Automatic entrances
Sliding and swing operators on commercial entrances. Reactive repairs when one fails, and planned servicing so it does not.
Automatic sliding entrances, automatic swing operators on existing doors, and low-energy operators fitted for accessibility. Most commercial operators are serviceable rather than replaceable, and the common failures are sensors, belts, carriages and control boards rather than the whole unit.
Usually a safety sensor seeing something it should not — a reflection, a sign, a plant, or a sensor that has drifted out of alignment. Often a ten-minute adjustment.
Carriage wheels, the drive belt, or debris in the track. On a sliding entrance the track fills with grit and that is what wears the wheels out.
Control board, power supply, or an activation sensor that has failed. Worth checking the obvious first: many operators have a programme switch that someone has knocked to manual or night mode.
On a swing operator this is the closing force and backcheck settings, which drift over time and need resetting.
Automatic doors on a public building are safety-critical. Sensors, force settings and emergency egress all need to function correctly, and the relevant standard for powered pedestrian doors is BS EN 16005, which expects regular inspection by a competent person. If an automatic door is on a fire escape route it also needs to fail safe.
This matters commercially as well as legally — an insurer or an HSE inspector will ask when it was last serviced, and a service record is the answer.
Automatic entrances are normally serviced twice a year, more often on high traffic. A visit covers the full operating cycle, sensor function and alignment, force and speed settings, track and carriage condition, and the manual release.
Send a photograph and a rough size and you'll usually get a figure the same day.
