Buying a new home with that new garage you wanted can be especially exciting. If you’ve never had a garage, gaining new opportunities to store your vehicles and have extra space can be a huge benefit. However, there are several elements you need to inspect to make sure the garage is safe.
● The door itself
● The insulation of the garage
● The wiring and plumbing
● Most importantly, the automatic garage door opener
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If you’ve watched Tidying Up with Marie Kondo on Netflix, and you know about the KonMari Method to clean your garage, you probably know you need to open your garage door. However, don’t be so quick to engage that opener. You need to make sure it operates properly to ensure the safety of you and your family. Don’t even attempt to manually open the door before performing this safety maintenance check laid out in this article.
STOP RIGHT THERE!
Are you sure you know when the last time the opener was even used?
This can be incredibly hard to determine. Even if you think you know, conducting this safety inspection is still very important.
Step 1 > Do You Know the Year That the Opener Was Manufactured?
Here are the main models of LiftMaster garage door openers with their sticker locations and the information you can find on it.
Do you know the year your garage door opener was manufactured? If you don’t, you’ve already failed the first part of the safety inspection. Knowing the year this component was created is one of the most vital parts of the entire process.
Make your way to the garage door opener. Somewhere on the outer panel, you will notice a sticker that contains black and white lettering. On this sticker, you will notice a section with “MFG.” printed somewhere on the lettered area. You need to make note of the date in this section.
If your garage door opener is not a LiftMaster but instead a Chamberlain model, this FAQ could help you. These two brands were manufactured differently.
Was your garage door opener made before 1993?
Guess what? The inspection is already over. It’s time to replace your garage door opener. Do not use this garage door opener by any means.
Why is 1993 so vital?
Since 1993, openers manufactured within the United States and Canada contain two vitally important safety changes.
● Mechanical Change: When the bottom portion of your garage door touches any object in its path, the door will automatically begin opening.
● Photoelectric Change: Two units exist opposite from one another near the bottom portion of your garage door frame. One unit shoots a beam, and the other unit accepts this beam. Even though you can’t see this laser beam, it has a vital role of importance when your garage door is closing. If it is breached, the door will automatically begin opening to avoid injury.
Learn more about photocell safety beams and learn which urban legend about planes opening garage doors is actually true. If you’re not convinced yet, these articles will do the trick. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.
So your garage door is made after 1993. This means you’re in the clear, right? Wrong, think again. 2012 is another benchmark year you get to look for.
Since 2012, Chamberlain’s garage door openers have incorporated Security 2.0. This is a rolling garage door technology that switches the code every time the door is opened.
The great people at Chamberlain and LiftMaster realized that burglars were using garage door openers to break into homes. They used programs that generated millions of random codes. Riding through neighborhoods, potential burglars would randomly click the remote until a generated code matched a door. They could then return to this home later and burglarize the property.
This rolling code technology produces a new code each time your door is opened. This means that the old code is useless even if a burglar generates it out of billions of potential code combinations.
Want to make sure your garage door opener has rolling code technology? Look for the Security+2.0 label on your Chamberlain, LiftMaster, or Craftsman garage door opener.
When your remote for your garage door activates a code, this code is responsible for unlocking the garage door. Security 2.0 is a feature that was implemented in 2012 that generates a new code each time you open the garage door. After each opening, the prior code is rendered useless. This prevents potential burglars from using random codes and clickers to open garage doors throughout a neighborhood.
Assuming that your garage door opener was created after 2012, we can move on to the actual safety test.
Step 2 > Test the Safety Reverse System of Your Garage Door Opener
● Lay any long object under your garage door. It only needs to cross the threshold and be about five inches tall.
● Begin closing the door using your garage door remote.
● Once the door begins closing and comes close to contacting this object, it should automatically start opening. You should contact your local garage door and opener specialist if this isn’t what happens. Your system needs to be repaired.
Step 3 > Testing the Photoelectric System of Your Garage Door Opener
What to look for on your garage door when you want to check your photocell reverse system? 2 photo eyes installed on each side of your door no more than 6 inches from the floor.
I’m not a scientist. How do I test anything photoelectric?
● The Goal: Don’t worry, this takes no scientific skills. We are merely testing to make sure the laser beams work when they are breached.
● Roll a moving object underneath the garage door across the threshold when the door is closing. This can be a bike, a small wagon, a roller-skate, or anything mobile.
