Floppy inside door handle on Cole Sewell storm door

Home Owner from Middletown, NJ

Jun 16, 2023 2:59 pm

Inside door handle on my Cole Sewell storm door does not spring back to a horizontal position so that its nose sits against the vertical bar attached to the door jamb.

From what I have read, it looks as if your 40-150 model might solve my problem.

The outside handle seems to be working properly.

Wish to know if there is a part inside the handle that I could replace rather than buying a whole new part. The face plate of your current model is 2.5 inches long, whereas mine is 3.5 inches long.

Thanks for your help!

3 user uploaded images

4 Replies

Emily from SWISCO

Jun 20, 2023 11:24 am

Hello!

Thanks for reaching out to us. Our 40-150 would also be my recommendation. However, we don't sell the 40-150's face plate or lever separately, unfortunately. I apologize for any inconvenience.

Quick Learner from Middletown, NJ

Jul 1, 2023 1:39 pm

Very disappointed in handle 40-150.

Called and spoke live to customer representative last Thursday before placing order.
Main concern was it appeared that approximately a 1/4 inch equilateral triangle was
missing from the tip or nose of the portion of your handle that strikes against the keeper.

On 6/20/23 a representative Emily responded to my initial email and stated handle 40-150
would solve my problem of a floppy handle. Your Thursday's phone representative heard my
concern and agreed with Emily because she is part of your team of experts.

I installed your new handle. It looks good, but a huge problem is that one has to merely
push the door outward to open it, or just pull the handle straight the from the outside.

YOUR HANDLE LOOKS NICE, BUT NO NEED TO TOUCH HANDLE TO OPEN DOOR. JUST PUSH THE DOOR!!!

So a large dog like a German Shepherd can merely apply his body weight to push the door open
and be outside. Not a good situation.

Even tried to add an additional shim to the keeper in the door frame, but that is useless.

Sending you a photo of your newly installed handle and holding the original along side it.

What do you say to this? Got any ideas?

1 user uploaded image

Tom from SWISCO

Jul 3, 2023 2:46 pm

If I'm understanding the issue you've described, it sounds like the 40-150 that Emily recommended doesn't reach far enough to hit the door's keeper, or rather that the shape of the 40-150 is a little too sloped to properly interact with it. This is an issue I run into fairly frequently with storm door repair, especially with older hardware like yours.

You have a couple solutions you could try. The first and easiest is to pack the keeper out so that it sits a little more closely to the new handle. The exact amount you need to pack it out isn't really something I can advise, so it'll take some trial and error. You can use washers to this end.

Another option is to buy a new keeper that has a track record of working with the 40-150. That would be our 40-081; I use these two parts together all the time and they are a good pair. Just note that you still may need to pack the 40-081 with washers, depending on the situation with your frame.

I'm sorry that you have to do some added work to get these parts to function properly, but that's just how it goes with this hardware. Cole Sewell has been out of business for a long time and nobody ever really picked up production of their products again. Our 40-150 was not designed to work with this door and you won't find anything that will. It is, at best, an unofficial substitute. It's going to take a little tinkering to get it to work like it should.