XFORTSatin Chrome Concealed Door Closer for Internal Doors, Soft Close, Auto Close

The item fitted my 1993 made outer door ( replaced the older one)Fitting was a bit nightmare, you need to use the tool to release the tension of the chain to fit the outer part, after fitting the door part.Otherwise working well now

This is an effective concealed door closer, which I fitted to a downstairs toilet door that was irritating me because it was constantly swinging open. One gripe was it arrived without the tool that is use to retain the chain in an open position when fitting. I got over this problem using a claw hammer to separate the plates and a nail temporarily positioned between the links. It's not that easy to fit. The spring has to be powerful enough to close a door from its hinged side so separating the plates to allow fitting is an effort. You need a wood drill to make a 22 mm hole about 16 cm deep in the side of the door, which is a challenge when the door is about 30 mm thick without breeching the surface of the door, or using a drill extension to achieve the required depth. However, after fitting, it has worked well for the last few weeks, providing good closure with the right tension that allows the door to be opened easily. One obvious advantage is that it is certainly concealed and unobtrusive.

Well made device works on my solid pine doors.

By any standards, fitting this is an awkward job. The recommended drill hole diameter for the cylinder is 26mm even though the cylinder diameter is only 22mm.My door is only just over one inch wide so I had no option but to drill a 22mm hole. This makes the cylinder a very tight fit, and once installed (I used a mallet to tap it in) it cannot be removed again. Drilling a wide hole of 22mm to a depth of150mm in a solid wooden door is not an easy task particularly when aligning the drill direction in order to avoid the drill bit appearing out of either the front or back of the door!Installation in a framed door rather than solid wood would be easier,A claw hammer or similar lever will be required to pull the plates apart once the cylinder is installed. This is awkward to do but once done the clip attachment will hold the plates apart whilst the second plate is fixed to the door frame. You will need a chisel to cut the recesses for the plates as well as a large drill bit, and drill. The screw heads are soft metal and your cross head screw driver should be an exact fit if damage to the screws is to be avoided. The job took me around four hours to complete but I’m very pleased with the final result. The fixing is unobtrusive and quiet.which was main main reason for purchase.

I had to watch a YouTube video on how to install this and basically the message was, be careful and use the provided tool to hold the spring. There is no easy way to install. You need a little bit of brute force to slowly lengthen the spring (install the door end first). The tool was flimsy and the spring snapped back a couple of times - my error and my fingers! With vice grips and leverage, I finally managed to pull the chain out enough to secure it to the door jamb. Just be sure that you have the spring adjusted before you do this part though, otherwise you are in to repeat this a couple of times. And mind your fingers! Time taken was about 15 minutes.

It is not possible to adjust this mechanism to close the door gently. I have a panel door between the kitchen and the dining room. The door is quite light. With this device at its lowest possible tension, it still slams the door shut with a loud bang.The tensioning system is a threaded pin that reduces the tension when turned anti-clockwise. I set the tension to the lowest setting before installing the barrel in the door. It still slams. if you attempt to reduce the tension while the barrel is in the door, you risk the pin disengaging from its holding nut, and it is a very fiddly job to get it rethreaded (and you must remove the barrel to do so). It should not be possible for the pin to disengage. This would be a simple fix. However, the main problem is that the pin itself is too short. It needs to be significantly longer to allow more reduction in tension (or the internal spring needs to be lighter gauge).It may work better for heavier doors, but for light (standard) doors it lacks the possibility of proper adjustment.I can't say if other manufacturers have the same design flaws as XFORT, but if I can't get the tensioning system sorted, this will be useless and I will just have damaged the door for nothing.

Used this to replace one in the door over 20 years ago. Perfect