Automatic Garage Door Safety

Automatic garage doors are like magic.  We push the remote in our car, the door opens, we drive in, and we push the button beside the door to close the door behind us. What could go wrong?

But an automatic garage door can be deadly. Sadly, in the United States about 3 children are trapped and killed under automatic garage doors every year.

PHOTOELECTRIC SAFETY SENSOR (“ELECTRIC EYE”)

Garage door openers have two different safety mechanisms.  The photoelectric sensor (or “electric eye”) will detect if anything – or more importantly anyone – is in the path of the closing door.  The door will reverse to the fully open position if the sensor detects anything in the way.  To be effective, these sensors must be installed four to six inches high.  If the sensor is more than six inches high, a toddler crawling on the garage floor or an adult who has fallen could be trapped and crushed by the closing door.  To test this mechanism, make sure the sensor is four to six inches high, and as the garage door is closing, put your hand over one of the “eyes”.  The door should immediately reverse to the open position.

This sensor is too high (4-6 inches is right)

FORCE SETTING

The second safety mechanism is a force sensor.  If the garage door opener senses an obstruction while the door is closing, the door will reverse to the open position. A one and one-half inch obstruction at the bottom of the garage door should cause the door to reverse.  To test the safety mechanism, place a “2x4” piece of lumber under the garage door.  (A “2x4” is actually 1-1/2 inches thick). The door should reverse when it encounters the lumber.  If it doesn’t you can probably adjust the sensitivity of the force sensor via an adjusting knob, usually located on the back of the motor.  Adjust the sensitivity so that the door reverses when it hits the lumber,

The garage door should automatically reverse when it encounters a 2x4

ARE BOTH NEEDED?

Isn’t one of these safety mechanisms enough?  Not when it’s a matter of life and death!  If one of the safety mechanisms fail or is mis-adjusted, the other may prevent a serious injury or even save a life.

BALANCE

Even apart from the automatic operation of the opener, a garage door should be properly balanced.  With the “quick release” mechanism pulled, the garage door should be moderately easy to open manually.  It should remain stationary about halfway up.  It should not crash down quickly or fly up quickly.  A door that is not rightly balanced can be difficult to open manually in an emergency (e.g., during a power failure) and may also wear out the opener motor more quickly.  If it crashes down quickly it could injure someone trying to open the door or standing nearby. Adjusting the balance for a garage door is a job for a professional – the springs holding up the garage door contain a huge amount of energy and can be deadly.

The garage door should remain stationary with the quick release handle pulled and the door half way up.

QUICK RELEASE

Speaking of opening the door during an emergency or a power outage, the garage door opener should have a “quick release” handle to disengage the opener from the door.  This is usually a red handle or knob attached with a red cord to the opener mechanism.  It should be easy for an adult to pull – e.g., no more than six feet four inches high (the average standing reach of a 4 foot 9 inch tall person), but difficult for a small child to pull – e.g., at least five feet high. Once pulled the door can be opened manually. Be careful to not pull the cord unless the door is fully closed. If the door is open but not properly balanced it might come crashing down once the handle is pulled. Operating the opener after pulling the handle will re-engage the opener to the door. In some models the quick release mechanism remains in the released position until the lever the cord it is attached to is pushed back into the “engaged” position.

This quick release handle is at the right height (min 5 feet and max 6 feet 4 inches)

HEIGHT OF OPENER BUTTON

While we want the garage door to be easy to operate, we don’t want a small child to be able to operate it unsupervised. For that reason, the opener button should be at least five feet high.

This opener button is too low - 5 foot minimum to keep out of reach of a small child

OVERVIEW

When I do a home inspection, I like to report the following:

• The garage door operator opened and closed the door when the button was pushed.  The operator button is at least five feet high to keep out of reach of a child.

• The garage door reversed when it detected a broken light beam between the safety sensors, and the sensors were four to six inches high.

• The garage door reversed when it encountered a 1-1/2 inch obstruction on the floor.

• The “quick release” disengaged and re-engaged the opener, and the “quick release” can be engaged by pulling a handle at least 5 feet high and no more than 6 feet 4 inches high.

• The garage door remains open halfway up with the “quick release” pulled.

• The door itself is in good condition.  All the rollers are in the tracks, it opens and closes smoothly, no panels are loose, and no screws or bolts are missing.

SOURCES

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission - safety alert regarding garage door openers