When a cowboy strolled into town, at least in those old movies, he would first head to the saloon and burst through its doors in a room-stalling entrance. Today, operating with substantially more power than that conjured up in the Wild West, power assist doors function with a power mechanism activated by a push or pull, reducing the opening resistance of a self-closing door and allowing for easier manual opening. These and similar power operated swinging doors are specified in ANSI/BHMA A156.19-2019: Power Assist And Low Energy Power Operated Swinging Doors.
This American National Standard, written and published by the Builders Hardware Manufacturers Association (BHMA), applies only to swing door operators. The operator types in ANSI/BHMA A156.19-2019 are power assist and low energy power operators for pedestrian use and some small vehicular use.
Specifically, ANSI/BHMA A156.19-2019 outlines activation, opening, closing, force and kinetic energy, and signage requirements for power assist swinging doors and low energy power operated swinging doors, along with switch location and time delay requirements for the latter operator type.
Since low energy power operated and power assist doors need to be cycle tested for 300,000 cycles, ANSI/BHMA A156.19-2019 also addresses cycle requirements, and it lists the minimum opening time for doors of various lengths and weights.
Please note that doors requiring higher speeds, forces, shorter time delays, and activating sensing devices are not covered by this standard and instead need to comply with ANSI/BHMA A156.10-2017: Power Operated Pedestrian Doors. Furthermore, ANSI/BHMA A156.19-2019 does not address doors, finish, and hardware.
ANSI/BHMA A156.19-2019: Power Assist And Low Energy Power Operated Swinging Doors is available on the ANSI Webstore. Anyone in need of this document and the related standard ANSI/BHMA A156.10-2017: Power Operated Pedestrian Doors can acquire both together at a discount as the Power Operated Doors Set.
