Re: Automated front door lock?

["E. Lee Dickinson" <lee@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"Marc F Hult" <MFHult@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


> 1) fail in the locked position? --   in which case folks may be trapped
> inside and able to get out during eg, a fire.
>
> 2) fail in the unlocked position? --  in which case the bad guys get in
> for
> free.

I couldn't come up with a decision on this one either, until I realized that
many of the electric deadbolts have a thumb latch on the inside, just as an
unpowered bolt would.  My existing locks don't open themselves in a power
outage, and I wouldn't want my power locks to do so either.

In the case of fire, I think there's a fuzzier line. It might be nice for
the HA system to unlock the doors if the system has detected a fire, in
order that firemen may get in, or that someone could let my pets out. Same
might apply to a house with younger or elderly inhabitants, where a lock
might prove a fatal stumbling block, either in terms of dexterity or
recognition of 'locked' vs 'unlocked.' The more obstacles to escape you can
remove, the better.

Not a power-off unlock, but a commanded unlock that would hopefully happen
before a fire took the power out.