Automatic Garage Door Opener Safety & Maintenance Guide
by John Van Vleet, Only Choice Inspections.
Safety Is Everyone’s Business
A few simple precautions can protect your family and friends from potential harm. Please take a few minutes to read the following safety and maintenance tips. Refer to your garage door and opener owner’s manual for details specific to the model you own. Then check the operation of your garage door and automatic opener.
Garage Door System Safety — An Automatic Decision
A garage door is the largest moving object in the home. They are often operated by electric door openers. Proper installation, operation and maintenance and testing of the garage door and automatic opener are necessary to provide safe, trouble-free operation. An improperly adjusted garage door or automatic opener can exert deadly force when the door closes. This could lead to serious injury or death from being hit by a closing garage door or from being trapped under the door.
Teach Your Children About Garage Door Opener Safety
Garage door openers are not toys. Careless operation and allowing children to play with or use garage door opener controls can lead to tragic results. Discuss garage door safety with your children. Explain the danger of being trapped under the door. When using the pushbutton or transmitter, keep the door in sight until it completely stops moving. Teach children never to play under or near an open Teach children to keep their hands and fingers clear of section joints, hinges, track, and springs and other door parts. Contact with a moving door or its hardware could cause serious injury. These injuries can also happen with garage doors that don’t have automatic openers.
Testing and Maintaining the Garage Door Opener
There are routine safety and maintenance steps that you should follow. Review your owner’s manual for the door opener. If you don’t have the owner’s manual, look for the opener model number on the back of the power unit and request a manual from the manufacturer. One common maintenance task is to lube the garage door springs every 6 months. Don’t use WD40, but instead try this $6 Garage Door Lube Spray on Amazon.
Reversal Test
Make sure your opener has a reversing feature. If a reversing feature is not present, it should be replaced. Garage door openers manufactured after January 1, 1993 are required by federal law to have advanced safety features which comply with the latest U.L. 325 standards: Contact your manufacturer or installer for additional information. Test the reversing feature every month.
Force Setting Test
Test the force setting of your garage door opener by holding the bottom of the door as it closes. If the door does not reverse readily, the force may be excessive and need adjusting. See your owner’s manual for details on how to make the adjustment. Test the reversing feature after any adjustment.
Additional Safety Devices
Many garage door openers can be equipped with additional safety devices. Consider adding a photo eye or edge sensor as an extra measure of safety to protect against entrapment. Keep in mind that adding more safety devices will not make an old opener meet the current U.L. standards. Make sure the additional safety devices, such as photo eyes or edge sensors, are properly installed and adjusted (see your owner’s manual).
John Van Vleet
Only Choice Inspections
Phone: 760-822-0477
Email: [email protected]
Web: OnlyChoiceInspections.com