Safety Testing Garage Doors

It’s important to regularly test your garage door and garage door opener for safety in order to avoid potential injuries, accidents, and dangerous strain on the door itself. Here, as prepared by the experts at Orange County are some quick tests that won’t take more than a couple minutes that you can carry out to ensure the long-lasting operation of your garage doors.

Balance Testing

  • Disconnect the garage door from the opener by pulling on the release cord
  • Manually lower the garage door until it reaches the level of your waist
  • Release the garage door. If it goes down by itself it needs to be adjusted, and if it lifts up, it’s springs are too tight. Tight springs automatically lift the door because they add too much torque for gravity to overcome. If it rises OR falls, the door is placing too much stress on the garage door opener since it makes it have to either work against the door or against gravity.
  • Ideally the door will remain at waist height when you let it go. If it doesn’t, an issue is creating extra wear on the garage door opener, and the door and door opener needs to be inspected by a professional.

 

Garage Door Opener Testing

  • Open up the garage door, and place a two by four board of wood flat on the floor of the garage near the door’s center.
  • Close the door with the opener. If the door opener is working correctly, it will automatically reverse motion.
  • If it doesn’t reverse motion, it’s a major safety hazard. Make sure to adjust the settings of the opener, or you will have to replace the opener completely with a brand new model.
  • This test works for garage door openers made after 1992, when automatic reversal systems were universally implemented. If your door dates before 1992, it needs to be replaced.