Safety Reversal Testing

Two Systems, Both Required

Every residential garage door opener made since 1993 has to have entrapment protection, and there are two independent systems. Most homeowners have never tested either.

The photo eyes. A beam across the opening near floor level. Break it while the door is closing and the door must stop and reverse.

Contact reversal. If the door meets an obstruction on the way down, it must reverse on contact, using the force settings in the opener head.

They are independent on purpose. One catches something in the path before contact, the other catches what the beam missed.

Test Them Yourself, Monthly

Both take under a minute.

Beam test. With the door closing, wave a broom handle through the gap between the two sensors. The door should stop and reverse immediately.

Contact test. Lay a piece of two by four flat on the floor in the door path and let the door close onto it. On contact it should reverse. Flat, not on edge, because that is the standard test.

If either fails, stop using the opener until it is fixed.

Why the Contact Test Gets Skipped

Because it feels like deliberately breaking something. It is not, and it is the more important of the two on a door where the sensors have been mounted too high or aimed badly.

A door that does not reverse on contact is applying its full closing force to whatever is underneath it.

Force Settings

Openers have adjustable force limits for opening and closing. Set too tight and the door reverses for no reason. Set too loose and it will push through an obstruction rather than reversing.

The temptation, when a door keeps reversing, is to turn the close force up until it stops doing that. That is the wrong move if the real cause is a binding door, because you have overridden the safety system to overcome a mechanical fault.

We check the door runs freely by hand first, then set force to suit, then test both reversals.

What We Document

Which systems were tested, whether they passed, sensor height and alignment, and force settings. It takes a minute and it means next year there is something to compare against.

Call Hugsnoslugs at (562) 497-2929.