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I am not sure how to tackle this one. It is not the “easy fix”. The easy fix is the tightening or loosening of the screw in the pneumatic tube. That is not the problem. I slowed up the door enough it doesn’t catch my foot and remove my shoe anymore.
The big issue is when you open the storm door. It’s like a circle, a fully open door is about 90°. This door closes itself to about 20° so quickly that I do not have time to get out of the door and turn around to close and lock the main door before getting slammed into, and I mean it slams into me, at about 20°. I’m getting bruises on my arms from the flappy handle catching my arm constantly. The handle catches my purse all the time.
It’s a newer door, I have the paperwork — it’s only a couple of years old. I am wondering if it’s that stupid spring chain thing. I’m actually wondering if because I tend to be a responsible person, I can take the pneumatic tube off entirely and just shut the damn thing. It shuts easily and latches well.
Taking off the storm door off entirely wouldn’t work either. This was a professionally installed, purchased finished piece. Like they made it with a door and a storm door and a side light all in one piece. So you can’t exactly remove the storm door and have it look right. So I’m kind of stuck with the storm door. But I ain’t stuck with that damn maneating pneumatic tube.
I’ve had doors with this type of closure on it before, I grew up with them. I don’t remember any of them on my house or at my friends house doing the slam nearly shut as quickly as possible thing and then slowing down to molasses to close for that final let’s say 6 inches. It was a fine simple movement from open to close. So I don’t know if there’s something wrong with that pneumatic tube, or if there is something wrong with that spring chain thing, or what it could possibly be.
If you've tried adjusting it properly according to the manufacturer's instructions, then maybe the cylinder is bad and needs to be replaced. The chain is only to keep it from slamming open if the wind catches it.
If you've tried adjusting it properly according to the manufacturer's instructions, then maybe the cylinder is bad and needs to be replaced. The chain is only to keep it from slamming open if the wind catches it.
I think that the chain also has a coil spring attached so that the door won't come to a sudden stop if the wind happens to catch it. This spring could be what is helping to close it so fast, but more than likely you just need to adjust the closing screw on the pneumatic closer.
I had someone who was installing some new windows for me also repair an old storm door (which I had intended to replace, but, turned out it was only 28" wide and a non standard size). He noted that the door when my condo was built, installed the closing mechanism over an inch from the edge of door frame. It is only supposed to be 1/4 of an inch from the edge of the door frame. That made the door hard to hold open and slammed behind me when I exited the door.
He offered to fix it he next time he was in the area if I wanted to replace the 23 year old closing mechanisms and install the new ones properly. (I am referring to the part of the mechanism that gets screwed into the door frame that should be 1/4 inch from the edge of the frame. My mechanism is attached to the side of the door frame with screws.)
So, you might want to check your mechanism installation to see if that is causing the problem.
Most all closers (pneumatic tube) on storm/screen doors have two adjustment screws, one is for the “closing speed” while the other adjustable screw is for the “latching speed”.
You should be able to adjust the closer so that it operates at the desired setting for both actions. Sounds like one of the adjustment screws is maxed-out to one extreme.
None of the pneumatic tubes I’ve seen have two screws. It’s one screw that determines the speed, and the other thing is a pin. The pin has a couple of holes to pick from. The next hole would be tighter which I would think would be faster. Since it has an incredible latch on the door, I’m thinking of just taking all that stuff off and leaving it off. And just making sure I close the door which, since I live alone, I can do.
Last edited by Tallysmom; 07-10-2022 at 07:41 AM..
You can always add a second tube. Many storm doors have two of them anyway. If the problem is more at the beginning of the closing arc, then a longer tube may work better.
Two options. 1. Adjust the closer screw. 2. Replace the closer and adjust new closer.
I’ve had storm doors that could be adjusted so softly it hardly ever fully latched. My current storm door is by a company called Larson and it has 2 closers, one at the top and one at the bottom. Adjusting is made more difficult because you have to disconnect one to adjust the other before switching closers for adjustment. No matter how well it’s adjusted, the last few inches is a loud close. The company’s website said those last few inches is a bypass valve inside the closer to ENSURE the door fully latches shut. What I do like about these closers is a foot switch on the bottom closer. Want to prop open the storm door for bringing in groceries or large items then push door fully open and use your foot to activate a switch. The door will close until it reaches the first notch on the arm. Once you’re ready to fully close the door then push the door slightly open and it releases the latch to allow the door to close.
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Solly says — Be nice!
