Cellar grate lock chain
Updated: October 2026
You searched for a cellar grate lock chain because a lightwell grate looked like a garden-gate job. It is not. A grate over a habitable room needs shield plates and a release you can work from inside. The four listings in our [grating security chain comparison](/hub/door-and-window-security/grating-security-chain) are short gate or bike chains with a small padlock or with carabiners. None of them is that fitting. Peter F. compared those listings with the maker descriptions of grate locks. There was no lab test. A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
You searched for a cellar grate lock chain because a lightwell grate looked like a garden-gate job. It is not. A grate over a habitable room needs shield plates and a release you can work from inside.
You searched for a cellar grate lock chain because a lightwell grate looked like a garden-gate job. It is not. A grate over a habitable room needs shield plates and a release you can work from inside. The four listings in our grating security chain comparison are short gate or bike chains with a small padlock or with carabiners. None of them is that fitting. Peter F. compared those listings with the maker descriptions of grate locks. There was no lab test. A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Our top picks
| Badge | Product | Chain job | Lock | Link section | Note | Price | Offer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best overall |  Yarlung Yarlung 2 ft hardened chain | Chain only | No lock | 9.5 mm | 9.2 | about £14.99 | View offer |
 Maxmoc Maxmoc gate chain, 2 pack | Carabiner latch | Carabiners only | 3 mm | 9.2 | about £6.99 | View offer | |
 Sterling Sterling 60 cm chain and padlock | Chain and padlock | Aluminium padlock | 4 mm | 8.8 | about £7.03 | View offer |
On this page
A grate lock is plates and a release
A grate lock clamps the grate down and still lets someone inside open it. ABUS describes the GS40 as a paired lock for plastic light wells: shield plates, two chains of 60 cm, and a spring-loaded panic padlock. The maker’s figures are zinc plated and 1,178 g. The maker says escape routes stay usable. That is a design claim for its own product. We have not fitted a GS40.
The GS60 is the tension-rod version for concrete and masonry. The rod is given as 320 mm, and the maker says it unlocks from inside without a key. The GS20 uses screws that can be undone from inside. Plastic wells point towards the GS40. Concrete and masonry point towards a rod or an inside screw. There is no verified amazon.co.uk price for these grate locks, so that price is n/a. A euro price on a German shop page is not a UK shelf price. Check a UK seller, and check you are buying plates or a rod, not a 60 cm gate chain that shares the word chain.
Two rules, not one
Approved Document B Volume 1 allows locks on escape windows, with or without a removable key. The opening usually stated is at least 0.33 m², at least 450 mm high and 450 mm wide, with the bottom of the openable area no more than 1,100 mm above the floor. Confirm the edition in force for your building. A lock that is allowed is still a lock someone has to operate on the way out.
London Fire Brigade guidance is stricter in everyday language: security grilles on an escape route should be easily openable from inside without searching for a key. That is not the same sentence as Approved Document B. If the grate is over a bedroom or a habitable basement, a key-only padlock on the outside is a bad fit, even where a lock on an escape window is allowed in principle.
The Fire Safety Order 2005, article 14, requires non-domestic emergency doors to open easily and immediately. A keyed chain does not belong on that route. A private house sits outside that order’s main target. A habitable basement still needs an opening a person can use.
Why the garden chains stay in the other comparison
Sterling, Yarlung, Maxmoc and ODDerZZii have no shield plates, no tension rod and no inside panic release. Sterling is 60 cm, stated 4 mm, with an aluminium padlock at about £7.03, and it is the top pick only for a light gate. ODDerZZii is about 51 cm and 3 mm at about £7.99, and reviewers describe a plastic body. Maxmoc is two 50 cm chains with carabiners at about £6.99. Yarlung is about 61 cm, stated 3/8 inch, with no lock, at about £14.99. A key-only padlock on the outside of a grate can leave someone below searching for a key. A carabiner is easier to open from outside as well.
