Automatic Door Speed: Opening, Closing and Hold-Open Settings

Automatic door speed is one of the few settings that changes how every single person experiences an entrance. Too fast, and the door slams, startles people and hits harder when it touches somebody. Too slow, and people walk into a half-open leaf, queues build and conditioned air pours out. The right automatic door speed is not a number on a box. It is set on site, for the doorway, the leaf and the people using it.

This guide explains the settings that make up automatic door speed on sliding and swing doors: opening speed, closing speed, hold-open time and opening angle. It uses the published adjustment ranges of our MC-125 sliding and MCW-100 swing operators, shows the arithmetic behind the choices, and explains when the speed should be changed and who should change it.

The four settings behind automatic door speed

When people talk about automatic door speed they usually mean four separate settings that work together.

• Opening speed. How fast the leaf moves out of the way. On the MC-125 it is adjustable from 150 to 460 mm/s.
• Closing speed. How fast the leaf returns. On the MC-125 it is adjustable from 130 to 460 mm/s, and it is normally set slower than opening.
• Hold-open time. How long the door stays open after the last person is detected. 0 to 8 seconds on the MC-125 and 0 to 20 seconds on the MCW-100.
• Opening time or angle on a swing door. The MCW-100 opens in 3 to 7 seconds per 90°, with the opening angle adjustable from 60° to 110°.

Most operators also slow the leaf down near the end of each movement, so it arrives gently at the open and closed positions. That end slow-down is part of what makes a door feel smooth rather than abrupt.

Opening speed: getting out of the way in time

The job of opening speed is simple. The leaf must be clear of the opening before the person arrives. That depends on how far the leaf travels and how early the sensor sees the person coming.

Here is the arithmetic for a leaf that has to travel 1,000 mm. At 460 mm/s it takes about 2.2 seconds. At 250 mm/s it takes 4 seconds. At 150 mm/s it takes about 6.7 seconds. A person walking at a normal pace of roughly 1.3 m/s covers about 2.9 metres in 2.2 seconds, and more than 8 metres in 6.7 seconds.

That is why automatic door speed and sensor range are set together. A slow door needs the sensor to see people much earlier, which means it also opens for more people walking past. A faster door can use a shorter detection field. Neither is right everywhere, and the figures above are arithmetic, not a recommendation.

Closing speed: the setting that matters most for safety

Closing speed is where automatic door speed becomes a safety issue. A closing leaf can meet a person who was not detected, a child who ran in late, or somebody with a walking frame who moved slower than expected.

The energy in a moving leaf grows with the square of its speed. Taking a 120 kg leaf as a worked example, the kinetic energy at 0.46 m/s is about 12.7 joules. At 0.25 m/s it is about 3.75 joules, less than a third. This is basic physics on the published weight limit, not a test result, but it shows why closing is normally set slower than opening.

Presence sensing should stop the leaf before contact. Closing speed and force are set so that if contact does happen, it is not dangerous. Our guide to automatic door safety requirements in South Africa covers the wider rules, and further guidance on standards is available from the South African Bureau of Standards.

Leaf weight changes the right speed

A heavier leaf carries more energy at the same speed, takes longer to stop and puts more load on the drive. The correct automatic door speed for a light aluminium leaf is not the correct speed for a heavy timber or laminated glass leaf.

The MC-125 drives up to 150 kg on a single leaf or 2 × 120 kg bi-parting. The MCW-100 drives up to 150 kg and up to 1,200 mm wide, with the two limits interacting. On both, a leaf near the top of its range is set to run slower. On the MCW-100, an exposed door near its limit should run at reduced speed, because its limits were tested without wind pressure.

Our guide to frameless automatic sliding doors shows how glass thickness changes leaf weight, and what size automatic door operator do I need covers sizing.

Hold-open time

Hold-open time is the part of automatic door speed people notice least and complain about most. Too short, and the door starts closing on the slowest person in a group. Too long, and a quiet entrance sits open, letting heat, cold, dust and insects in.

• Busy retail and transport entrances usually run a short hold-open, because people arrive continuously and the sensor keeps the door open while they pass.
• Clinics, retirement homes and accessible entrances run a longer hold-open, set by watching the slowest real user.
• Doors opened by a push button need a longer hold-open, because the user still has to travel from the button to the door. See our guide to the automatic door push button.

Presence sensing holds the door for anybody still in the opening regardless of the timer. The hold-open time only decides what happens once the doorway is clear.

Swing doors and low-energy operation

Automatic door speed on a swing door is set differently, because the leaf sweeps through the space people stand in. The MCW-100 sets opening time per 90° of travel, from 3 to 7 seconds, and the opening angle from 60° to 110°.

Low-energy operation runs the leaf slowly enough to suit accessible entrances without a presence sensor on every approach. The MCW-100 supports both full-energy and low-energy setups. Low-energy doors are commonly opened by a push button rather than a motion sensor, so the door only moves when somebody asks. Our guide to automatic doors for disabled access explains where low-energy fits.

Automatic door speed by entrance type

There is no single correct automatic door speed. These are the directions we usually take at commissioning. The final settings are always set and checked on site.

• Shopping centre or supermarket. Brisk opening, moderate closing, short hold-open, wide detection. Throughput comes first, with presence sensing doing the safety work.
• Office reception. Moderate opening and closing, medium hold-open, and half-open mode in quiet periods to save air-conditioning.
• Hospital or clinic. Moderate opening, slow closing, long hold-open for beds, trolleys and patients. See hospital automatic doors.
• Retirement home or frail care. Slow closing and long hold-open, set around the slowest resident.
• Accessible swing door. Low-energy, slow opening and closing, push-button activation.
• Exposed external entrance. Reduced speed where wind acts on the leaf.

