ADOR door malfunction

[letele]

Hi all,
I bought an ADOR automatic door back in June and have been super pleased with it. However, tonight my Polish got her head stuck in the door as it was closing and it nearly killed her. Those of you who have the door know that there's a small piece of plastic connecting to the manual override button that hits the actual switch inside of the cover. Upon installation, we noticed that this small piece had broken off and fully intended to email Rod about it, but figured it wasn't a huge deal as the door was working like a dream and we didn't think we'd need to really open and shut the door outside of the scheduled times. Well, when her head was stuck tonight and she was losing oxygen, you better believe I wish that button was working. Thankfully, we were able to unscrew the cover and hit the button inside before she totally passed out or died. The door had closed so tightly on her neck that I couldn't even fit a finger underneath it. She seems to be okay now, recovering in the coop with her sisters, but I was terrified. Thankfully, no blood, just some confusion and lost feathers, but this was super scary and not something I want anyone else to go through. I just emailed Rod to see what to do about this, because I was under the impression that the door would not be able to close so tightly on a chicken. Anyway, I am not trying to say the ADOR is a bad product - like I said, I've been really happy with it - but this is an issue to be aware of. If I'd not been on the phone sitting right in front of the open window, I probably wouldn't have heard her and I don't think she'd be alive right now. Phew! Adrenaline is subsiding. Hope this doesn't happen to anyone else!

 

[letele]

Just heard back from Rod with an easy fix for the switch and we will talk tomorrow to try and figure out what happened/why the door shut on her head. I'm very impressed with the customer service and hope that this potential issue can be improved upon in the future. If anyone else has had a similar issue, I hope you'll share it. Maybe collectively we can reach a solution!

 

[aart]

Yikes! Wondered about over-torque on any automatic chicken door.
Curious to see how this is resolved.

 

[chfite]

Was the broken part an automatic reversal switch on par with the ones on a garage door?

I would certainly set my automatic door to close well after dark to help prevent that occurrence. I prefer the designs that have the door suspended on a string so that it would close by gravity.

Glad she's doing well.

Chris

 

[aart]

Was the broken part an automatic reversal switch on par with the ones on a garage door?

I would certainly set my automatic door to close well after dark to help prevent that occurrence. I prefer the designs that have the door suspended on a string so that it would close by gravity.

Glad she's doing well.

Chris

The broken part was the manual override.....I don't think these have an automatic reverse, based on torque override, like a garage door.

 

[letele]

Right, when it hits an obstruction, it stops, reverses a bit (not fully) and tries to close again. It repeats this three times. Tested it the other night and it was working as advertised....I still have no idea how her head got caught in it. There is more force from the door coming down then I thought there would be (tried it on my hand) but it does reverse a couple inches and she certainly should have been able to get fully in or out. Since that night, I have found her up on the roost well before time for the door to close (which is already quite late - after full dark) so maybe she has learned. I am still a bit nervous about it but not sure what else to do other than hope that she's learned and changed her behavior. I guess time will tell. Btw, the solution Rod gave us for the broken part was simply to use a small rubber bumper with adhesive on it to attach to the button. It was an easy fix and seems to work just fine.

 

[workaholic90]

I just saw one of my girls going in and it closed on her, didn't reverse or anything kept closing. May I ask what Rod's solution was?

Thanks

 

[letele]

Unfortunately, there wasn't really one, other than she stopped sleeping in the doorway. She is no longer with us, but I could see it happening again with a new chicken. It's a shame because I'm otherwise very satisfied with the door. Is your girl okay? Lucky that you saw it happening.