The performance of the door Hinge is critical to the performance of the door. Doors are subject to thousands of movements – from a public toilet door in a shopping mall to a large hospital entrance door. Failure of the Hinge means failure of the door,inevitable problems with the floor and expensive remedial works. Before a Hinge is chosen a number of considerations need to be taken into account.
For the purposes of BS EN1935, Single Axis Hinges shall be classified according to the eight digit coding system as follows
DIGIT 1 – CATEGORY OF USE.
Grade 1 – Low frequency of use by people with a high incentive to exercise care and with a small chance of accidents occurring or of misuse.
Grade 2 – Medium frequency of use by people with some incentive to exercise care but where there is some chance of accidents occurring or of misuse.
Grade 3 – High frequency of use by public and others with little incentive to exercise care and with a high chance of accidents occurring or of misuse.
Grade 4 – For use on doors which are subject to frequent violent usage. Grade 1 hinges should not be used on fire-resistant and/or smoke-control door assemblies.
DIGIT 2 – DURABILITY/NUMBER OF TEST CYCLES
Grade 1 : 2,500 cycles
Grade 2 : 5,000 cycles
Grade 3 : 10,000 cycles
Grade 4 : 25,000 cycles
Grade 5 : 50,000 cycles
Grade 6 : 100,000 cycles
Grade 7 : 200,000 cycles
Grade 8 : 500,000 cycles
Grade 9 : 1,000,000 cycles
DIGIT 3 – TEST DOOR MASS
Grade 1 : up to 20 kg
Grade 2 : up to 40 kg
Grade 3 : up to 60 kg
Grade 4 : up to 80 kg
Grade 5 : up to 100 kg
Grade 6 : up to 120 kg
Grade 7 : up to 160 kg
Grade 8 : up to 200 kg
Grade 9 : up to 250 kg
DIGIT 4 – FIRE BEHAVIOUR
Grade 0: Not approved for use on fire/smoke resisting door assemblies.
Grade 1: Suitable for use on fire/smoke resisting door assemblies, subject to
satisfactory assessment of the hardware item relative to the performance of the
specified fire/smoke resisting door assembly.
No components of the hinge, except decorative parts, or its fastening shall have a
melting point less than 800 °C. (Steel) It does not apply to identical hinges that have
been certified by passing the appropriate fire test for fire door sets.