Safety Inspection: the Importance of Checking Electric Garage Doors

Garage doors have become the main entrance for most homeowners. Overall, they are used three or four times a day. Does this explain the large number of accidents that occur each year? Well, the more one uses the door, the most likely an accident will happen but always for a good reason. Garage doors don’t cause accidents without a reason! The surprising news is that despite the instructions and warnings of all those in the garage door service business, the International Door Association, and the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, there are still around 30,000 injuries every year.

 

Garage door accidents – common reasons for happening

Some garage door accidents happen when the springs suddenly break, the cables snap, or the door falls. And sometimes, malfunctions occur when the garage structure or roof is problematic too since they will affect the way the door performs. And all these problems can be avoided with regular home inspections and garage door maintenance. If you have a pro checking the garage door header and the parts of the door often, you won’t run into problems.

All the same, some accidents involve kids and don’t necessarily have to do with malfunctions but treating the heavy overhead garage door as a toy. The popular game of activating the garage door opener and then racing under the closing door doesn’t always end without tears. And so it’s vital to keep the garage door remote control away from kids apart from teaching them about the dangers of this system.

The sensitive side of electric garage doors

Your electric garage door utilizes an opener, which incorporates safety features. There is the reverse safety system that will stop and reverse the door should it comes in contact with someone or an object. The photoelectric eyes are an extra safety system, which will also reverse the door should their beam is interrupted. An additional safety feature is the release rope. When you pull it to make the garage door manual, the door should remain in its position and not fall.

Automatic garage door safety is as easy as making sure these features work as they should.

• Place an object on the floor and see if the descending overhead door stops and reverses when it meets the object. If not, call for emergency garage door repair.
• Let the garage door come down and when it travels half way down, put your hand under it as if you would attempt to stop it. It should stop and reverse. If not, call a garage door opener repair tech.

Things to remember to ensure your garage door is safe.

• Make sure the garage door is balanced. To do so, disconnect the opener and open the door. It should move up and down with ease. If it provides resistance, feels heavy, or sticks, you need a tech to check the garage door springs, tracks, and rollers. The door is balanced when it moves freely and stays in place when you let go.

What does the balance of the garage door have to do with opener safety? If the door is not balanced, it won’t reverse.

• The photo eyes are installed at the lower parts of the door (approximately 6” over the ground) to see even your cat passing by and interrupting the infrared beam. So make sure they are installed correctly. Although they are fastened, these sensors might be accidentally pushed due to their position. So it’s smart to check them regularly to make sure they are aligned. If not, they won’t see each other and thus they won’t transmit the beam which can protect you from accidents.

Follow the main garage door safety tips of testing the opener features, never letting children play with the door, and never walking under a moving door so that the stat numbers will finally drop.