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Self Closing Gates

Self-closing gates, I would not have thought that I would need such a luxury. You go thru them and sometimes you need to prop them open to move materials thru them. Why would I need gates that close by themselves?

Well, it turns out I needed them for safety. I needed them to protect small kids when I had a pool put in. Small children and pools without someone to supervise them, is a potential disaster. Also, where I live, it’s code that a pool has self-closing gates to keep kids from being able to access the pool. So I needed to have self-closing gates and they needed to be able to close and activate the latch.

Gate Springs – Amazon.com

Criteria for a successful installation

I started looking for hardware to do the closing. I set my criteria for the hardware based on the following,

The need to close a really heavy gate as my gates are wider than three feet and made of wood.
I also needed the gates to close wet or dry. A wet gate is a lot heavier than a dry wood gate. So rain or shine these gates needed to close every time. A child’s life might hang in the balance.

Four Options

My search for self-closing gate options turned up the following hardware solutions:

There were springs that would stretch when the gate was opened.
There are pneumatic door closers.
Spring assisted gate hinges.
There are torsion springs that will wind up when the gate was opened.

I was going to have to choose from these options.

Option #1

There were springs that would stretch when the gate was opened.

These springs had no adjustment after installation. This is a wood fence. The wood absorbs water and gets heavier. This eliminated this option. I also didn’t like the fact that the springs would stretch with each opening of the gate. Over time these springs would fatigue and fail.

Self Closing Gate Kits – Amazon.com

Option #2

There are pneumatic door closers.

Pneumatic door closers are a good option when they are located indoors. The outside location is not a good fit for this application. Besides these types have a lot of parts and the more parts the more likely it is to fail.

Option #3

Spring assisted gate hinges.

Spring assisted gate hinges looked like a good option they wind up as the gate is opened. But the gate is heavy and I was afraid that the two spring assisted hinges may not exert enough resistance to fully close the gate when wet without having to buy a third hinge to get the job done. The springs in the hinges are also pretty small and the hinges are not exactly cheap.

Option #4

There are torsion springs that will wind up when the gate was opened.

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The torsion spring winds up as the gate opens, using the spring over its entire length which means that no one part gets more use than another. The hardware part is very simple with one moving part. This option has a very large spring making it relatively cheap over purchasing 2 spring assisted gate hinges, as only one part is needed to close the gate. The adjustment in my selection is very easy to do when properly installed. This was looking like the best bet for my application.

The Installation

Installing the spring is really simple. One end goes on the post side and the other end goes on the gate side. The spring should be as close to vertical as possible. Since the part I purchased used a small piece of flat steel to wedge between the adjustment bolt head and the mounting bracket, that end was the one on top. I don’t remember if the part came with bolts but I can tell you that you will need bolts longer than 1″. When I tried using the shorter bolts and the torsion from the spring pulled the bolts/screws out of the wood. I would recommend 2″ or longer galvanized bolts/screws so as not to have to come back in and repair the unit due to the screws pulling out of the wood.

Tensioning The Spring

Tensioning the spring was a pretty simple process. I used a larger(10″) adjustable wrench and the small flat steel wedge provided with the spring. I wind the spring and slip in the wedge to hold the spring while I reposition the wrench. Then I take the tension off the wedge using the wrench. I remove the wedge and turn the wrench to add more tension, slip in the wedge. Repeat the process until the spring has the proper amount of tension.

I wound the spring until I could open the gate just enough for me to slip thru and have the gate come back and with enough force push the latch closed each time.

When I installed this spring in the summer it worked great. But in the following winter months when the gate gained water weight from rainfall the spring required adjustment for the additional weight. I left it adjusted to the water weight gain. That means that when the gate is dry it does close with great purpose. That is something I can live with.

This type of spring closer has proven to be a very right choice. It has lasted for over 35 years and while in need of some paint, it is still doing a great job. I hardily recommend it should you need to have self-closing gates.

If you should need a torsion spring like this one(click here)

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RayC.

Editor at Mybusyretiredlife.com

Trained in the mechanical arts. I have worked on anything dealing with a home from changing a light bulb to moving a load bearing wall. As for the recipes, they came about after I could not find what I was looking for and recipes that over a lifetime I have come to love and want to share with the world.