Simplex Jam

There were many times as a locksmith technician where I got call-backs for services I did. There were no particular jobs I would get the call-back for, it may have been a key I just mad for a vehicle that failed to work for undetermined reason, a new lock that failed operation after a short period of time, or other types of jobs. Most of the time I would be able to figure out what went wrong, but there were few times where I would stand scratching my head trying to figure out the issue where I'm sure happened before to other locksmith technicians in the field..

I remember few summers ago right around the time there was a few weeks of heat wave in Portland area, I got a call from a restaurant downtown to install a key-less entry Simplex lock which is very common for updated commercial applications and saves the hassle of dealing with pesky keys. I had the chance to install few of those before and actually had a couple in stock, so I took the restaurant information and headed its way.

Once I got to the restaurant location, the manager showed me around and took me to where he wanted the Simplex lock to be installed which was on the kitchen's back door where there was a high traffic of employees coming and going.  The install went well, and after finishing, I programmed a combination for the manager, and explained him how to use the lock. I then was on my was for another job.

Couple of days after the restaurant service, I got a call from the restaurant's manager claiming he was not able to operate the lock and instead he had to pry the door open which destroyed the latch. I stopped at one of my lock suppliers on the way to the restaurant to pick up another lever. After getting to the restaurant, I installed the new lever, entered the combination and everything seemed to work perfectly fine.

A day later, I got another call from the restaurant with the same complaint that they could not get the door open. I then asked them no to try anything until I get there, and started heading there as soon as I got off the phone. Once I got there, I examined the lock and enter the combination and it did not opened. A this point, I called another Portland locksmith co-worker of mine and see if he had any issues before with these Simplex locks.

After getting my co-worker on the phone, he did mentioned that these Simplex locks tend to malfunction if exposed to extreme heat. I then made a quick second look and noticed that there was a direct sun light on the metal door going through the kitchen window. I did noticed that the door was very hot when examining the lock. I then had an idea to examining the theory by getting a hose and cool the door a little. Once I did that, the lock functioned with no issues. I recommended the restaurant manager to install some type of window blinds, so this issue won't happen again.