● While the door is closing, roll the object across the threshold. The door should automatically begin opening. If it doesn’t, you need to contact a technician.
Step 4 > Testing the Wall Control Panel of the Garage Door Opener
Where is your wall control panel? On the wall, often by the access door leading to the house or beside the garage door itself, at least 5’ from the floor.
● Make sure the open and close buttons properly function on the wall panel. There should be no lag or clear signs of malfunction.
● Make sure the LIGHT button actually turns the light on and off.
Step 5 > Make Sure the Remote and Keypad Work Properly
When was the last time the batteries were changed in the garage door remote? We would bet a ton of money that you don’t know.
Perform this simple test to see if you should replace them: Most accessories and remotes have an LED light that turns on when you press ANY BUTTON on the remote. If you press a button and the LED light doesn’t turn on, your batteries may have to be replaced.
If you changed the batteries and the remote still isn’t working properly, it probably just needs to be reprogrammed. Follow these instructions for how to program many LiftMaster accessories.
Have you done all these steps, and they were a huge waste of time? Learn more about remote controls, 3-button mini remotes, and universal remote compatibility. You might just need to purchase a new universal remote and program it to work on your garage door opener.
Check the antenna: The garage door opener has a small wire that hangs from the side of the panel. Do not cut this or remove it for any reason. If for some reason, you did, you will need a new garage door opener.
Step 6 > Check the Emergency Release Handle Rope
Most garage door openers made within a reasonable length of time have a rope that hangs from them. This is an emergency release rope. It can provide your exit if you ever get trapped inside the garage.
The rope should hang somewhere near the garage door when the door is closed.
This is how you make sure the rope still works:
● Pull the rope. This should disengage the trolley and garage door opener.
The trolley is connected to the actual door AND the garage door opener. When you pull the rope, this will disengage the trolley and the automatic garage door opener. This allows you to manually lift the door.
● Locate the handle near the bottom of your garage door. Lift it and attempt to open the door.
Again, the handle is located on the bottom of the garage door.
If your garage door spring system is well-balanced, you should easily be able to lift the door with one hand. The door should easily glide along the tracks while you open it.
STOP IMMEDIATELY if the door seems heavy or hard to open AT ALL.
CAREFULLY AND SLOWLY close the garage door if you opened it even slightly. The spring is most likely under a high amount of tension and needs to be repaired or undergo maintenance.
Garage door springs are under extreme tension and pressure. If one is broken or malfunctions while you are attempting to open the door, you could be severely injured during the process.
Most people think the opener is what lifts the garage door. These only contain mechanical components. The spring is what actually does the lifting of the door.
Step 7 > Maintaining the Garage Door and Trolley Rail
Did your emergency release rope work? Good, we are almost done here. Now we just need to do some simple and easy cleaning.
Roll your sleeves up!
The installer is checking if the garage door opener trolley slides well on the rail
● The opener should easily slide along the trolley rail without any friction or hang-ups.
● Take a clean, dry cloth and wipe the duration of the trolley rail. Remove any noticeable dust or debris.
● Using a lubricant, use a stepladder to grease the duration of the rail. This makes it easier for the opener and trolley to slide along its path.
● Great Tip: Since you already have your stepladder, use your cloth to clean the entire rail, the springs, and the hinges of the garage door. Why wouldn’t you kill two birds with one stone? This avoids having to do it later!
All of these steps need to be repeated twice a year to make sure your garage door opener is not a safety hazard. Make sure you follow these exact steps each time you perform the checkup.
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We Can Handle the Following: Maintenance, repair, or installation of your garage door. We can also handle maintenance or repair of the garage door opener system.
Maybe you decided you need a new garage door opener or a new garage door altogether?
At Nordoors Sudbury Ltd., we live to service your garage door and garage door opener needs. Our technicians are standing by to complete service calls whenever you need them. Don’t hesitate to contact us for all of your maintenance and installation needs!
Do you already have that perfect garage door in mind?
We can send you a quotation by email.
Do you want to do some online browsing before you pull the trigger?
You can browse our residential photo gallery. This gives you the opportunity to see some of our completed work before you decide on the setup you want. Do you want to see your future garage door in action? You can preview how it would look in its actual settings, installed in the garage. Grab your smartphone and access our Design Centre. You can virtually build your dream garage door design right from your phone.
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