Bathroom push button lock hard to open

I have to push the button half a dozen times before it opens, tried undoing the screws and buttons slightly and even put on a new lock still the same. A search doesn't come up with anything, I cant be the only one what was your mod to cure this.

Thanks

Hi, it may be because the hooks at top and bottom on the inside of the door are grabbing too tightly on to the pegs.I had a similar problem sometimes and stopped it by easing the peg positions.Easy to check if this is the problem and not the lock,by removing the pegs and seeing if the lock then operates ok.

We have this problem sometimes if the van is not level.

Best approach we have found is to be assertive with the button, trying to be gentle it just laughs at us but a quick stabbing action usually makes it do what we want.

Curiously our one always seems to behave first thing in the morning but gets more disobedient as day goes on.

Mine is just the same. I would describe it as temperamental but it always opens in the end. I just assumed they were all like that. It doesn't help when the hook on the back of the door is not centrally mounted (as mine isn't), because if you hang a robe on there, it can interfere with the mechanism.

Ours is the same on brand new 22 plate. It’s currently in for warranty work and I mentioned it so they will look at it. Not massively hopeful though we had a similar system on our Swift coach build wardrobe and that was equally temperamental. 

Someone replaced theirs and posted a thread: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

What I’m going to do when I get the van back is to get some strong thin magnets for top and bottom of door; that way it’ll only need locking on travel and not when in use. 

I really don’t understand why that bathroom door isn’t sliding, would make it much easier imo.

Glad I am not alone, I took the lock apart and spayed some silicone grease on the innards, that and adjusting the hooks top and bottom seem to have made it a bit better. I'll see how it goes might try magnets as suggested or even a new lock.

Thanks all

Magnets sound like a great solution TBH. They might even work well enough to replace the mechanism even when travelling. Watching with interest!

I will update this thread when I’ve done it. Should get the van back within a week all being well

Sounds like the top and bottom hooks are set a little too far in and are preventing the door from opening. A simple trick to prove / disprove this, is to push the door in (take the pressure off the hooks) whilst pushing the button. If the door opens easily you will know the problem is with the hooks. Jabbing the button is not a good idea, it sounds too violent for long term use.

Be careful using magnets, as they could pull the foil wrap off the door. This is a weakness that crops up repeatedly on the forum.

Tim

Wouldn’t foil wrap be aluminium, so non-ferrous?

I use strong magnets wherever possible on cupboard doors in the house over catches. 
Back to the first post on this thread, I’ve had exactly the same problem more than once on different vehicles and it’s usually the catch. They are just not that reliable, even new ones!!

v8oholic wrote:Wouldn’t foil wrap be aluminium, so non-ferrous?

They are often referred to as foils but are plastic. My point was that the magnets have to be stuck to something, and if the force needed to separate the magnets is too great then it could pull the foil away from the surface it’s bonded to.

Tim

Kemerton-bath wrote:

v8oholic wrote:Wouldn’t foil wrap be aluminium, so non-ferrous?

They are often referred to as foils but are plastic. My point was that the magnets have to be stuck to something, and if the force needed to separate the magnets is too great then it could pull the foil away from the surface it’s bonded to.

Tim

Fair enough. Most cabinet magnetic catches seem to use self tappers, but they would need to be short. And perhaps they wouldn’t be strong enough as a result.

I put these top and bottom of the door.



I haven't as yet needed to screw them in the double sided tape seems very strong and enough to hold them.

I used 2 of these at the top of the door as well as the gap was bigger.




The magnets are strong enough to hold the door closed even whilst driving, but easy enough to open when needed.

My wife will be happy no more me having to push the button in trying to unlock the door and waking her up in the middle of the night

Thanks for everyone's suggestions

Sorry for the late response as you appear to have solved the problem by adding magnets. 

I had exactly the same problem despite dismantling the lock etc. I finally solved the problem by slightly undoing the button from it's spindle. This seems to have cured the problem.

I had the same answer as you njr001 from my dealer and it does work. However I can see long term that the button will wear and become unusable. Not being content I had a good look and discovered that the barrel which the button moves in is not glued in the door squarely. You can’t get the chrome barrel out so I removed the lock from inside the wash room and gently filed away the edge of it from the inside of the door to create a small taper, wiped a small bit of grease in and reassembled. Pleased to say it now works perfectly.

Quote from my earlier post….. “They are just not that reliable, even new ones!!”

After quite a few failures I’ve taken these things apart, investigated the issues, lubricated/adjusted/modified them and they still eventually fail.
My conclusion.. They are crap and badly engineered 

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Funnily enough those were the same magnets I had ordered. Some pics attached. Works great, had to remove the rubber strips to ensure a good closure. If anything they are a bit too strong, I might remove the middle ones! Put them top and bottom.

I was able to leave the rubber strips in place but put the plate further to the edge of the door where your dot is and pushed it down onto the rubber strip, did the same at the bottom. Mines holding fine with 2 magnets top and bottom, with 3 you must really have to give it a tug. Brilliant idea DeeBee works really well.

If they are too strong, perhaps they would still be strong enough if mounted on the inside of the bathroom wall rather than the outside?

The wood is to thick for the magnetism to get through, these magnets are strong enough as we have them but not if placed on the inside.