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Imagine waking up to this knowing that you won't be able to get your aircraft out of the hangar. This inferior "other brand" hydraulic 74' x 19' Florida hangar door literally fell off its hinges and had to be sent to the junk heap. It was replaced with a Schweiss hydraulic door.
HERE IS ANOTHER DOOR IN FLORIDA...
HINGES RIPPING OFF
HINGES RIPPING OFF
THE DOOR HEADER
* NOT A SCHWEISS DOOR!
Imagine walking out to your hangar to take in an important business meeting or family vacation and your big 74’ door is twisted and lying on the ground. A Florida airport manager experienced this shocking revelation.
“It looked like the top hinges broke off starting with a structural failure at one corner which created a domino effect halfway across to the side of the building. There were several planes in the hangar at the time, but they thankfully weren't damaged. This calamity put the hangar out of operation for four months. We chopped up the door and threw it away. It wasn't good for anything else; it was just nothin' but a hunk of junk metal sitting there. It wasn't even an old door; it was installed in 2010. I think the company that built it is now out of business or operating under a different business name.”
- Tom Vaughan
Florida airport manager
This was a perfect case that emphasizes the need for hydraulic or bifold door buyers to do their homework on why some manufacturers doors and door components are superior to others. A “company, now out of business, ” sold and installed a 74’ x 19’ hydraulic door at Airglades Municipal Airport in Florida that went to the ground due to inferior hinges not strong enough to hold the door in place; and this was during normal weather conditions, no wind, no storm whatsoever! The entire door had to be sent to the scrap heap and was replaced with a Schweiss hydraulic door. A perfect scenario of why “cheap” doesn't save you money in the long run.
“I can tell you one thing, if we ever have to replace any other doors, it will be with a Schweiss door and not any other brand door; there is no doubt about it,” said Tom Vaughan, who manages the Airglades and LaBelle municipal airports near Clewiston and in LaBelle, Florida.
Getting a new Schweiss hydraulic door fixed this dilemma, but can you imagine, there are 69 more of these inferior doors at LaBelle and Airglades to worry about each day.
You might expect something like this to happen if a tornado, hurricane or high wind conditions ripped through the area, but exactly the opposite was the case - weather conditions were not a factor.
“I can tell you one thing, if we ever have to replace any other doors, it will be with a Schweiss door and not any other brand door; there is no doubt about it. We asked our local aviation engineer to look at the Schweiss door from his engineering standpoint. He took pictures and we gave him a brochure and he said he was going to take it back to his engineering firm to tell them if they have any future clients interested in putting up a door to direct them to Schweiss.”
- Tom Vaughan
Florida airport manager
“It looked like the top hinges broke off starting with a structural failure at one corner which created a domino effect halfway across to the side of the building. There were several planes in the hangar at the time, but they thankfully weren't damaged. This calamity put the hangar out of operation for four months,” said Vaughan.
Vaughan said that when his door fell he had heard prior to the incident that the door company had gone out of business. Looking online to see what other door designs there were, he ran across Schweiss Doors. They also had a local tenant, who upon returning from the SUN 'n FUN air show saw the Schweiss Doors display and described how well they were built.
“We chopped up the door and threw it away. It wasn't good for anything else; it was just nothin' but a hunk of junk metal sitting there. It wasn't even an old door; less than six years old, it was installed in 2010. I think the company that built it is now out of business or operating under a different business name. I wasn't even able to call the manufacturer to see if he would stand by his product,” said Vaughan.
The hangar now has a 74’ 3” x 19’ 2” custom-made Schweiss hydraulic door on it. The door is engineered for 175 mph windload with a 12-volt backup system and reinforced with a strong external truss and Schweiss' hydraulic steel frame with triple push tubes. The newly designed wraparound hinges can be lubricated from inside the building. It also has a hydraulic 2-speed valve that enables the door to slow down at the top and bottom cycle for smoother operation.
“Schweiss doors are overly built, the hinges are 10 times better and bigger than the chicken sh-- hinges on the other manufacturers door. They all have grease fittings where the “ other manufacturers ” doors don't have grease fittings. The Schweiss cylinders are about three times the size for the same size door.
