My interesting door lock

Albermarle

We also have a key safe. You need to inform your home insurance and they usually specify that it must be police approved and out of plain sight - ours is hidden behind a planter by our garage.

If you book a holiday cottage/flat with airbnb or similar, you often have to get the keys yourself from the key safe.

From memory they have all been in plain sight ( probably necessary for the visitors) . The last one you could even see the code on the website ( by accident I think) and they clearly never changed it, as they gave us the same code. So not sure what their insurers would think of that 

ashe

Albermarle said:

We also have a key safe. You need to inform your home insurance and they usually specify that it must be police approved and out of plain sight - ours is hidden behind a planter by our garage.

If you book a holiday cottage/flat with airbnb or similar, you often have to get the keys yourself from the key safe.

From memory they have all been in plain sight ( probably necessary for the visitors) . The last one you could even see the code on the website ( by accident I think) and they clearly never changed it, as they gave us the same code. So not sure what their insurers would think of that 

Yeah - maybe its different for commercial insurance or something but our insurers we have been with have always said not to have it in plain sight, but we wouldn't do that anyway really. 

theres videos on YT that show you how to tell which keys are part of the code, and the code order doesnt matter so all you need is the 4 numbers in the code, not the actual code itself e.g if your code was 1234 then 4231 will open the box too, which massively reduces the random combinations, but having the code feel slightly different makes it a bit of a breeze, but again low hanging fruit I guess. Our drive isnt in site of a road and the planter is heavy and obstructs it from view completely. we also have CCTV inside & out too. 

Vortigern

pieroabcd said:

Thanks everybody. This is the door lock. Nothing special.
Yes, pulling up the handle makes the bolt hidden in  the door frame come out and prevents the door from locking :-)
And yes, I'll keep locking it at night.

I've had a problem with this lock that has happened twice: suddenly the key wouldn't turn, at least not smoothly.
I had to use some force (not much) to turn it, but in that  case something in its lodge must have been affected: to lock the door I had to turn the key half a turn less. If before this incident the key could be removed with the teeth down, after that I had to remove it with the teeth up.
The thing happened in reverse the second time (a week weeks later), so now the key locks in the same position as before I had the first blockage.
Is this lock at rick of breaking down? What should I replace to be safe?

Looks like you have a euro cylinder. There's a cam in the middle that is turned by the key. This cam can be displaced/damaged either by forcing the key when the bolts won't move or by trying to use the key from outside when the inside key is still in the lock. This is why you had the teeth up/down inversion. You probably need to replace the cylinder. Remove the screw on the door edge just below the keyhole, then use the key to withdraw the cylinder. Measure the internal and external lengths of the cylinder before buying a new one.

Vortigern

How to remove and measure a Euro cylinder

Some cylinders require measuring from the centre (as shown in the link) - others are measured from the edge of the cam.

GrubbyGirl_2

ashe said:

We also have a key safe. You need to inform your home insurance and they usually specify that it must be police approved and out of plain sight - ours is hidden behind a planter by our garage.  

Mine is in the shed (hidden) at the bottom of the garden and the shed is also locked by a security combination lock.  I am sure if they were that determined they would just kick a door or window in

markin

Combi locks are very easy to open, videos on YT.

Has the door lock got a standard diamond mark showing its a anti snap lock, a lot of barrel sticking out on the outside.

My key safe is also in the Garage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFPmktNOVxQ


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP9A0oH-6mw

Albermarle

 the code order doesnt matter so all you need is the 4 numbers in the code, not the actual code itself e.g if your code was 1234 then 4231 will open the box too, 

Seems rather poor if that is the case.

Is that the same for a 4 dial combination ( typically used in padlocks as well), or one with a keypad with 0- 9 ?

ic

Sounds like you have a split spindle.  Do the two handles line up vertically inside and out, or are they offset a bit?  If offset this points to being split spindle.  To convert it should be the case of a standard handle, feeding a single spindle all the way through from the inside to outside.  Try unscrewing the handle from the inside and taking a look.

As to your question about being locked, your insurance will see it that the door is only locked when multi point locking system is engaged and the key has been turned.

pieroabcd

Definitely not offset

Slinky

ashe said:

We also have a key safe. You need to inform your home insurance and they usually specify that it must be police approved and out of plain sight - ours is hidden behind a planter by our garage.

I've never been asked any questions about external key safes for my home insurance.

We have our front door configured so we have to lift the handle to lock it externally so we can't shut ourselves out. Internally it has a thumb turn so is quick and easy to lock when coming in.  There's no letterbox in the door so it can't be reached that way.