Test Gauge in East Dundee wanted visitors admitted without a key. We fitted a keypad buzzer system at the door, and replaced the broken latch and the worn push paddle first, because a release is only worth anything on a door that actually latches and holds.
A keypad buzzer is the plainest form of access control there is: a keypad outside, a release at the door, and the door let go for a moment so somebody can come in. It suits a commercial unit where the people arriving are visitors rather than staff.
It is also only as good as the door it is fitted to. A release cannot make a broken door latch, so on this job the door was put right before the system was finished.
What a keypad buzzer does
A keypad buzzer admits people by code. Somebody arriving enters the code at the keypad, the door is released, and they come in. The release is momentary, so the door goes back to being shut rather than standing open.
That arrangement fits where the people who need to get in are not the people who carry keys - a trading counter, a unit on an estate, an office inside a larger building. The door stays locked in the ordinary sense, and access is a number rather than an object.
Why the door had to work first
The latch on this door was broken, so the door was not reliably closing and staying shut. Fitting a release to a door in that state achieves very little: the code would be releasing a door that was already not latching.
So the door was put right as part of the same job. A release is a way of letting somebody in; it is not a way of making a door hold, and it cannot be sold as one.
What we replaced on the door
Two parts were replaced alongside the system: the broken latch, and the commercial push paddle that operates the door from the inside.
The latch is what actually holds the door closed, which is why it matters to a buzzer at all. The push paddle is what people use to open the door from within, and a worn one takes more effort than it should and eventually stops operating cleanly.
The premises in East Dundee
The work was at Test Gauge, Inc., 1051 E Main St Unit 107, East Dundee, IL 60118.
East Dundee is in Kane County, inside the Illinois part of our service area. Our licence is issued by Illinois, so licence and code statements apply to the Illinois side of the state line rather than being extended across it.