A garage door is the largest, heaviest moving object in your home. Garage doors weigh hundreds of pounds and when operated with an automatic garage door opener, they can exert deadly force when they are closing. A person or child trapped under a garage door can be seriously injured or killed due to crush injuries or by asphyxiation.
Incidents of garage door entrapments have declined since the mid 1990’s when all garage door openers sold in the United States were required to have safety reversing systems such as a photoelectric eye that reverses the door when an obstruction is detected in the path of the door. However, the danger of entrapments has not been completely eliminated.
Unfortunately, photoelectric safety eyes are one of the most common problems with garage doors. They are easily knocked out of alignment or blocked by insects, dirt or debris, all of which causes the garage door to become stuck in the open position. As a result, they are frequently seen as an inconvenience by many homeowners who then attempt to bypass the sensors.
Bypassing the photoelectric safety sensors on your garage door is very dangerous and can lead to injuries or death due to garage door entrapment. If you are having problems with your garage door photoelectric eyes, do not attempt to bypass the system. Instead, call your local garage door repair service.
Properly installed and adjusted by an experienced garage door technician, the photoelectric eyes are a reliable and important safety mechanism. Your garage door repair technician can adjust and align the sensors to ensure that your garage door operates smoothly while protecting against garage door entrapments.
