Fail-Safe vs Fail-Secure: What Happens When Power Drops
A maglock is fail-safe by nature: cut the power and the door releases. That sounds like a flaw until you remember people have to get out during a fire or blackout — for an occupied building, releasing is exactly the right failure. Fail-secure is the opposite behavior, staying locked without power, and that's the job of electric strikes rather than maglocks. Plenty of doors use both worlds: a maglock for daytime traffic control and a quality deadbolt — Medeco or Mul-T-Lock — for overnight lockup. If holding through brief outages matters, a battery backup keeps the magnet energized while still releasing on a fire-alarm signal.
Egress and Fire Safety Basics for Maglocks
New York takes egress seriously, and so should your installer. The rule of thumb is simple: people inside must always be able to leave without a key, a code, or special knowledge. In practice, that means every maglock we install gets a release on the egress side — a push-to-exit button, a motion sensor that drops the magnet as someone approaches, or both — and on commercial jobs, a tie-in that releases the door when the fire alarm sounds. Skipping these isn't just a safety problem; it can put a business on the wrong side of city enforcement. We wire it correctly the first time.
Pairing a Maglock With Your Buzzer or Intercom
The classic New York setup — intercom buzzes, door clicks open — usually runs through an electric strike that's older than the tenants. Swapping that strike for a maglock is a common upgrade, especially on pre-war doors too warped for a strike to latch reliably and on glass doors with no frame to mount one in. The maglock mounts to the header, holds the door flat and tight, and wires into the same intercom release your tenants already use. We install and integrate Comelit intercoms ourselves, so the buzzer, the lock, and the directory can all come from one crew.
Common Questions
Will a magnetic lock stay locked during a blackout?
By default, no — maglocks release when power is lost, which is the safe behavior for occupied buildings. A battery backup can hold the lock through short outages while still releasing if the fire alarm triggers.
Are maglocks allowed on exit doors?
They have to release freely from the inside. Push-to-exit buttons, motion sensors, and fire-alarm tie-ins handle that, and we install every maglock with proper egress release.
Can a maglock work with my existing buzzer or intercom?
Yes. Maglocks wire into most intercom release circuits, including the Comelit systems we install.
How much does magnetic lock installation cost?
It varies with the door, the release hardware, and any fire-alarm tie-in. You get a transparent quote before work begins — no hidden fees.