Best low smell long lasting lubricant for squeaky door handle spring

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › Best low smell long lasting lubricant for squeaky door handle spring

1 | 2 | 3

timmmay

20582 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3269920 9-Aug-2024 15:06

It's not squeaking any more, or doing anything it shouldn't. If the new one isn't working right I'll ask them again what to do, or at least which is the best lubricant.

timmmay

20582 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3274836 23-Aug-2024 16:29

Allegion has suggested using an Inox lubricant. I'll pick some up tomorrow.

I put the new handles on they sent me. The bathroom privacy set is ok, there's a small metal on metal noise when you turn it, I think with lubricant it'd be ok. The previous door handle with CRC was better though. The bedroom passage set is terrible - makes a really loud, grating metal on metal noise - I put the old one back in.

Allegion mentioned checking the specification of the handle to the door. Our doors are 33mm thick, the specs for the Schlage Regent Juipter are they're for doors 35 - 50mm thick. My current theory is the spec or the build of the door handles has changed, once they're screwed together on the door that's slightly thinner than spec the metal parts that should be apart are pushed together, making the grating noise. When I loosen the screws the noise reduces then goes away, so I think I may be on to something. It's odd that the older ones work fine, the newer ones don't.

One of the other door handles, same make and model, also failed today - a spring in it failed when I used it. So now I have to replace that as well. Lucky they have a 20 year warranty and I have a receipt :) I don't think replacing with the same is useful, it'll just fail or make a noise.

Question: can anyone recommend a good quality door handle that looks something like the Regent Jupiter (pic below) that is made for a door 33mm thick? I found a Hawthorn handle but it's also 35 - 50mm. There's so many to choose from, I guess we'll look at the hardware stores tomorrow.

Bung

6489 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#3274843 23-Aug-2024 17:04

It's not as simple as shortening the square rod that the handle turns is it?

timmmay

20582 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3274844 23-Aug-2024 17:25

Bung: It's not as simple as shortening the square rod that the handle turns is it?

I have no idea. I think the moving parts are being squished together to hard, so I suspect it's more than that. Lubricant helps for a while, but I think I'll just buy different handles.

eluSiveNZ

188 posts

Master Geek

#3274846 23-Aug-2024 17:33

timmmay:

Question: can anyone recommend a good quality door handle that looks something like the Regent Jupiter (pic below) that is made for a door 33mm thick? I found a Hawthorn handle but it's also 35 - 50mm. There's so many to choose from, I guess we'll look at the hardware stores tomorrow.

Try LEVERSETS (nzhardware.co.nz)

You can filter on door thickness - looks like Sylvan have ones to suit 30-45mm doors

Bung

6489 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#3274864 23-Aug-2024 19:19

I have a Regent knobset here that supposedly is for doors 35mm to 50mm thick. When the screws are tightened right up the gap between opposing sides is 32mm. Nothing appears to be jamming.

timmmay

20582 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3274866 23-Aug-2024 19:23

eluSiveNZ:

Try LEVERSETS (nzhardware.co.nz)

You can filter on door thickness - looks like Sylvan have ones to suit 30-45mm doors

Thanks, great suggestion. They found this Sylvan one which looks similar, not quite as good warranty but should be fine. We'll also look in the hardware store, probably even easier in person.

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

timmmay

20582 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3275016 24-Aug-2024 20:46

Well, the Sylvan door handle we got is absolute rubbish. Its travel is much less than the Schalge which feels odd, it's noisy, it's not smooth, and it has physical damage that wasn't visible when it was in the box. Of the three Sylvan door handles we looked at at Bunnings one had obvious damage, one had the plastic container cracked so was suspect, and this one as well. So much for that idea.

The Inox lubricant is not great. I put into three handles that were a bit noisy or not smooth, it helped one a bit, one seems worse, and one seems unchanged. CRC was much more effective. I'll probably go for a petroleum based grease, suggestions for a brand would be appreciated.

Of the two replacement door handles I was sent, one was immediately rejected because it made a hell of a screeching / metal on metal sound. The other I left in and was rubbish a bit, so I used the Inox they suggested, now it's worse. I'll probably end up putting the original handle with CRC on it back in, it worked better, then add grease later.

Since our doors are 33mm thick the series of latches we've had for 10+ years aren't meant to work as they're for doors 35 - 50mm. I guess we'll go back to Schlage and go for one of their latches made for thinner doors. Suggestions for other brands of internal door handles welcome.

Bung

6489 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#3275020 24-Aug-2024 21:00

Have you tried replicating what I did? Without fitting them in a door take the opposing handles/knobs and tighten the two screws until the spacing pillars touch. I then had 32mm between them so a 33mm door would work !with my Regent set.

There was still room for the latch mechanism to fit between the handles.

timmmay

20582 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3275022 24-Aug-2024 21:18

Bung:
Have you tried replicating what I did? Without fitting them in a door take the opposing handles/knobs and tighten the two screws until the spacing pillars touch. I then had 32mm between them so a 33mm door would work !with my Regent set.

There was still room for the latch mechanism to fit between the handles.

Nope haven't tried it yet, great idea, I'll try that tomorrow thanks 🙂

timmmay

20582 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3275166 25-Aug-2024 13:03

I looked at one of the privacy sets. When it's off the door but closed up it's 29mm wide on one side, 33mm wide on another side... so it's skewed which probably isn't helping things. The new passage set that makes a huge metal on metal noise is 32 / 33mm so that's better, I'll have to try it again to see if the problem is caused by the sleeve.

The new privacy set I installed is actually working better now. The noise inside the mechanism has stopped, the other noise was the turning part of the handle rubbing on the silver cosmetic sleeve that hides the working. I just had to try a few and go with the one that fit best. So that new lubricant is ok.

The trick is taking all the covers off and listening to try to work out where the noise is coming from. Obvious but the Exceed guy pointed it out to me. It's not just "the handle", consider all the moving pieces inside.

timmmay

20582 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3284600 20-Sep-2024 18:35

I've come to a partial conclusion, which is a slight lowering of quality or tolerances over time. I'm hoping the information I provided to them helps reverse the decline.

I'm not sure why the internal mechanism starts to make noise after a while, other than lubricant wearing off. The solution is simply to use the Inox lubricant they recommended.

Once that's working there's still a squeak / squeal coming from where the mechanism meets the rose sometimes, but when you take off the cover / rose it stops. The diameter of the cutout of the rose has become smaller in later models, so it's more likely that the internal mechanism touches the sides of the rose / cover. I haven't found a solution for this one yet. Making sure the rose is correctly fitted helps sometimes. I might try lubricant on it some time, but I'm not sure that will stay in place.

Thanks all for the help 🙂

1 | 2 | 3