Door Seals

Argh...what are we doing wrong?

We bought a Raven Automatic Door Seal from Bunnings yesterday for the front door (big gaps under the door are turning the hallway into a wind tunnel)...installed it & can't get it to work properly.

It's the sort that has a spring-loaded rubber seal thing that drops down automaticly when a screw at the end of the mechanism gets pushed by the door jam. When you open the door, the screw pops out & the rubber seal is supposed to lift up again.

Except ours doesn't. It falls down fine...but starts dropping before the door is closed (so difficult to close) & won't pop up until the door is fully open again (so difficult to open).

We've played around with different things (eg screws, etc) in the door jam hitting the screw in the mechanism but simply can't get it to work.

The spring bit in the mechanism seems to be not working properly.

Ummmm...did that make sense (it seems quite confusing)? Has anyone installed one of these & can suggest what might be wrong? Thanks.

Not sure if it is the same unit, the the one I am referring to has a black dics which you screw to the door frame, it hits the bar and pushes it down.

If thats not it, apologies for whats below.The only thing I can think of is that if you had to trim the seal, did you trim some of the tension spring wire as well? Maybe take it off the door and see if it works manually? I put in a couple alst weekend and had no probs at all.

If I an thinkof what might be the issue, will let u know. Generally they are simple to installa nd I havent had any probs.

I was thinking of installing door seals when mine finished...

Have you tried to contact Raven for support? Their product seems to be quite popular and it's available in many hardware shops. Since it's your main entrance, better get it properly fixed!

Definately worth doing, we noticed a big difference in temperature stability, and use less heating / cooling because of the door seals.

Sounds like the spring as Adrian suggests.

The other tip that pays heaps is to put some foam around on the door jam.

wann know why - Stand by your door on any cold windy night and you'll see why
Steve

Our site supervisor popped round yesterday to check on a few things & I asked him if he had an idea as to what was wrong.

He told me I had the wrong type of seal. Oops. He's going to bring me another sort to try out. Yay.

And yes, they make a huuuuge difference. Not just in reducing drafts (thereby making your heating more efficient) but they also reduce noise (incl door rattles...I hate that) & stop insects coming under the door.