Gate Latch question

[woodlandfarms]

OK, so now the wife has stepped in with an asthetic issue I cannot address. We need to lock this new gate (2 8ft sections). The county wants / needs to have a county lock for fire / electric blah blah blah...

Has anyone seen a "nice" latch that can handle two locks? I mean the short chain method can work, but the fashion police will be pounding on the wifes door (so she is concerned anyway).

Carl

 

[LarryD]

What if you made a little "U" shaped flatbar with holes at the end and a short piece to close the gap with matching holes. Then you could hang a lock at each end of the assembly and removal of either lock would open the gate.

You could then use any commercial gate latch the "fasion police" approve of.

 

[woodlandfarms]

I was thinking of doing something with a horse shoe. An old one. Just drill the ends and put padlocks on it. A little foo foo ie (can I say gay?) but it may work... Keep with the western theme...

 

[JoeinTX]

"What if you made a little "U" shaped flatbar with holes at the end and a short piece to close the gap with matching holes. Then you could hang a lock at each end of the assembly and removal of either lock would open the gate..."


Nice. Something I've never even considered but would work for dual locks.

The chain is the most common and the one we use the most since with multiple locks (utilities, oil/gas people, pumpers, etc) a gate could wind up with more than two locks on it.

 

[gotrocks]

"The county wants / needs to have a county lock for fire / electric blah blah blah..."

$0.02

What did I miss? Why not give the county a key to your lock?
Or have the county give you a key to their lock!

 

[woodlandfarms]

Exactly what I said... Nope, they don't want to issue a key to every lineman / fireman / meter maid, they just want the universal key used...

Whatever... They just made me inspect my septic system, yet did nothing for our drinking water....

 

[have_blue]

"The county wants / needs to have a county lock for fire / electric blah blah blah..."

$0.02

What did I miss? Why not give the county a key to your lock?
Or have the county give you a key to their lock!

The county has a key to my gate. It's about 24" long and has a pair of hardened jaws.

Seriously, in an an emergency, a $5 lock is a small sacrifice.

 

[JoeinTX]

"The county has a key to my gate. It's about 24" long and has a pair of hardened jaws.

Seriously, in an an emergency, a $5 lock is a small sacrifice.
__________________"


My GF manages a retail location and after one of the routine inspection visits from the city Fire Chief............he asks her for a key to the store in case of fire. He was serious.

She excused herself and called me since I work in retail management too. I was stunned. I told her to flat-out refuse and provide the Chief with her boss's number if he had an issue but to not give him a key for any reason whatsoever.


In case of fire, the fire department doesn't need a damned key to get in and fight it......they have plenty of other tools to accomplish that.....and there is no reason to have business door keys floating around amongst the municipality.


So, yeah, the county has all of the "keys' it needs to enter your place in an emergency and in an emergency only. A key? Tell them in no unmittigated terms to get lost and to heck with 'em if they don't like it.

And I've "PG"-d a lot of my thoughts and phrases here....enter the appropriate profanities as needed.

 

[studor]

My front gate requires a hydro company accessable lock which uses their universally keyed lock. Unfortunately from a fashion police standpoint it is secured by a short piece of chain and one lock through the other. Sounds like a U shaped piece would work as well
Rail as you might against them, my choice is to maintain the area under the power lines myself and read the meter and be there for them to do periodic inspection or allow them access this way.

 

[schmism]

your local utility should send you a notice in the mail for you to read your own meter... simply fill out the numbers and send it in.

the fire, police etc have many other means to get through your gate, and in case of emergency, they arnt going to spend time waiting for the guy with the key to show up.

 

[woodlandfarms]

Not to defend, but our situation is more complicated. We are now "hosting" the water tank that feeds our road. It is a LUD (local utility district). We are at the top of the hill and feed a mile long road and a few stringers. The pump is at the bottom of the hill. We suffer from arsenic in our area, the poor people at the bottom of the hill had 2000 times the safe level and did not find out about this until 4 years ago. The county stepped in with the feds help and offerred a LUD for the road, if enough people were interested and we would be willing to have our property taxes increased to offset some of the numbers. Our contribution was taking on the tank (details are severe, not a complete freebie to the government). Our well was shallow and ran dry in the summer. It seemed like a good idea so we jumped on....

Anyway, that is why this latch is complicated. We are working on an alternate solution. Using a code on the gate. Yes, Fire and emergency don't care but the utilities are all up in arms...

 

[studor]

The other way you could rig the locks is a straight rod through two "eyelets" with a hole on either end to fit the locks. When your lock is undone the rod slides out one way and when their lock is undone it slides out the other

 

[firemanpat2910]

The other way you could rig the locks is a straight rod through two "eyelets" with a hole on either end to fit the locks. When your lock is undone the rod slides out one way and when their lock is undone it slides out the other

That is the way I have seen several gates set up. stonger than a chain also.

 

[EddieWalker]

I have four locks on my gate. One is for the water company to read their meter. Another is for the power company to read their meter. Both meters are 500 to 700 feet behind the gate. The other two gates are for us. One is a key lock so we can get in quick and easy. The other is a combination lock so that friends and family can get in. It's also funny how many times we've been there and not had a key to open that lock, but just use the combination.

All four locks are on short lengths of chain that go around both gates to keep them closed. I wouldn't want it any other way and consider it to be one of those things where function outweighs attraction.

If you come up with a fancy, attractive way to put two locks on your gate, will it work quickly at night in the rain?

Do you have a way for friends and family to get in? or is that a concern?

If you need another lock, is that possible with the system that you create?

Eddie