The typical overhead garage door weighs between 130 and 400 pounds. Much of the door’s safety features are governed by one crucial component—the garage door opener. All residential garage openers in the US must have safety features that prevent the door from crashing and injuring someone. If federal organizations recognize the importance of a fully functional garage door opener, should not you? To ensure your opener is in working condition, let us go through its safety features and the risks of having a broken one.
Safety Features of a Garage Door Opener
Auto-Reverse System
Since 1992, garage doors must comply with federal law on entrapment protection. The auto-reverse mechanism is used to conform to the safety requirements. This mechanism uses beam sensors built into the garage door to detect any obstruction in the door’s path. If the sensors detect an obstacle, they will automatically reverse the motion of a closing garage door within two seconds.
Time Reversed System
This system is a backup to the two-second auto-reverse system. For example, suppose the door does not completely close within 30 seconds. Then, the mechanism will assume that someone or something was stuck underneath the door and reopen the closing door.
Force Settings
Brands, such as the LiftMaster garage door opener, have settings to set the force required for opening and closing doors. What happens when the door comes into contact with a person or an object and detects a certain resistance level? The mechanism will kick in and lift the garage door back as soon as it touches the person or object.
Automatic Lighting System
When the garage door is activated, the two light bulbs automatically turn on for four to five minutes. As an example, when a car or someone passes within the path of the motion detection sensors.
Manual Emergency Release
This is the red handle that hangs from the center track. It disconnects the door from the opener in case someone or something gets trapped underneath. Additionally, it enables the manual opening and closing of a door for maintenance or in case of emergencies.
The Risks of a Faulty Garage Door Opener
A faulty garage opener is a serious safety hazard for you and your household. The following are the risks associated with malfunctioning opener safety features:
- A poorly functioning safety reversing mechanism poses a risk of serious injury, even death, especially to young children.
- Incorrect force settings on the opener will prevent the safety reversal mechanism from working correctly.
- Malfunctioning or defective photo eye sensors will fail to signal the opener to automatically retract the door, even if there is an obstruction on the door’s path.
- The manual release handle may break off or crack due to rust, making it difficult to maneuver. As a result, you cannot respond in an emergency since the manual release is damaged or broken.
On top of safety concerns, a faulty garage door opener also poses security risks for your property. A locking safety feature allows you to disable the code put in your remote control and keep your home safe. In addition, new rolling code technology enables garage openers to constantly change codes for added security. Thus, ensuring that the code in your remote is different every time you use it. If these opener security features are not working, you risk intruders gaining access to your garage door.
Garage Door Repair Near Me
When you have such massive equipment moving up and down over your garage entry, you cannot ignore the importance of a fully functional garage opener. At Titan Garage Doors Lincoln NE, we provide garage door opener installation and garage door opener repair to prevent potentially dangerous issues. We proudly serve the greater Omaha area and surrounding locations, including Lincoln, Papillion, and Bellevue, NE, and Council Bluffs, Iowa. Call us at (402) 576-5771 to request free estimates on our garage doors Omaha services.