“We asked our local aviation engineer to look at the Schweiss door from his engineering standpoint. He took pictures and we gave him a brochure and he said he was going to take it back to his engineering firm to tell them if they have any future clients interested in putting up a door to direct them to Schweiss. Our Schweiss hydraulic door arrived on time and in good condition. Schweiss made a promise to have it to us in three weeks, and they darn sure did. We were thinking it would be 60 to 90 days to get the door. I worked with the engineers at Schweiss Doors and they were very helpful with suggestions and gave us all the information we needed,” concluded Vaughan.
You know what they say about hindsight being 20/20?
It doesn't have to be that way if you just do your homework before deciding on whose door to buy!
The large Florida hangar had several aircraft inside when the door collapsed. Had a plane been leaving the hangar it could have resulted in a lost aircraft or even death.
NOT A SCHWEISS DOOR!
WILL YOURS BE NEXT?
In addition to the loss of many thousands of dollars worth of useless door, additional expense was incurred to remove it and purchase a Schweiss replacement door. The less than six-year-old hangar was put out of commission for four months.
SOME TOOLS MAY BE REQUIRED...
• Cutting torch • Fire blanket • Jack to lift the doorframe • A welder and a good parts store!
It seems that in the hydraulic door world, some keep using the same design, putting little or no thought into improving it. So guess what? You end up with the same-old design! Good or bad, time tells the story. See the door video below! When you buy a door it may come with all the hydraulic safety gismos, but when the frame tears apart and cylinder brackets rip off the subframe, the door is coming down fast! This is not safe!
WHAT KIND OF FRAME DESIGN DO YOU HAVE?
WHO MANUFACTURED YOUR DOOR?
(Note: the door below is not a Schweiss Door)
Grease Zerks on All Hinges
Double Push Tubes
Patent Pending
Solid Connection
More surface area
Ties into the header tube
Solid Connection
Ties into the vertical doorframe
The unique hinge design incorporates heavy hinge plates that wrap around each vertical push tube for added rigidity. Without this wrap-around design, the doorframe members can be overstressed and begin to tear apart from door weight and hydraulic forces over time. This won't happen with a Schweiss Door!
Hydraulic doors operate with one set of top hinges. These hinges need to be strong enough to support the door weight and the hydraulic cylinder forces when opening; unlike a bifold door that shares the load between the top hinges and the center hinges.
More Hinge Points
More Surface Area
Strong Hinges
Greasable Hinge Pins
Removeable Hinge Pins
It's an exciting time for Schweiss Doors. We are continually engineering and delivering the next generation of Hydraulic Doors to a market that is long overdue! Schweiss Doors leaves its customers with a much safer product and better support that's backed with years of "Safe Door Sense."
That's why Schweiss Doors is the leader in the hydraulic door industry. We're not trying to see how cheap we can build it - Schweiss is driven to build the Best Door!
You must KNOW THE FACTS and KNOW THE LOADS on the door that will be repeatedly impacting every member of the door, its subframe, and your valuable building structure. These things fatigue like anything else, and if improperly designed, their life span can be extremely short; that leads to DANGER, DAMAGE, and FAILURE.
IMPORTANCE OF WARRANTY...
WHAT DOES IT REALLY MEAN TO THE END USER OF THE DOOR?
If a company you depend on for your commercial door needs disappears, you could be left with a lot of unanswered questions. What does this mean for my door? Who do I turn to now for repairs? My door is a very important part of my shop or hangar - will this unexpected situation hurt my real estate values?
You might be thinking: What good is a door if the brand name is now tarnished? When your bifold and/or hydraulic door provider goes under, you're the one who gets sold short. You're left with no service, no replacement parts and no one to walk you through important service issues. Think about it: what if something really goes wrong? A working bifold or hydraulic door is an absolute must for a properly functioning commercial building; you must trust your door!
Really! When you're looking to purchase a hydraulic or bifold door, you should always look into a door company's reputation, longevity and experience. Without a good reputation and a solid history, what are you left with? Not a thing - and definitely no one to rely on! It's scary when you have no backup for such a large, important component of your building! Price is one thing and quality is important, of course - but no warranty? Now there's an awful thought! Imagine getting ready to fly and your hangar door just won't budge! You and your plane aren't going anywhere. Getting ready to move your farm equipment and your shop door just won't budge! You and your large farm equipment aren't going anywhere. You run to the phone for helpful customer service, only to find that the door company you rely on is no longer in business!
