Your garage door can be one of the heaviest moving objects in your home, weighing several hundred pounds. An improperly functioning door can be just as dangerous. This is where garage door reversing sensors come into play. Placed at the bottom of door tracks, they rely on infrared beams that can sense movement or objects in their path and prevent a door from closing on people, pets or property.
At York Garage Door Guys, we’ve seen firsthand how safety sensors have prevented countless tragedies and brought peace of mind to residents.
How Safety Sensors Work
Garage door safety sensors are typically mounted a few inches off the floor, about one on either side of the door frame. Here’s how they function:
- Infrared Beam Technology: Sensors transmit an invisible beam across the opening of the door.
- Immediate Signalling: When something interrupts this beam—your child, a pet or a forgotten toy—the system automatically tells the garage door opener to stop and reverse.
- Auto Response: On-the-spot action means accidents and injuries won’t happen, and neither will damage to your stuff.
Safety sensors are the door’s first line of defence in the event of an emergency by automatically overriding the door’s closing system.
Common Issues with Safety Sensors
While a safety sensor may be dependable, it can sometimes malfunction, which will cause an emergency. Common problems include:
- Misaligned: The sensors must be aimed directly at each other; otherwise, they will not function properly.
- Dirty Lenses: sometimes just a bit of dust, dirt or cobweb can get in the way of the beam.
- Wiring: Broken or loose wiring can interfere with the signal to the opener.
- Sunlight Interference: Occasionally, the direct sunlight can interfere with infrared signal.
If your garage door is not closing correctly, the flashing light indicators on the sensors may help alert you to one of these problems.
The Connection Between Safety Sensors and Emergency Repairs
A garage door without working sensors is a threat. Picture a heavy door closing suddenly on top of someone or something — and you’ve got yourself an emergency repair call. If they didn’t exist, doors would often collide with similar objects and suffer from wear and tear caused by harsh impact.
York Garage Door Guys says that in many emergency repair calls they get, sensors go out of place or stop working. This is why we always advocate regular inspection and maintenance.
Tips for Maintaining Your Garage Door Safety Sensors
To ensure that your garage is safe and you are less likely to have any emergencies:
- Wipe the lenses clean with gentle cloths regularly.
- If your door is not shutting, examine the alignment.
- Check wiring for any loose connections or damage.
- Test the sensors once a month by placing an object (not your foot) in the door’s path to ensure it reverses.
Basic maintenance tasks can help you avoid expensive repairs and keep your family safe.
Source York Garage Door Guys for Sensor Repair and Maintenance
They never forgot about safety. Whether it’s a defective sensor or an overall check-up of your garage door system, we here at York Garage Door Guys are ready to lend you a hand. We offer swift and dependable emergency garage door repair as well as preventative maintenance to keep your system in good working order.
Contact York Garage Door Guys for trusted garage door sensor repair and emergency solutions. Take back control of your home and family with local experts that you can trust.
