Removing door hinge springs

thos

Folks,
I've just moved into an apartment, and all the doors have sprung hinges for fire safety to make sure that the door close after you.

I'm looking to remove one or two of the springs on certain doors, but havent figured out how to do it yet. The builder mentioned he'd show me, but havent seen him around to ask. I can see an allen bolt in the bottom, but will only wind tighter and eventually gets tighter before popping, so cant see an easy way to do this.

Any ideas ? Without buying new hinges ?

Tom

JohnDigital

In an apartment that I had for a while I did the same. Assuming it is the same type where the door closing was done by a spring loaded unit - not actually springs in the hinges (I have not come across spring loaded hinges?!?). It was just a matter of removing the two screws securing the mechanism to the actual door. The mechanism then sprung back to a closed position in the doorframe allowing the doors to stay open. The spring is strong, so mind your fingers!

(We all know they are there for a reason, fire regulations etc - so I don’t condone/recommend their removal, but they are a pain in the behind sometimes.)

thos

This isnt the overhead style, it's 3 ordinary looking hinges on the door, but reckon 1 or more obviously has a built in spring mechanism. The bottom hinge is the only one which looks suspicious has it has an allen bolt down the centre of the hinge, and a small clock-wise arrow on the top. Cant seem to crack it though.

Alun

I'm assuming that they were installed because of building and/or fire regulations and I'd be concerned about possible insurance ramifications if you disabled them and there was a fire.

kadman

Alun wrote:

I'm assuming that they were installed because of building and/or fire regulations and I'd be concerned about possible insurance ramifications if you disabled them and there was a fire.

Ditto.

Spot on Alun. They have been fitted for your benefit. And you should think twice before removing them. Is there a need for removing them.

kadman

thos

Guys, it's not a moral dilemma I'm having - it's a DIY one ...

If you look at the post I said 'certain doors' - ie; en-suite bathroom ...

kadman

thos wrote:

Guys, it's not a moral dilemma I'm having - it's a DIY one ...

If you look at the post I said 'certain doors' - ie; en-suite bathroom ...

OK...keep your shirt on:rolleyes:

I am assuming that i am thinking of a standard door closer hinge.
Safety glasses should be worn for this operation.

A picture would help. But if its a standard fire safety hinge, take off the bottom hinge. I am assumming that it has a series of holes in the base of the hinge pin. If you look at the other end, you will see either an allen stud or a pin. Go back to the end of the hinge with the holes in. Insert a short strong metal rod or similar, and rotate the pin to take the preload tension off the hinge. Remove the allen stud orshort pin at the other end, and unwind the preload spring to no load.

Back to an ordinary hinge now, replace hinge, give yourself a pat on the back for a job well done, and kadman a lot of praise:D

Is it a bird, is it a plane, no its KADMAN

kadman:)

kadman

thos

This is close enough pic to what I've got.
http://www.hingeoutlet.com/images/residentialhinges/54153%20copy.jpg

Allen-key in the top alright, but the bottom of the hinge is just plain, no visible holes. The holes in the pic above are visible alright, they've a short wound piece of metal through them, but they sit flush no way of getting hold of them.

Had one of the doors off yesterday, the allen bolt will wind clockwise but only seems to strengthen the spring, and trying anti-clockwise seems to want to prise the hinge apart - and they are a damn tight spring, nearly lost a finger.

kadman

Hi,

They still look like the standard door closer hinges. One hole for the rod to wind the spring, and the other for the grub screw to lock it in tension

kadman

civdef

I can't think why an en-suite would have needed self closing doors for fire reasons.