Zenith front door, key entry into lock difficult

[white bellied]

Hi

Zenith fitted the door 12ish or so years ago, no problems with it until recently.

When inserting the key into the lock, sometimes it works fine, other times it's becoming very difficult to get it in far enough. My wife (61yoa) has arthritic hands and it took her 10 mins today to get the key in. I've still got the original keys (virtually unused) and we're using a combination of older keys and newly cut keys, but it makes no difference. I've experienced the same problem and it's really difficult to get the key in far enough to turn. There's no problem with the handle AFAIK!

I presume I'll have to replace the multipoint lock but before I do this, has anyone any suggestions. I don't think a squirt of WD40 will help and I'm not sure it's good for the barrel??

I'm at work at present and cannot check the lock manufacturer until later, my wife says it only has Zenith on the frame and CES or DES.

Many thanks for any help.

Doug

[Iceni]

A drop of oil will help.

Squirt it in and work a key in and out and also turn it in the lock as well.

At worst it is likely that you only need a new euro cylinder.

This is the brass / metal keyhole shaped bit that you push the key into.

Its only held in by one M5 screw that you can get to on the edge of the door.

They are available from Screwfix - see link below

http://www.screwfix.com

[Chris]

Yes it sounds like a barrel/Euro cylinder problem, replacing it should solve the problem. Be carefull not to buy a cheap cylinder as you might have issues with it not running smoothly.

The following company sell a wide range of sizes at a good price and decent quality:

https://www.upvc-hardware.co.uk/locks-gearing-163/euro-cylinder-lock-barrels-185/