Benefits of a Balanced Door

Today, Dawson’s balanced doors are built with an improved design incorporating the Record 8100 series auto-operator. This operator eliminates the need for a closer, thus creating a genuinely free swinging door without the added resistance.

The smaller header mechanism allows the drive arm to be connected directly to the door, removing the effects of added pressure from wind gusts.

The operator features an internal clutch/brake system to maintain the door in a fully open or fully closed position. It also has a power assist mode that significantly reduces the overall force needed (<2 pounds) to open the door in manual mode.

Regardless of the door size or weight, the balanced hardware requires minimal effort in opening the door.

Other door manufacturers still use poorly integrated designs that cause issues with the auto-operators from being able to exceed 15 pounds of opening force. By design, balanced doors have 8 pounds of resistance that is always present. However, with added wind gusts, forces can easily exceed 15 pounds, causing the operator to immediately stop its cycle and return to either an open or closed position.

Balanced doors require 1/3 less operational area than conventional doors because of the elliptical motion path they move in. But, even with this reduced space, they’re still very capable of accommodating wheelchairs, shopping carts, and large influxes of visitors.

Where spacing is limited, such as in large cities where standard doors would extend beyond property lines, the balanced door is often the choice for owners and designers.

Only Dawson secures its operating mechanism inside the head instead of the floor.  This new design requires no groundbreaking, reducing the time and cost of installation.

This placement also prevents salt, dirt, and grime from getting into the mechanism that can later cause malfunction and erosion.

ADA Approved

Dawson balanced doors are capable of meeting all ADA requirements without the need for power operators.

Blended Aesthetic

Dawson matches the top and bottom pivot arms to the door’s material for a minimal appearance.