Essential Garage Door Safety Features – Garages are one of the most adaptable areas in a home, used for many household activities, such as housing a car, a workshop, a studio, and even storage.
Because of the constant usage of garages, people tend to invest in automated garage doors to minimize hassle.
Indeed, advancements in technology have made life easier for the general public, and among all the technological innovations that have brought convenience to the people, garage doors are no exception.
What used to be manually operated is now automated, so many households have opted to use the convenience that automatic garage doors provide.
However, like all useful inventions, automated garage doors come with risks so dangerous, it could take someone’s life.
Every year, approximately 20,000 to 30,000 accidents are incurred by garage doors, and among those accidents results in deaths of mostly children.
This is unquestionable, considering how heavy and difficult it is to control the doors, making it one of the most dangerous parts of a house despite the convenience it brings households.
Because of these mishaps, manufacturers have included built-in safety features to decrease people’s likelihood of getting into accidents.
Below are the three crucial safety features that all automated garage doors should and must have.
This article will discuss the importance of having these safety features and getting them repaired in case of defectivity.
For more information and expert counseling,
garage door repair companies are available to answer inquiries in Mississauga, Markham, Newmarket, and Toronto.
#1 Infrared Motion Detection
When a child or a pet suddenly runs under a closing garage door, what can anyone possibly do to stop the heavy door from lowering onto them in time, right?
People would most likely panic and do something unnecessary to exacerbate the situation instead, which is why infrared motion detection is a vital safety feature of garage doors.
An infrared motion detection feature is a safety precaution that uses two sensors placed close to the ground on either side of the garage door.
These two sensors are aligned and are sending a beam to each other, creating an invisible line across the length of the garage doorway.
This safety feature functions by immediately stopping the garage door’s motion when the beam between the sensors is broken by any obstruction, like a child or pet suddenly running under.
However, there might be cases when this safety feature is not activated, even though a child is already under the door.
That might be because the beam passes undisturbed between the legs of the child.
Thus, it is essential to take note of another safety feature, which is the auto-reverse function.
#2 Auto-Reverse
In case a person mistakenly stands, parks their car, or places objects too close to the entrance while the door is closing, is there a way to prevent the injuries, dents, or deformities that the heavy garage door could cause on homeowners or their property?
Besides trying to dodge the closing door clumsily, it would be better to have the auto-reverse feature on the automated garage door instead.
This feature is also extremely vital to prevent injuries on children and pets in cases when the infrared motion detection feature is not activated due to several reasons.
The auto-reverse feature is similar to the infrared motion detection feature in that it stops the door’s closing motion as soon as something is felt to be blocking the path of the door, which is possible due to the sensor built in the door.
This safety feature functions by immediately reversing the closing door when the sensor detects a slight resistance against the door’s path.
#3 Manual Control
Masses have become dependent on automated machines lately, too dependent, in fact, that some do not know what to do when there are power outages that render the appliances nonfunctional.
During those times, people forget that there is a feature that allows the garage door’s option manual control.
Although not so much as a safety feature but more of an emergency feature, manual control is a feature that allows homeowners to operate the garage door by hand.
This can be activated by disconnecting the door from the motor by pulling an emergency cord on the door trolley.
Once the power is back, simply reconnect the trolley to the opener to return to the garage door’s automated system.
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