Ask a locksmith to name an exit device and you will hear "Von Duprin" before you finish the question. It is also one of the easiest brands to buy wrong online. Not because anyone is selling fakes. Because an exit device is not one product. It is a configuration: series, function, trim, rating, length, finish, and sometimes handing, all packed into one model number. Buy the configuration right and the device drops onto the door. Buy the photo and you will be staring at a bar with no outside trim, or a non-rated device on a fire door, wondering what happened.

Read the model number like a locksmith

Take a real SKU off our shelf: 99L-F-US26D-3-LHR. Reading left to right: 99 series rim device. L: lever trim on the outside (the 996L lever). -F: fire rated. US26D: satin chrome. 3: sized for a 3-foot door. LHR: left hand reverse, because a lever has to point the right way. Every element is a decision, and the listing you buy from should let you make each one deliberately.

A lever-trim configuration: the device bar for the inside of the door, the 996L lever for the outside. When the SKU says L, both are part of the order. When it says EO, there is no outside trim at all.

98 versus 99: same guts, different face

The 98 and 99 are the same Grade 1 rim device inside. The 99 wears the ribbed case, the 98 the smooth one. Pick by matching what is already on the corridor, or by taste on a fresh opening. Mechanically you are buying the same device. If you are matching smooth-case hardware, the 98EO-F is the one to order.

The function letters decide what arrives in the box

EO, exit only. A bar on the inside, nothing on the outside. Stairwell doors, egress-only exits, doors nobody enters from outside. The 99EO-F in satin chrome is the standard order here.

Exit only means exactly this: the device, and no outside hardware. If staff need to get back in with a key, EO is the wrong function, order NL from the start.

NL, night latch. Adds the 990NL pull with a keyed cylinder outside: staff get in with a key, the rating and the egress stay intact. The 99NL-F is what I put on back-of-house doors that need key access.

L, lever trim. Full lever operation from outside, lockable by function, the office-corridor and classroom-wing configuration. Lever trims are handed; check LHR/RHR against the door before ordering, standing on the outside.

The fire-door rule is not negotiable

If the door carries a fire label, the device must carry the -F. Fire exit hardware has no dogging. No hex key, no cylinder, no way to hold the latch retracted. Because a fire door must latch every time it closes. A standard 99 on a rated stairwell door is a violation, however well it works. If your current bar will not latch at all, start with our repair-first walkthrough: Panic Bar for a Metal Fire Door That Won't Latch: most of the time the fix is the closer or the strike, not the device.

Rim, vertical rod, or mortise. Let the door pair decide

A single door in a frame takes a rim device. Everything on this page so far. Pairs of doors without a center mullion take vertical rod devices that latch top and bottom. More parts, more measurements, more ways to order wrong, which is why you confirm the opening before ordering. If you are looking at a pair, or at a door with a mortise prep already in the edge, call before you buy. That is not a sales line; it is the difference between one shipment and three.

What a serious Von Duprin listing shows you

The full model string with every element spelled out. Series, function, rating, finish, length, handing. A finish and length you can choose rather than inherit. And a phone number where a human who knows the line picks up. A marketplace photo of a bar tells you none of that; two listings with identical photos can be a rated and a non-rated device, a 3-foot and a 4-foot, a with-trim and a bare EO.

Common questions

Can I buy an EO device now and add outside trim later?

Order the function you need from the start. Trim is part of the device configuration. Retrofitting means new door prep, the right tailpiece, and a cylinder, and on a rated door every part must keep the rating. NL on day one costs far less than EO plus regret.

Is the 99 better than the 98?

No, same Grade 1 device inside. Ribbed case (99) or smooth case (98). Match the corridor.

Do I need the -F if the door has no fire label?

No. A non-rated opening can take the standard device, and you get dogging. The ability to set the bar push-open for business hours. Which the fire-rated version deliberately does not have.

Lock Depot stocks the Von Duprin line in the configurations this page walks through. EO, NL, and lever trim, rated and non-rated, standard finishes and lengths. Start at the Von Duprin hub, or call 877-365-5625 and describe the door: single or pair, fire label or not, who needs to get in from outside. No automated phone trees. Three answers and we can read you the exact model number you need.