How to keep door open or closed automatically?

Question

Our bathroom door is not closing properly or people forget to close it, and then it makes noise when the wind moves it.

I would like to implement something like in the Q&A "How can I make a door open or close depending on the door position?", but with some modifications:

• the falling latch should be removed to avoid noise
• the full angle is 90 degrees, so the threshold would be around 45 degrees
• the door should open/closed even when small forces apply, e.g. wind

I guess using 2 pneumatic dampers and some levers positioned at the right angles should do the trick, but my imagination is not good enough to figure out how exactly.

If there's a name for this thing, an off-the-shelf solution would work too!

Answer 1

For an "off the shelf" solution, just use a door closer that has a "keep open" or "hold open" function. It will close the door, unless it's fully opened to the point of engaging the "keep open" function (or in some cases a knob on the close arm needs to be engaged to "keep open".)

It will not do any "open if here, close if there" games. It might be possible to configure one to keep the door open unless latched closed, but I haven not ever seen/tried that, while the stock "keep closed" function is utterly standard.

Spring hinges (more common for home "door closer" function) and a doorstop with strong magnets for the "keep open" would be a less obtrusive method.