Padlock: what to look for when choosing

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

What kind of items to protect your home you will not find on store shelves today! But the simplest type of fastening remains a padlock. To install it, you are unlikely to need precision, special skills and tools.

Yes, and in everyday use you do not need special skills - turn the key, and there are no longer any obstacles to access. But this method of protection has one big drawback - the low level of protection of the home from burglaries. Today, this type of protection is used everywhere: for blocking suitcases, for storing garden utensils in a shed, and for basements. Traditional locks of this type have semicircular arcs that are inserted into special brackets, one of which is fixed on the door itself, and the other on the door frame.

Lock Features

Any property protection product has several useful properties that consumers pay attention to when choosing:

1. Reliability, that is, the ability of the lock to function normally for a certain number of turns of the key (the most advanced specimens can withstand hundreds of thousandsturns, and the worst cases are only a few thousand lock-unlock).
2. Anti-vandalism - the ability to resist the desire of intruders to enter the house.



3. Replacing the secret part - the cost of making a key directly depends on the quality of the lock: the higher it is, the more reliable the lock.
4. Speed to pick - the best lock manufacturers usually provide this information.

Varieties of a padlock depending on the material of manufacture

• The most common type of padlock, and the least secure, is the aluminum version.
• Brass options are able to hold out in a critical situation a little more than their counterparts.
• Pig-iron protective structures are considered more reliable, but in severe frosts they become brittle.
• Analogues with a steel case are perhaps the best choice: it is the padlock that is best protected from breaking. The price, of course, will also differ from all others in a big way. Even better, if you get a lock with a locking finger, then it will be almost impossible to get to it with a hacksaw.

Analogues of padlocks

A study was conducted that found that a padlock is much easier to break than a bill of lading or mortise. To overcome this obstacle, the thief will only need a crowbar and a strong desire to cope with the obstacle. Of course, manufacturers are trying to improve the product in every possible way, improving the protective properties. For example, there are steel andeven cast-iron counterparts of a special shape that protects the padlock from a hacksaw. But still, the number of unauthorized penetrations, unfortunately, is only increasing.

The fact is that padlocks with one key have their Achilles heel - this is a keyhole. It will take a master key to deal with it, but it only takes a professional a few seconds to deal with this obstacle. And if the lock hangs on the door, it doesn’t cost anything to break the structure with a crowbar, a sledgehammer or an ordinary cobblestone. Unfortunately, a padlock is unlikely to protect your property from theft. If your goal is security, it is better to choose an electronic version of the lock.