Delivering long-term performance with door-hardware upgrades requires that managers revisit their department's activities and priorities related to inspection, testing and maintenance of the project's new components. Managers should post the maintenance guide from door and hardware manuals where technicians can refer to it for periodic maintenance. The manual should include the make and model number, along with the installation date, manufacturer name and contact information, and warranty information.
Inspection. The purpose of post-installation inspection is to ensure all components have been installed properly before pre-functional testing is done. The inspection covers each component for a specific door-hardware model on a checklist prepared for the purpose. Checks for correct installation are:
Testing. After the pre-functional inspection establishes hardware has been installed properly, technicians can perform functional testing by cycling the component and testing to find out if it performs as specified. This testing goes beyond visual inspection and includes actual operation of the hardware to ensure the lock mode actually locks out entry, that alarms sound when triggered, that doors open when unlocked, and that card readers actually read properly.
Testing also should verify that commands initiate remotely over a network and read locally. Alarms should be initiated locally and verified to successfully record codes remotely for ajar, egress, open, tamper, fire-alarm release, pre-alarm, and power supervision. Operational checks should ensure that on lock command, the door does not open either manually — except by panic bar — or by card swipe. Also, on a normal command, the door must open manually or automatically with a card swipe, but it should not open without swipe and should lock upon closing.
After normal use starts, commercial and institutional doors and hardware typically cycle many thousands of times annually. One way technicians can assure reliability is to follow the recommendations for frequency of in-use inspection. The recommendations might be as often as daily for a main entry in a commercial or retail facility.
Regular Inspections, Testing Delivers Long-Term Reliability for Door Locks, Hardware
Door-Hardware Upgrades Require Revisiting Department Priorities
