How to Install a Maglock with Request to Exit and Fire Release

Why this matters

A magnetic lock holds a door shut with nothing the person inside can turn or push. Unlike a strike, there is no mechanical way out: if the power stays on, the door stays locked. That is why codes that allow maglocks on egress doors surround them with releases that do not depend on the access control system working, and why a maglock job is judged on its releases, not its holding force. The installs that fail inspection, or worse, are the ones where the push button only tells the controller to unlock, the fire alarm interface was never connected, or the release timer was left at its factory setting.

The code rules themselves (which occupancies allow a maglock on an egress door, the sensor, button and fire alarm requirements, and when it is delayed egress instead) are owned by Electrically Locked Egress Doors and the Maglock Rules. This card wires and tests the releases that card requires.

Safety and who does what

Get approval first. A maglock on a door in a means of egress generally needs the approval of the authority having jurisdiction and often a permit. Confirm both before ordering.

Line voltage and batteries. The lock power supply runs from 120 V; a hardwired connection goes to an electrician where your state or locality requires it, and is de-energized, locked out and proved dead with a tester checked on a known live source before and after (NFPA 70E Article 120, current edition). Disconnect the supply's standby battery before landing any wire on the supply or the lock chain, and reconnect it only when that wiring is done (step 6).

The fire alarm side. The relay in the fire alarm control panel that releases the lock, and its programming, are fire alarm work. In many states and localities that is separately licensed, and the fire alarm system's own contractor does it. Before any test that activates the fire alarm or its relays, the fire alarm system goes on test with its monitoring company, and it comes off test only after the panel is restored to normal and a signal is confirmed received. Warn the occupants, and do not run the test while the building is open to the public unless the owner has arranged it.

Ladder and drilling. The lock goes under the header at the top of the frame. Ladder at about 4 to 1 on a clear floor, no reaching past the rails. Drilling a hollow metal header throws metal fragments: eye protection. A header grouted into masonry releases silica when drilled: shroud, dust collection and a HEPA vacuum.

The release circuit

FIRE ALARM CONTROL PANEL
 relay contact, opens on alarm
        |
        v
LOCK POWER SUPPLY, FIRE ALARM INPUT
 input open = output off, set to latch
        |
      +24 VDC OUT
        |
PUSH TO EXIT BUTTON, NC contact,
 timer holds it open 30 s
        |
MOTION REQUEST TO EXIT, NC relay contact
        |
CONTROLLER LOCK RELAY, COM to NC
        |
MAGLOCK (+)
MAGLOCK (-) --------------------> PSU 0V

Every release is a break in one series chain feeding the lock, so any one of them removes power whatever the others are doing. The push button is in the chain itself, not wired to a controller input, which is what makes it independent of the controller's electronics: with the controller dead, the button still drops the lock. The fire alarm input sits on the supply ahead of everything, and set to latch it keeps the output off until the fire alarm is reset. The controller's relay uses its normally closed contact, because the maglock is fail-safe: powered means locked.

The procedure

The door in the example is the main door of an office suite, opening outward from the suite into a building lobby. The building has a fire alarm system. The suite side is the egress side and the push side, so the maglock mounts under the header on the suite side.

1. Mount the lock body and the armature. Mount the magnet under the header on the push side with the maker's template, using the bracket (L, Z or filler) that brings the magnet face level with the armature on the door. Mount the armature on the door with the rubber washers and pivot hardware provided, snug but not tight, so it can rock slightly and seat flat against the magnet. Why: an armature bolted rigid seats on one edge and holds a fraction of its rating, and the door rattles. What breaks if you skip the template: the armature meets the magnet off-center and the bond sensor (the lock's own locked/unlocked switch) never reports locked.

2. Mount the exit sensor and the push button. The motion request-to-exit sensor goes above the door on the egress side, aimed to see a person approaching the door, not passing across the room. The push button goes on the egress side where the sibling card's rules place it, which draw on IBC Section 1010 and NFPA 101's access-controlled egress provisions: in the editions we have seen, within 5 ft of the door and 40 to 48 in above the floor, signed "PUSH TO EXIT", but check the edition your authority has adopted. Here it went at 44 in, 2 ft from the latch-side frame.

3. Wire the release chain in series. From the supply's +24 V output, through the push button's normally closed contact, through the motion sensor's normally closed relay contact, through the controller relay's common and normally closed contacts, to the maglock (+), and from the maglock (-) back to the supply 0 V. Where the button has a second contact, wire it to a controller input so exits are logged; the lock power still goes through the first contact. Why series: any one release breaks power on its own. What breaks if you wire the button to the controller only: the day the controller locks up, the button does nothing.

4. Set the release timers. The push button's timer holds the lock released for the period the code requires (30 seconds in the IBC editions we have seen; check yours). The motion sensor's hold time keeps the lock released long enough to open the door. Many buttons ship with a short factory setting; measure it, do not assume it.

5. Connect the fire alarm interface. The supply's fire alarm input takes a contact from a relay in the fire alarm panel that opens on alarm. The fire alarm contractor installs and programs that relay and lands the wire at the panel end; you land it at the supply's input. Set the input to latch, so the door stays unlocked until the fire alarm is reset rather than relocking when the alarm is silenced.

6. Power up. Plug in or have the electrician connect the supply, reconnect the battery, and confirm the door locks and the bond sensor reports locked.

7. Wire the bond sensor and the door contact to the controller. A door contact says the door is closed; the bond sensor says the armature is actually held against the magnet. They answer different questions. A door can be closed and not locked (the armature is a quarter inch off the face because the door is warped or the closer is weak), and only the bond sensor catches that. Wire each to its own controller input, and set the controller to report a door that is closed but not bonded after a few seconds. What breaks if you skip it: the suite sits closed and unsecured overnight, and the log says nothing because the door contact is satisfied.

Finish test: every release frees the door

Each release is tested on its own, with a stopwatch where time matters. This is the log from the example, with the fire alarm on test with its monitoring company for the fire release line, and the fire alarm contractor at the panel.

The failure. The push button came from its maker with a short default hold. The door released when pressed and relocked 4 seconds later, before a person carrying a box could get through. Someone not timing it would have passed it. Reset and retimed, it held 31 seconds.

The independence test is the one that matters most. Disconnecting the controller's power and pressing the button proves the button breaks lock power directly. A button wired to a controller input passes every other test in the table and fails this one.

Restore. After the fire release test, the contractor resets the fire alarm panel to normal, the system comes off test with its monitoring company only after a signal is confirmed received, the controller is reconnected, and the door is confirmed locked with the bond sensor reporting locked. Write each line of the table, with the measured times, onto the ticket.

What changes the method

A building with no fire alarm or sprinkler system. There is nothing to release from, and the fire input stays unused; the other releases still all apply.

A door the occupants must be able to open with no sensor or button at all. Some doors in some occupancies cannot take a maglock at all, and some need delayed egress hardware instead, which has its own rules and signage. That decision belongs with the sibling card and the authority, before installation.

Residual magnetism. A maglock that releases electrically but holds the door for a moment after power drops is usually missing its anti-residual feature or has an armature seated crooked. A door that sticks after release fails the release test even though the circuit opened.

References

• IBC Section 1010, electrically locked egress doors, as adopted by your jurisdiction (subsection numbers move between editions)
• NFPA 101, access-controlled egress door assemblies, in the edition your authority having jurisdiction has adopted
• NFPA 70E Article 120 (current edition), for the 120 V connection
• See related: Electrically Locked Egress Doors and the Maglock Rules
• See related: Electronic Strike vs Maglock, Fail-Safe vs Fail-Secure Selection