How Safe Is Your Garage Door Opener

A garage door is generally the largest moving item in your home. How safe is yours? Garage doors and openers look simple but there are many things that can go wrong. The industry recommends the following safety tips to ensure your and your family's safety when using your garage door or automatic garage door opener.

1. Children:

Children are naturally curious so always ensure the garage door opener control button is installed high enough so small children cannot reach it and play with it and that they do not have access to the remote controls.

With doors made in panels, it is possible to get your fingers pinched by the closing or opening sections of the door so make sure everyone, especially children, know to keep their fingers away from a moving door. If you have small children, ideally look for a specifically marketed "pinch free" door.

2. Operation:

Keep hands and lose clothing clear of the door and opener at all times.

Modern garage doors often have a safety reverse mechanism on the opener to ensure the door cannot close on children, pets or objects which may in the door's path. If your garage door opener does not have this reverse feature, for safety, we'd recommend you replace it with an opener with an auto reverse feature.

Always fully close or open your garage door, leaving it partially open may cause the door to close when it is reactivated and impact any objects that may be in the doors path.

Do not disengage the door opener to manual operation with any people or objects in the doorway.

3. Security

Most modern garage door openers or remotes have a rolling code technology that changes the code each time the door is activated and therefore prevents the practice of code grabbing. If your opener does not have this feature, consider upgrading to a newer model to make it more difficult for thieves to break in.

To increase your garages or homes security while you are away on holiday, use a holiday lock console security switch which makes the remotes unusable and comes as an optional extra for many types of openers. If you have internal access to the garage, you could also unplug the garage door opener unit.

Thieves are now targeting remotes or cars as a means of access to your home or garage. Always take your remote control with you when you are not in your car, or look at getting a key chain remote. Make sure you lock any internal access points to your home from your garage. The small inconvenience is worth the extra security and peace of mind.

4. Maintenance:

A garage door, like anything mechanical, requires regular checks to ensure it works correctly and safely. Visually inspect rollers, pulleys, springs and cables for any signs of wear once a month. If you are not sure what you should be looking for ask your professional installer to give some advice, or arrange for them to do the check at a time that is convenient for you.

A door must be well balanced. If it is sticking or binding it must be repaired by a qualified door installer. As many of the garage door parts are under high tension, it is best to let a professional garage door installer check and make any adjustments, that way, you can avoid potentially serious injuries.

Remember that the garage door opener uses electricity, which can shock or kill if mishandled. Again, it is best to let a professional garage door installer check and make any adjustments, that way, you can avoid potentially serious injuries.

If someone has backed their car into your Garage Door, always arrange an inspection by a qualified installer. Even if the door doesn't appear to be damaged, the operating system may have been misaligned which will cause it to wear prematurely and may potentially cause safety issues.

In summary, remember that your Garage Door and Opener can be potentially dangerous so always keep them properly maintained. Most good companies offer an annual service to check, test and maintain the door and opener. Use it.