Looking for the Cheapest? When you're tempted by the cheapest option on the market think about it first - because you really do get what you pay for! Without available service, you're really in a tough spot. Those problems will keep multiplying. Without that warranty, you're left calling around to find a reputable repairman. It's highly likely that repair company will ask you for the name of the door manufacturer - and once they find out the door company is no longer in business, they might just run from the mess, leaving you back at square one! In today's lawsuit-abundant world, a decent repair company isn't going to run out and assume the liability when the slightest thing goes wrong! In the real world, when that original door manufacturer is nowhere to be found, the last person to touch that door could be liable for negligence - and any good repair center knows this! Here's the thing: you're not only buying the door, you're buying the odds that the company will stick around for the long haul, ready to service your moving door when you need it most!
At Schweiss Doors, we are in it for the long haul. We've been around for more than 35 years and we're not going anywhere! We're available to service the heck out of your door and we'll always be here when you need us.
Just remember this: Sure, that door you rely on so much moves great today - but just knowing that, should something ever go wrong, Schweiss Doors will back you up - now that's real peace of mind! You shouldn't have to experience that lonely, scary feeling when your door company goes out of business - at Schweiss, we're always here for your commercial door warranty needs. ALWAYS!
Sometimes the topic of warranty seems trivial, but at Schweiss Doors, we know there's much more to a door sale than just the sale itself! When you purchase a hydraulic or bifold door from Schweiss, you're just beginning a lasting realtionship with our company. We provide ongoing service - and that's the
Schweiss Advantage!
Warranty is everything! Imagine calling a company only to find out nobody's home - the entire company was dissolved! "Sorry baby, you're on your own!" No one wants to hear those words! At Schweiss, we know warranty is huge! Warranty is everything! A warranty without the original company behind it means absolutely nothing.
Warranty is worth it, it's everything, and you need a door company that will carry you through any service issue that may come up! At Schweiss Doors, we're here to help! We have a proven track record of excellent warranty servicing and fantastic customer care.
Quote... A farmer asked..."When the door is hanging straight out there, you better have something strong holding those cylinders. Doesn't that put a lot of stress on the building?"
Quote... A engineer once said... "The Doors Will Find the Weak Points in our building design. Many metal building engineers have a tendency to get lax with the design of the door supports and framing surrounding your doors and forget that we not only have to support the weight and wind on the door, we also have to support its operation." *NOTE: "It's better to overbuild your building than to make costly repairs later."
DO NOT BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU'RE TOLD!
Beware of the following door myths below...
USE COMMON SENSE and the Schweiss Door Specifications and Reactions sheet to find out the rest of the story!
Understanding Hydraulic Doors
Schweiss Doors is the leader in the development of hydraulic doors, building on their
experience from Bifold Doors. Schweiss has spent extensive time analyzing and developing
"New Specifications and Reactions" of hydraulic doors that provide the forces that are
transferred to the building framing. It is critical that the customer pass these
"Specifications and Reactions" onto the Building Designer.
Important:
No matter what you may see on other door supplier's websites, literature, specifications
or reaction sheets there are some things that you can be sure of for any hydraulic door.
Hydraulic door forces are considerably different from bifold doors.
Bifold doors roll up the face of the door side column, hydraulic doors cantilever from
a fixed location on the cylinder bracket which is offset inside and behind the door side
column. Bifold doors fold as they open. Hydraulic doors open as one piece so the
hydraulic door is cantilevered much further than the bifold door. The operator of the
bifold door distributes much of the dead load of opening the door to the hinges. The
hydraulic doors are opened using powerful hydraulic cylinders which concentrate the door
opening loads at the cylinder bracket location on the building door side columns.
The door will not stop if a hydraulic component fails.
The door is coming down on whatever is underneath it.
Slowing the door as it comes down isn't good enough.
Stops the door immediately! Standard from Schweiss.