Replacing turnstiles isn’t as simple as swapping one unit for another. Unlike most equipment upgrades, a turnstile replacement touches your floor infrastructure, electrical systems, building code compliance, and potentially your entire entrance control strategy. Get ahead of the details early, and the project runs smoothly. Miss them, and you’re looking at unexpected coring work, code violations, or disposal headaches after the fact.
Whether you’re replacing worn-out equipment, modernizing an outdated lobby, or rethinking your facility’s entrance control approach from the ground up, these four considerations should be on every project checklist.
1. Know Where Your Power and Access Control Conduits Are
Before anything else, map your existing conduit locations. The placement of power and access control conduits under your floor determines whether a replacement turnstile can drop into place cleanly — or whether you’re looking at additional infrastructure work.
If your existing conduit exits don’t align with the footprint of your new turnstile pedestals, you have two options:
Option A: Core and repair the floor. This involves coring new penetrations where the replacement unit requires them and patching the old conduit exit points. It’s the cleaner long-term solution but adds time and cost to the project.
Option B: Install raised floor protection panels. Also called floor protectors, these panels bridge the gap between your existing conduit exit points and the new pedestal locations — no coring required. They’re a practical, cost-effective solution for many retrofit projects, but there’s an important caveat: floor protectors can only be installed safely when the new turnstiles run on low voltage.
This makes your voltage requirements (covered below) more than just an energy efficiency question — they directly affect your installation options.
2. Understand What You’re Removing — Especially If It’s High-Voltage Wiring
Older turnstile models were commonly wired for high voltage. If you’re coring the floor and pulling out existing conduit as part of a more comprehensive renovation, you’ll need to account for the removal of that high-voltage infrastructure.
This matters for a few reasons. High-voltage removal adds complexity and cost to the project scope. It also requires coordination with licensed electricians and potentially your building’s facilities or engineering team. The upside: once that wiring is out, those circuit breakers are freed up on your power panels and can be reallocated to other building systems.
Modern optical turnstiles, including Fastlane® turnstiles from Smarter Security, operate on low voltage — typically around 30W — eliminating the need for dedicated high-voltage circuits entirely. Specifying low-voltage turnstiles for your replacement project doesn’t just simplify the current install; it also means you won’t face disruptive power supply updates if you expand or upgrade your entrance control system down the road.
Low-voltage operation also supports LEED building certification requirements, a meaningful benefit for sustainability-focused facilities or projects pursuing green building status.
3. Reassess Your Emergency Exit Strategy
If your facility is replacing significantly dated equipment — the kind installed when different building codes were in effect — emergency exits are worth a careful look before you finalize your layout.
Older entrance control configurations often required dedicated emergency exit doors and adjacent manual egress doors as a matter of code. Many of those requirements have since evolved. Today, emergency exit functionality can be routed directly through modern turnstiles, allowing facilities to phase out standalone emergency exit doors that no longer serve a code-mandated purpose.
This doesn’t mean every door disappears. Manual doors or gate lanes adjacent to turnstiles remain practical for large package deliveries, oversized equipment, or move-in/move-out scenarios. But they’re no longer a mandatory safety requirement the way they once were.
Before finalizing your replacement layout, work with your architect, security integrator, and local Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) to confirm current code requirements for your specific building type and occupancy. A turnstile replacement is the right time to modernize your egress strategy — not after the installation is complete.
4. Plan for Responsible Disposal of Your Old Equipment
Once the new turnstiles are in and operational, the old ones still need to go somewhere. This step is easy to overlook during project planning, and that’s a mistake — both for your environmental compliance and your corporate social responsibility commitments.
Turnstile pedestals contain metal, electronics, glass, and wiring that should be processed through appropriate channels rather than sent to a general landfill. When working with a contractor, dealer, or installer to remove your old units, make proper disposal a documented requirement in your project scope — not an afterthought. Request a disposal receipt or certificate of recycling as confirmation that the equipment was handled responsibly.
For organizations with formal ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) reporting requirements, this documentation can contribute directly to your sustainability disclosures and waste diversion metrics.
A Quick Pre-Project Checklist
Before finalizing your turnstile replacement plan, confirm you’ve addressed each of these:
- Conduit locations mapped and compared against new pedestal footprints
- Floor protector viability assessed (requires low-voltage turnstiles)
- Voltage requirements for new units confirmed; high-voltage removal scoped if applicable
- Emergency exit and egress door strategy reviewed against current building and fire codes
- Disposal plan for old equipment included in contractor scope with receipt required
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to core the floor when replacing turnstiles? Not necessarily. If your existing conduit locations don’t align with the new turnstile footprint, raised floor protection panels (floor protectors) can bridge the gap — provided your new turnstiles operate on low voltage. Coring is the better long-term option if you’re doing a full renovation, but floor protectors offer a cleaner, lower-cost path for many retrofit installations.
What is the advantage of low-voltage turnstiles for a replacement project? Low-voltage turnstiles (typically around 30W) simplify installation significantly. They make floor protector use safe and viable, reduce electrical infrastructure requirements, free up circuit capacity in your power panels, and future-proof your entrance control investment against power supply changes. They also support LEED building certification.
Can modern turnstiles replace emergency exit doors? In many cases, yes. Current building codes allow emergency exit functionality to be integrated into turnstiles, eliminating the need for the standalone emergency exit doors that older code requirements mandated. However, requirements vary by building type, occupancy, and jurisdiction — always confirm with your local AHJ before removing existing egress infrastructure.
What happens to old turnstile equipment after replacement? Old turnstile units should be disposed of through environmentally responsible channels — not general waste. When scoping your replacement project, require your contractor to document and confirm proper disposal with a receipt or certificate of recycling. For facilities with ESG or sustainability reporting obligations, this documentation can support your waste diversion metrics.
How do I know if my existing turnstiles need to be replaced vs. repaired? Key indicators that replacement makes more sense than repair include: high-voltage infrastructure that limits your modernization options, outdated credential readers that can’t support current or planned access control systems, barrier mechanisms with significant wear or repeated service needs, and form factors that no longer meet ADA requirements or current design standards. If your turnstiles are more than 10–15 years old, a replacement cost-benefit analysis is worth running.
Ready to Plan Your Turnstile Replacement?
Smarter Security is a leading North American distributor of Fastlane® optical turnstiles and Door Detective® entrance control solutions, with experience supporting retrofit, renovation, and first-time install projects across corporate, healthcare, education, government, and data center environments.
Contact a Smarter Security entrance control expert to walk through your project requirements and get a consultation — before the scope surprises do.
This article was reviewed for accuracy by the Director of Marketing, Shana McCoy.
Shana McCoy is the Director of Marketing at Smarter Security, a leading North American distributor of Fastlane optical turnstiles and Door Detective entrance control solutions. With over a decade of experience in the physical security industry, Shana brings deep expertise in entrance control technology, serving clients across corporate, healthcare, education, and government sectors — including more than half of the Fortune 100. Her work spans product marketing, campaign strategy, and content development, with a focus on helping organizations make informed decisions about access control investments.
