Everyone likes to have things work a certain way, and that they do what they advertised to do. In this case when this device does not work it can be a real pain. This screen door closer can be found at just about any Ace Hardware store for less than ten dollars. I don’t like replacing the whole screen door when this is in need of repair, so I take the easy way out an only replace the minimum. In this case the automatic door closer was messed up and I had to figure out that that was the problem. Who ever said that these will last forever was terribly mistaken. In my case the inside cylinder stopped working and would not close the door all the way. There are several brands on the market and I have found that in this case the cheaper one will do just as good of a job as the most expensive models.
Description
As you will see this comes equipped with everything that you will need to install it with the exception of any tools. This comes with 2 pivot pins,6 screws, 2 brackets, a sliding locking washer, and of course the main body cylinder. This is and all metal construction and the cylinder is sealed to prevent and contaminants from getting into the mechanism. This particular device is white in color and will fit on just about any storm door on the market. This unit will usually just fit into any old door closer but you may find that you might have to use the new parts to make sure that this new one will work properly. I was able to just slide this one in the place of the old one, but soon found out that the old locking is not the same as the new one. So just to let you know that you may have to use the new locking washer with the new device to get it to work properly. When closed this measures 13”, and when fully opened it measures 20”. The cylinder is only 1.25” in diameter.
Experience
They make this virtually self-explanatory when re-installing this. If it were a perfect world you could simply pull the two pivot pins and slip this into the old spot, but that was not the case. To install this new one I had to drill a hole and slide a bolt into the door to hold the screen door bracket and then I had to use the new locking washer that slides on the shaft to help hold the door open when you are loading groceries or just need the door to stay open while you are loading or unloading. I found that the easiest way to install this is with the use of a cordless drill, you can do it with a hand held screwdriver but that will take you a lot longer to do the job. You also may want to re-drill the holes on the door jamb to make it more secure. At the end of the cylinder there is a screw that a lot of people will overlook, they probably have seen this screw but never knew what it was for. Well, this is used to adjust the amount of travel and how quick that the door will shut. I have yet to see even the more expensive ones to beat Mother Nature, once the wind grabs one of these, they will bend from the sudden stop when it is grabbed by the wind and you will end up replacing it any way. So, I think that you may as well go as cheap as you can get.
Conclusion
You will not be disappointed when you install of these door closers by Wright. If you are like me, you like to save money and in this case you can save quite a bit of money. This has survived a lot of storms and 6 kids, so that says a lot to me.