I live in a condo. The management wants to have a key for each apartment in case of smoke detector inspection or something similar. However the previous occupant replaced the lock with a Medeco lock and gave the management no key, which they are unhappy with. She left me with two keys and has refused to do whatever has to be done to get duplicates. I am also concerned with what would happen if there were a medical emergency and the 911 responders could not get in. I might opt for an electronic lock but what happens in the case of a power failure? I suppose I could get a mechanical combination lock, but that would be a nuisance. Part of the problem is that, while I could give the managers a key, they are not located nearby and it might take too long for them to bring a key in an emergency. And it can take too long to get to them even in an emergency.
I am not familiar with what is available these days in terms of locks, so I ask the Dopers what they recommend.
Semi-educated statements gracefully abandoned when our actual lock expert(s) show up,
Medeco is better than the lock sets you’ll find in the big box stores and often has restrictions on getting copies of keys. I.E. they don’t stock Medeco blanks just everywhere, you almost certainly, need to find an authorized dealer. I’d be thrilled to have one!
A common solution for this is a Knox Box or other branded emergency personnel accessible key boxes.
Common built-in solution is a pair of contacts somewhere on the device you can hold a 9 volt battery that will power it long enough for you to unlock it via the code. When I had this style on my front door I taped a 9 volt battery to the inside of the back of my mailbox. Alternate solution is a physical key override.
Re: The whole key in an emergency thing.
I don’t think there are many typical combinations of lock and door that an enthusiastic firefighter with a ‘set of irons’ can’t open faster than you can with your keys.
It’s a license thing with the lock manufacturer. They only offer the blanks and other hardware to their dealer network to better control copies and the dealer only has a relationship with the original purchaser so it’s on OP to convince them otherwise.
Well sure, in a life-or-death situation of course they’re just going to break down the door, but in a less urgent “welfare check” scenario they’re not going to just kick down the door as the first option.
It seems like the easiest solution would be to get a dup of the Medeco key even if it’s a bit of a hassle.
I’m not sure that an electronic locks helps your situation. You’d have to get a whole new lock. But regarding power failures, that’s not really an issue. They run off batteries. Many electronic locks will also have wifi/bluetooth capability, which is used to notify you when the batteries are low. As long as you replace the batteries when needed, the electronic locks should always work. They also typically have keys in addition to the keypad, so the key can be used regardless.
But there are many benefits to electronic locks. You can give other people the passcode if they need to come over. You can set up a temporary secondary guest code and give that to housesitters. Sometimes you can set many different codes so that different people have their own codes. Some have fingerprint recognition. They can notify you when someone unlocks the door. You can unlock and lock the door remotely through a phone app. They can be set to automatically relock the door after after a few minutes. And so on. Even though your Medeco lock is a better lock than most electronic locks, the features of the electronic locks may make it worth it to switch.
It attaches to your current deadbolt, keeping your existing keys (well, maybe not YOUR fancy deadbolt, but normal ones). Then it adds both app control (which we never use) but also an add on keypad (which we use several times a day). You can give friends and family their own door codes too.
They keypad makes it super easy to unlock, and it’s one button to lock. There are various automated lock and unlocks too but we don’t bother with those. It’s the dumbest smart lock we could find and we love it for that. Having the physical key access was important to us. The key could be duplicated anywhere (they’re just your standard cheap Schlage or whatever keys from your existing deadbolt). The battery lasts forever (like the better part of a year, maybe more) even with daily usage.
The app kinda sucks, but we never use it. My partner doesn’t even have it, only using the keypad. Our landlord can still come in with the physical key. The cleaning lady has her own code. The cat sitter has another. Simple for everyone.