bottom) like you suggest. I will see how I fare with the one HD closer in the middle. I decided to post about this because I couldn't really find a situation like mine and no one talking about the HD closer vs the standard one.
 
  #4  
Old 06-04-14, 01:26 PM
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Some companies started using cheap-o closers a while back and they're pretty light duty. I know what you mean about the + or - air pressure even though it may not be directly in the wind. One trick is to crack the window an inch or so if it doesn't HAVE to be 100% closed in a garage.
 
 

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