Lift Doors

Hello to everyone,

There is a saying, “It was the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes.” The automatic door was the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes and started to work in this industry in 1993. It was also an incredible opportunity for me to meet Selcom, which was considered one of the three best doors in the world (Wittur, Fermator and Selcom).

Between 1993-1999, Selcom was used as both a commercial company name and a door brand. When the German Wittur company purchased Selcom in 1999, the commercial company name Wittur was preferred, and Selcom continued to be used as a brand as per the commercial agreement. Today, this system remains the same.

All of the doors produced around the world have been inspired by the products of these three companies. In fact, some domestic and international companies go beyond inspiration and produce identical products under different brand names to make commercial profit. However, it is known that imitations carry on the spirit of originals.

In today’s business world, doors are manufactured based on needs. One of these is fire doors, as they are called in the market, that have a fire certificate. Elevators have also been on the agenda recently due to fires that have caused many citizens to die. If we were to truly examine the lift doors that are placed on the market and have been given the declaration of conformity by independent inspection organizations, I am sure that many of them would fail in a fire! 

I claim that doors that are fire-tested in laboratories and receive a certificate are quite different from the doors that are sold. The reason I repeat this over and over again here is that there are tall buildings. There are firefighter lifts, which we call fire lifts. Those are the doors that firefighters use for evacuation during a fire. But as I am writing this, clearly, although I don’t want to; the vast majority of other standard lift doors — including the ones in those lifts — that have a fire certificate will be trash in the event of a fire.

There comes a problem at this point. The installing company prepares a file, including the documents it has received from the manufacturing company, and submits it to the independent inspecting organization. The inspecting company controls the label on the product and its file as well as the doors and other components. It then provides the lift with a conformity label. So, when do you think the real test of the door is performed? Of course, never. … Until a fire breaks out and everything fails. After the damage is done, no one even thinks of investigating the fire certificates of lift doors. Since we, as a society, have a memory like a sieve, we also have the capability of quickly forgetting what we have experienced.

For those who have no idea about why these doors are so important, let me explain it here. Firstly; the well called the lift shaft literally acts as a chimney, so a fire that starts on the lower floors tries to leak from every point it finds toward the upper floors. The lift shaft is the fastest place to facilitate the spread of fire and the movement of smoke. Secondly; If there are people left in the lift when a fire breaks out, they also ensure that everyone stays safely until the firefighters arrive.

The automatic door company inflation in our country brings along certain faults and lack of inspection. There are around 300 door manufacturers in our country, and I would like to ask you the following question again: Is it Italy or Germany that is so unwise? Or why do the European countries (29 countries), which we refer to as Schengen countries have, a total of 16 automatic door companies?