Non-destructive entry first, always - and we re-key Schlage, Kwikset, and Baldwin locks on the spot while you watch
You get a price before we start. It does not change when we arrive. No surprises.
Medeco Locksmith in San Francisco, CA | Preston Locksmith & Security
Medeco locksmith service in San Francisco means dealing with fog, salt air, and 100-year-old doors that were never designed for modern high-security cylinders. We’re Preston Locksmith & Security, an independent Medeco service provider (not manufacturer-affiliated), and we handle everything from frozen Maxum deadbolts in the Outer Sunset to master key systems for multi-unit Victorians in the Mission. Call (409) 405-4485 for a written price before any work starts.
San Francisco’s housing stock is the second-oldest in the country, which matters more than you’d think when a Medeco lock starts acting up. Our technicians work on Medeco Maxum, M3, M4, Classic, Biaxial, and eCylinder lines across the city every week, and we stock the adapter plates, shims, and OEM cylinders that these older buildings actually need.
Why San Francisco Residents Choose Us for Medeco Service
Kevin Yoon, our owner, learned the trade at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College and has spent years working on high-security locks in older California buildings. He’s the reason we stock genuine Medeco OEM cylinders and pins on every truck, because he knows a generic parts warehouse won’t help when a 1912 Edwardian door has a mortise pocket that’s 3/16″ too shallow for a standard Medeco cylinder.
We service Medeco hardware across San Francisco, from the Richmond District to Bayview. That’s not a brag about coverage; it’s a statement about what these neighborhoods share. Fog-damp air near Ocean Beach corrodes brass cylinders. Old knob-and-tube wiring in the Mission sends voltage spikes through eCylinder boards. We see these patterns every single week, which means we diagnose faster and fix it right the first time.
For full details on what we cover, see our Medeco sales & service page.
Common Medeco Locksmith Problems We Solve in San Francisco
- Stuck or snapped keys in Medeco Maxum deadbolts. Salt-heavy fog pushes fine particles into the keyway, and combined with worn pins, keys bind and eventually break off inside the cylinder. We extract the key fragment, assess the cylinder, and usually replace it with a new Medeco OEM unit rekeyed to your existing keyway.
- eCylinder electronic failures after power surges. San Francisco’s older buildings, especially pre-1950 apartments, have electrical panels that spike when PGE restores power after outages. Medeco eCylinder boards don’t love that. We diagnose whether it’s the board or the wiring harness, and we’re honest when replacement beats repair.
- Corroded and seized Classic and Biaxial cylinders on exterior doors. Homes within about a mile of the coast get constant moisture exposure. Cylinder pins corrode, springs lose tension, and eventually the key won’t turn at all. We can often rebuild the cylinder with OEM pins rather than replace the whole lock body.
- Restricted keyway damage from duplicated keys. Medeco restricted keyways aren’t supposed to be duplicated at the corner hardware store, but people try anyway. A slightly-off copy chews up the warding and misaligns pins. That’s a cylinder replacement, not a rekey.
- Master key system failures in multi-unit buildings. When a landlord’s master key stops working in one unit but works in others, it’s usually pin wear in that specific cylinder. We rekey to the existing system or replace the cylinder and restore the master hierarchy.
Medeco Service in San Francisco: What Local Conditions Mean for Your Equipment
Here’s something we deal with constantly that a Medeco owner in, say, Walnut Creek will never encounter: San Francisco’s older Victorian and Edwardian buildings have non-standard door thicknesses and original mortise pockets. A Medeco high-security cylinder is deeper than the standard Schlage or Kwikset cylinder those doors were built for. The result is a cylinder that sits proud of the escutcheon or, worse, binds against the door frame when the wood swells with the fog. We keep custom shims and adapter plates on every truck because we’re in San Francisco, where this is maybe 40% of our Medeco installs, not the edge case it is elsewhere. If your Medeco lock has always felt a little stiff to turn, there’s a decent chance the cylinder wasn’t shimmed properly when it was installed.
In the Inner Sunset, a homeowner called us because their Medeco Maxum deadbolt key snapped off inside the cylinder after months of stiff turning. We extracted the broken key, found salt-air corrosion had seized the pins, and replaced the cylinder with a new Medeco OEM unit while rekeying it to match their existing M3 keyway. The door now turns smoothly and the customer added a second Medeco cylinder for their back door.
Medeco Models & Products We Service in San Francisco
We work on the full Medeco line: Maxum deadbolts, M3 and M4 keyway systems, eCylinder electronic locks, and Classic and Biaxial cylinders. For high-security repairs, we use genuine Medeco OEM cylinders, pins, and keys. We use quality aftermarket parts only for non-critical components when OEM isn’t available and never for anything that affects key control or security. Because we’re in San Francisco and not waiting on a distributor in Ohio, we stock the common Medeco cylinders, pins, and key blanks locally, which cuts turnaround time on most repairs to same-day or next-day.
Medeco Service Pricing in San Francisco
Serving San Francisco, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the San Francisco area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs – Medeco Locksmith in San Francisco
Yes, if both locks share the same keyway (for example, both are M3), we can rekey one cylinder to match the other’s key. If they’re different keyways, we’ll need to replace one cylinder. In San Francisco, this comes up constantly with multi-unit buildings where a landlord bought Medeco locks at different times. For larger properties, many turn to a San Francisco Commercial Locksmith to handle the scope efficiently. Rekeying runs $35 to $65 per cylinder. Call (409) 405-4485 and we’ll tell you over the phone whether your keys are compatible.
Power surges from grid restarts are the most common cause. Older San Francisco buildings, especially pre-1950 construction, have electrical panels that don’t buffer voltage spikes well, and the eCylinder’s circuit board takes the hit. Sometimes a hard reset fixes it; other times the board needs replacement. We diagnose the exact failure before quoting anything.
Yes. That’s most of what we do. Victorian and Edwardian doors in neighborhoods like the Haight, Noe Valley, and Pacific Heights often have original mortise pockets that don’t fit modern Medeco cylinders without custom shims or adapter plates. We keep those parts on every truck, so the job doesn’t turn into a two-visit project. Call (409) 405-4485 and describe your door; we’ll tell you what’s involved before we arrive.
Don’t force it. A broken key fragment can push deeper into the cylinder and damage the pins beyond repair. In San Francisco’s coastal neighborhoods, we see this most often from salt-air corrosion inside the keyway. Leave the lock as-is and call us. We extract the key, inspect the cylinder, and give you a written quote for repair or replacement before any work starts.
Yes. We set up new master key systems or our Rekey Locks in San Francisco service can rekey existing Medeco cylinders to work with a hierarchy you define, like a landlord key for all units plus individual tenant keys. For multi-unit buildings, we quote per-cylinder and write out the flat per-lock price before scheduling. Call (409) 405-4485 with the number of locks and we’ll put together a scope for you.
Service Areas Near San Francisco
We serve all of San Francisco, plus nearby cities including San Jose, Oakland, Daly City, and Berkeley. For Medeco work in the Central Valley, see our Medeco service in Fresno page. If you’re in the capital region, we cover Medeco service in Sacramento as well.
Book Your Medeco Service in San Francisco Today
Call (409) 405-4485 and you’ll talk to a live person who can walk through your Medeco issue, confirm the keyway or model, and give you a written price before anyone is dispatched. Real price on the phone. Same price at the door. That’s it. Same-day service is available across San Francisco.
Written by Kevin Yoon, Owner at Preston Locksmith & Security, serving San Francisco since 2008.