Three Things About Europrofile Cylinders That You Never Knew You Needed To Know

Today, we’re again talking about europrofile cylinders and we’re going to answer three questions you never knew you needed to ask.

REMOVING A EUROPROFILE CYLINDER

First of all we’re going to describe how to remove a europrofile cylinder. Take a screwdriver and unscrew the fixing screw that’s level with the bottom of the cylinder itself. once it’s undone, take it out, set it aside. Take the keys for the cylinder, put them in to the lock and turn them, it will be 15 degrees or thereabouts, it could be in either direction, and you’ll feel the cylinder to start to come out. If you find there’s resistance, some gently tapping with a hammer on the other end will help, although take great care not to hit too hard — you might damage the cylinder irrepairably. If you have a thumbturn on one end of the cylinder, you will need to use this in place of the key. THe reason that you need to do this is that the cam of the lock, the part that turns with the key, and acts upon the lock mechanism, needs to be brought into line with the main body of the lock, in order for it to slide out of the mechanism.

And then obviously to put the cylinder back in, you reverse the process

MEASURING A EUROPROFILE CYLINDER

If you need to purchase a new cylinder for your door, you need to know what size it is, and it’s not just as simple as measuring the overall length. In most uPVC doors, the locking mechanism is not fitted centrally within the door, so an offset, or asymmetric, cylinder is used. So, having removed the cylinder, take a tape measure, and measure the distance from the fixing point to each end. You’ll have 2 measurements, for example you might need a 35/45mm cylinder. Don’t be put off if you do have a symmetrical cylinder (eg 35/35mm), they are commonly used in wooden and composite doors. Bear in mind, too, that if you have a thumbturn cylinder (ie one that has a knob on the inside, not a keyhole), you will need to know which end has the thumbturn.

SECURITY STANDARDS

Lastly, we’re going to discuss the security standards of Europrofile cylinders.

There are basically three security levels; the standard untested cylinder, the TS007 one star and the TS007 three star.

Untested cylinders are at the lowest end of the pricing scale. Some may have anti-drill protection, or anti-snap protection, but they have not been tested to see how well they perform when attacked, but obviously,the cost of testing is significant, so leaving them untested keeps the cost down.

For a cylinder to be awarded one star, it has to be put through a number of different tests. It must resist drilling for a certain period of time and it must also resist having the barrel pulled out. The barrel is the part of the cylinder where the key is inserted, and if this is removed, it allows easy manipulation of the cylinder to unlock the door. What doesn’t have to do, quite surprisingly, is that it doesn’t actually have to be an anti-snap cylinder. In practice many of them are but for reasons best known to the manufacturers they haven’t tested them, so they’re only allowed to put the 1 star on them.

For the 3 star cylinder, anti-snap protection is mandatory. Burglars are able to snap the whole front part off the cylinder, again allowing them to manipulate the lock open. When the has been snapped, a spring loaded pin will pop out, allowing another spring loaded pin to pop up and jam the cam in place and stop it from turning. If the cam will not turn, the lock cannot be manipulated open.

Amberley Security are Portsmouth’s locksmith experts. We’d love to hear from you if you have queries about your locks, or any other aspect of security. Get in touch with us, via our Contacts page.