Setting speed around the slowest user

The people an entrance is set for are rarely the average walker. A busy commuter crosses a threshold in a second. A frail resident with a walking frame, a parent with a pram and a toddler, or a patient on crutches may take five times as long, and they are the people a closing leaf is most likely to reach.

That is why we set automatic door speed at commissioning by watching the doorway in real use, at a busy time, and paying attention to the slowest person who uses it regularly. The closing speed and hold-open time are chosen around that person. The opening speed and sensor range are then set so everybody else is not kept waiting.

Where a building serves both groups through one entrance, the usual answer is a moderate automatic door speed with good presence sensing, rather than a fast door with a long hold-open.

Telescopic and revolving doors

On a telescopic sliding door, two or more leaves travel at different speeds on parallel tracks so they arrive at the open position together. The outer leaf moves further in the same time, so it runs faster than the inner one. The automatic door speed is set on the drive, and the linkage keeps the leaves in proportion. See telescopic sliding doors.

A revolving door turns continuously or on demand, and its speed is set so people can walk at a comfortable pace inside the compartment. It slows or stops when somebody is detected too close to a wing. Size and speed go together on a revolving door, which our guide to revolving door dimensions explains.

Half-open mode and energy

Automatic door speed and opening width together decide how much conditioned air escapes. The MC-125 has a half-open mode that opens the entrance to a fraction of its full width during quiet periods, cutting heating and cooling losses without locking anybody out.

A faster opening speed paired with a short hold-open also reduces the time the door is open per person. On a busy entrance, those small savings repeat thousands of times a day. Our guide to outdoor automatic doors and the South African climate covers wind, dust and heat.

When the speed changes by itself

A door that was commissioned correctly can drift. If the automatic door speed has changed and nobody touched the settings, something mechanical usually has.

• Slower than it used to be. Usually drag: worn rollers, a dirty track, a floor guide rubbing, or a leaf that has dropped. The motor works harder for the same movement. See our automatic door track guide.
• Jerky or hesitant. Often a slack or worn belt, or a carriage catching on the track.
• Reversing for no reason. The operator may be sensing resistance and treating it as an obstruction.
• Slamming at the end. The end slow-down may have been lost after a power or controller fault, and the door should be checked.
• Slow during load shedding. Some doors run differently on battery backup. See automatic doors and load shedding.

Turning the speed up to hide drag makes the problem worse, because the drive pushes harder against the fault. Fix the cause first. Our automatic door troubleshooting guide works through the symptoms.

Who should adjust automatic door speed

Automatic door speed is adjusted in the operator’s controller, and on many doors the menu is easy to reach. That does not mean anybody should change it. Every change to speed changes how hard the door hits, how early the sensors need to see people, and whether the door still stops in time.

After any change, the closing force, the safety sensing and the end slow-down must be re-checked, and the new settings written down. That is a technician’s job. Our technicians are our own employees, trained on our operators and on other manufacturers’ operators, and they record the settings after every visit. See our guide to the automatic door technician.

If staff want the door faster or slower, note when and why, and ask for the change at the next visit. If the door is hitting people or closing too fast, take it out of automatic mode and call us the same day.

Commissioning and records

At commissioning we set automatic door speed by watching the doorway in use, not by copying defaults. The settings are written down at handover: opening speed, closing speed, hold-open time, and on swing doors the opening angle and energy mode. At every service, every six months as standard and more often on high-traffic entrances, we compare the door against those records. See automatic door servicing.

Questions to ask at handover

Whoever installs or services your entrance, these questions tell you whether the automatic door speed was set deliberately or left on factory defaults.

• What opening speed, closing speed and hold-open time were set, and are they written down?
• Who was the door set for: general traffic, wheelchair users, trolleys, beds or frail residents?
• Was the closing force checked after the speed was set?
• How far out does the activation sensor see people, and does that match the opening speed?
• Does the door slow down before it reaches the open and closed positions?
• Is half-open mode available, and when should staff use it?
• What does the door do on battery backup, and is it slower?

If the answers are vague, ask for the settings in writing. A record of the automatic door speed at handover is the reference every later service is measured against, and it is the first thing a technician needs when the door starts behaving differently.

Automatic door speed: quick answers

• Automatic door speed is really four settings: opening speed, closing speed, hold-open time and, on swing doors, opening angle.
• Automatic door speed on the MC-125 runs from 150 to 460 mm/s opening and 130 to 460 mm/s closing.
• Automatic door speed on the MCW-100 is set as 3 to 7 seconds per 90° of opening.
• Automatic door speed for closing is normally set slower than opening, for safety.
• Automatic door speed and sensor range are set together, because a slow door needs earlier detection.
• Automatic door speed should drop for heavy leaves and exposed, windy entrances.
• Automatic door speed that changes by itself usually means drag, a worn belt or a dropped leaf.
• Automatic door speed should only be adjusted by a technician who re-checks force and sensing afterwards.
• Automatic door speed settings should be recorded at handover and checked at every service.

Automatic door speed questions

Door too fast, too slow or closing on people? Book a technician or request a quote for a new entrance. We service our own MC-125 and MCW-100 operators and other brands. We are on 010 412 0062, Monday to Thursday 08:00 to 16:30 and Friday 08:00 to 14:00.