A 60 cm gate chain does not become a grate lock because ABUS quotes 60 cm chains on the GS40. Those chains are attached to plates and to a panic padlock, and they are fitted as a pair. Sterling’s award is for a light gate. It is not a grate-lock award. Which gate set to buy stays on what security chain for a garden gate.
When you stop
Stop when the grate is the escape route from a habitable room, when the house is listed, or when you are about to drill into a lightwell you do not know. A competent person should choose and fit the grate lock. In a rented home that person is instructed by the landlord. There is no drilling sequence here for the GS40. We have not installed one.
If the side gate is the job, use the garden gate chain lock page. Leave the grate until the release from inside is part of the product you buy.
Common questions
Can I lock a cellar grate with a garden-gate chain?
You can pass a garden chain through a bar, and you should not treat that as the lock for a lightwell grate. Sterling, Yarlung, Maxmoc and ODDerZZii have no shield plates and no inside release. A key-only padlock on the outside can block the way out of a habitable basement. The fitting for this job is a grate lock designed to be opened from inside.
What is a grate lock?
A grate lock holds the grate with plates or a rod and includes a way to open it from inside. ABUS describes the GS40 as a pair of shield plates, two 60 cm chains and a spring-loaded panic padlock for plastic light wells. The GS60 uses a 320 mm tension rod and, on the maker’s account, opens from inside without a key. Those are maker descriptions. There is no verified UK price for them, so the figure here is n/a.
Chain or tension rod?
A plastic light well is the case the GS40’s paired chains and plates are described for. Concrete and masonry are the case for a tension-rod lock such as the GS60, or for the GS20’s inside screws. The chain in that product is part of a plated pair with a panic release. A loose 60 cm gate chain does not stand in for it because the lengths look similar.
Must I be able to open it from inside?
If the grate is on an escape route, yes, you need a release you can use from inside. London Fire Brigade guidance wants grilles openable without searching for a key. Approved Document B allows locks on escape windows, with or without a removable key, which is a different sentence. If the room is habitable, follow the stricter practical line and do not fit a key-only padlock on the outside.
What size must an escape window be?
Approved Document B Volume 1 is the guidance to check. The opening usually required is at least 0.33 m², at least 450 mm high and 450 mm wide, with the bottom no more than 1,100 mm above the floor. Confirm the edition that applies to your building. A grate that blocks that opening, or a lock you cannot operate on the way out, undoes the window.
Is a key allowed?
Approved Document B allows locks on escape windows with or without a removable key. London Fire Brigade guidance wants a grille you can open from inside without searching for a key. Both are public guidance and they do not say the same thing. A panic release, which is what the GS40 maker describes, is one way to meet the no-key-hunt line. A padlock whose only key is indoors on a hook is the case that guidance is worried about.
How much does a grate lock cost in the UK?
The price here is n/a. The four amazon.co.uk chains in the gate comparison are not grate locks, and a euro price on a German shop is not a UK shelf price. Check a UK seller for a GS40, a GS60 or an equivalent with plates or a rod, and an inside release, on the day you buy.
Related pages
Sources
Public UK sources used for this page in October 2026. Prices, stars and review counts are the amazon.co.uk figures on the four listings. No listing is treated as BS EN 12320, Sold Secure, Secured by Design or LPS 1175. The 10 mm line is ACE Security’s guide, not a test of these chains.
- ProtectUK: fences and gates (retrieved October 2026)
- Secured by Design: secure your home garden (retrieved October 2026)
- BSI: BS EN 12320:2021 padlocks and padlock fittings (retrieved October 2026)
- Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, article 14 (retrieved October 2026)
- Consumer Rights Act 2015 (retrieved October 2026)
- ACE Security: padlocks guide (Collections Trust PDF) (retrieved October 2026)
- Signet Locks: how to lock a double gate (retrieved October 2026)
- Chain Supplies: information about chains (retrieved October 2026)