Mooncat vs the revolving door

[MoonCat]

So I got to work this morning and when I pushed the revolving door to get inside the building, the door dragged and shook, and I thought whoa, something's not right, let me just get inside...

...and I got stuck there. Yes. I got stuck in the revolving door.

The lock is a steel rod that fits into a hole in the floor. It wasn't unlocked properly and when I pushed the door, the rod went into the hole and prevented me from going in either direction. Took the security guard and two maintenance guys to figure out that the key they were trying to use to open it was the wrong one. Once we got the right key, it unlocked just fine.

Tomorrow, I think I'll go around to the side door.

[lordlundar]

Me personally? I probably would have asked for the day off just because I knew it was going to be one of those days.

[TheSHAD0W]

That's actually... Not supposed to happen.

The doors are supposed to have override hinges which will allow the doors to pivot even if the spindle is jammed; if pushed or pulled very hard, the door will swing into the adjacent door, allowing a trapped person to escape.

To lock a revolving door, there are *two* drop rods, and engaging them on two of the doors blocks entry despite the overrides. I suppose both rods could've engaged, but the holes should only be facing the exterior of the building, so even in such a circumstance you'd never be trapped between them.

Basically, if you'd pushed hard on the door either in front of or behind you, it should have allowed you to escape.

[MoonCat]

TheShadow, I dunno about that. There are two holes there, but only one was engaged. Both holes are on the inside of the lobby, probably so that the door can be locked or unlocked by the security guard from inside. I think the rod was sticking out when I first pushed the door, which was what dragged along the floor and caused the door to shake. Not knowing why, I kept pushing, the rod got as far as the hole, and stopped the door. It couldn't be pushed in either direction. I did try pushing pretty hard. I wasn't aware of the rods or how the lock worked until this happened.

I don't know if there's some kind of override. If there is, the security guard and the maintenance guys weren't aware of it. If all else had failed, I guess they would have had to remove a door panel or something. I'm just glad they figured out that they were using the wrong key! It wouldn't turn the lock to pull the rod up.

[Jay 2K Winger]

Had the OP title not had Mooncat's name, I'd have thought that our own dear Seraph had been the one the post was about.

[csquared]

If the panel in front of you were to fold forward, the door would not work as it should. The safety feature is that the panel will fold back if push the other direction. Push on the panel behind you.

[CloserToSane]

You're not the only one, it happened to me and a co-worker a couple of months ago. Pushing didn't help us unfortunately and we both had to ask other early starters to badge us in to get the door moving. Pushing hard broke the door and rendered it out of action for several weeks last summer - it was not someone from my company who broke the door.

[MoonCat]

If the panel in front of you were to fold forward, the door would not work as it should. The safety feature is that the panel will fold back if push the other direction. Push on the panel behind you.

I did that. I didn't budge.

This building was built in the 70's. Maybe they had different codes for this type of door at that time. All I know is, I couldn't make it go either forward or back. Believe me, I tried.

[wolfie]

Fun fact: You've probably noticed that revolving doors always have a normal swinging door on each side of them. This is a code requirement stemming from a nightclub fire - the crush of people jammed the revolving door (some were pushing the left panel, others were pushing the right panel, so the door didn't turn), blocking the exit. With the swing doors, such a jam would only block a few people (enough to fill the "quadrant") - the obstacle would force the rest of the panicking crowd to find an alternate exit, and it's right there on both sides.

With the override hinges, the press of people would trip them (probably slamming the panel against the next one hard enough to break the glass, but in a fire that's a minor concern), removing the force on that side of the door and allowing it to turn and let people out.

[MoonCat]

In front we actually have two revolving doors, and between them is a regular door marked with the handicap symbol, for people who are in wheelchairs or for some other reason can't use the revolving doors.

We also have side doors around the corner. Guess which ones I've been using since then?