Smoke detectors, locks on your doors, fire extinguisher, security systems. These are all safety measures that homeowners take to keep their home and family safe. But there’s actually another big area that a lot of people miss when it comes to safety.
Your garage door is the largest moving object in your home and something we rely on heavily day-to-day. But we often don’t think about it! Here are three areas you should regularly have checked in order to keep your garage door and garage door sensors as safe as possible.
#1 Eye-beams aka Garage Sensors
One of the most important safety systems your garage door opener has is the eye-beams. The eye-beams consist of sending an infrared beam of light to a receiving sensor and if the beam is broken or interrupted it prevents the garage door opener from closing.
Garage door sensors have been required by federal safety law since 1993 (so don’t panic if your garage door was manufactured before then and you don’t see any–yours won’t have them included.) Issues with the garage door sensors are one of the most common service call repairs because it’s so important to keep them working well.
Checking the eye-beams functionality is part of our maintenance service and safety checks, which should be done once a year.
#2 Pressure Reverse System
All garage door openers are equipped with a pressure reverse system. When properly working and adjusted, these can prevent a lot of damage. If the door closes on something or gets caught, the system tells the door to stop and reverse.
Newer openers have computerized memories that automatically set the pressure adjustments. Older openers may have adjustment dials or pressure clutches.
Checking the pressure reverse system is also including in our maintenance service and safety checks.
#3 Safety Release Rope
All garage door openers should have a safety release rope. These ropes are used to open or close the door manually when the operator is not functioning. Each garage door manufacturers’ release system works differently and you should learn how to use yours properly before you need it.
Many people choose to remove these ropes for security reasons and this is not advised. If you need to escape out of your garage in an emergency and the power is out, you would need this release rope to manually open your garage door and escape to safety.
We do NOT recommend releasing the door from the open position in case the door has a broken spring or is too heavy, it may come crashing down. If your door is stuck open, please call a technician at Gecko rather than risk damage or injury.
Educate yourself on manufacturer recommendations of your garage door and opener. Our technicians are always happy to go over these garage door safety checks with and demonstrate functionality. Give us a call for any questions or to set up a maintenance and garage door sensor safety check appointment.
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