Good garage door opener information

The reason there are so many opinions and disagreements about inspecting garage doors is due to the very basic instruction manuals (most written to protect the manufacturer from lawsuits) and the high rate of possibility of damaging a door during a proper safety feature inspection.

For the inspectors that actually test all of the safety features, the number one thing to do is evaluate the strength of the top attachment for the opener before you break it during the testing.

In NC we are required to apply a reasonable force to the door during the inspection to determine if it will stop and reverse.

A better understanding of how they are electronically designed is necessary in order to develop your own inspection techniques.

Some but not all openers (since about mid 90’s ) work like described in this patent. http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5278480.html

(Don’t overlook the portion that requires scrolling down to see)

Who in the he!! wrote that?

An ESL Patent Attorney

Russel, so what’s with the “Jimmie Johnson”??

I’ll stick with these interactive report links:

**Garage Door Safety & Maintenance](http://www.dasma.com/safetygdmaint.asp) **

Garage Door Inspection Checklist](http://www.dasma.com/PDF/Publications/TechDataSheets/CommercialResidential/TDS167.pdf)


Thanks Russell BIG grins included

Jimmie is a two-time Client of mine, a pre-listing inspection and a buying inspection.

He can win the Nextel Cup Chase for the Championship if he finishes 12th or better at the race in Homestead FL this coming weekend.

I tend to root for my Clients.

If you follow racing, Bobby Labonte was a roommate of mine at Texas A&M University for one semester. Then he decided that college wasn’t for him and that he could make more money by simply dedicating himself to what he enjoyed doing the most: racing. I would say that he succeeded.

Don’t ya love how that interactiveness works. Saves a lot of time and money and makes one look real professional and…

What word are we looking to end with?

Come on, I know ya’ll know.

That’s right! “helpful.”

Are you leaving the inspection to be done by your clients?

Just thought I would mention the problem with the above checklist…
It is missing the force reversal check that is mentioned in the safety and maint doc above it.

I use the forearm method. The door comes down and hits my forearm, pulls me forward and I strike my head on the door and fall to the floor semi-conscious. I come to just as the door reverses and goes back up. Then I get up, dust myself off, and go to my clip-board and write–“Yep, she works just fine”.

Hopefully you fall backwards, away from the door, and not forwards, where your neck might be under the door and get crushed to 1½ inches. If that happened, you would not be able to take comfort with Ms Margarita and Dr Cuervo.

Yes, they do it all, for all reported items. They pay for my presence.

http://www.dasma.com/graphics/SafetyInfo/maint2.jpg

Force Setting Test
Test the force setting of your garage door opener by holding the bottom of the door as it closes. If the door does not reverse readily, the force setting may be excessive and need adjusting. See your owner’s manual for details on how to make the adjustment.

The debate of methods for proper force testing will go on forever, nature of the beast, but most mfg. have their own method in the instructions with the door unit.

R², YES, educATIONAL AND INFORMATIVE ALSO COME TO MIND, damn capslock

Are you guy’s going to notify that company that left the force test out of the checklist?

Bruce,

In case you didn’t know I was being facetious.

Garage door installation, and safety inspection is up there on my list of must dos not matter what any SoP say.

I write up about 80% for some issue, usually someting about “life endangerment”. Yes, those are the words used in the report.

Which company are you speaking of I’ll E-mail them today when I get back in.

The checklist posted was produced by an association, their contact info is at the top of the document.

I just wanted to share… did an inspection the other day and reported that the tension stop was not working properly on the garage door. The current owner was there and looked at me funny, saying, “it was working fine the other day!” (I love that line!!)
So, I offered him the opportunity to show me and I am always more than glad to remove an item from my report if proven wrong. He placed a box under the door, and hit the button. In from of myself and the potential buyers we watched the garage door crush that box down to nothing. I smiled and showed them how to re-adjust the tension. And the current owner did not say anything else as I gave the rest of my report. LOVE IT!!

Now that is funny. Jae, do you also carry a kid around in your tool bag for checking baluster gaps. :smiley:

One thing that was left off of the checklist is to inspect for a torsion or support bar accross the doors. This is requierd on ALL doors with an opener.

I broke my first door yesterday, while checking the auto-reverse. :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: The rivots broke from the top of the door where the opener arm attaches at. The bad thing was that it was a brand new door. The old one was outside next to the garage. I am going to write it up as FAILED DURING INSPECTION, but I am sure I will get a call on Monday about that one. I have inspectd about 2500 garage doors and never had that problem. The 2x4 would of had the same affect. I only use my hands to stop it. A couple of bolts should fix the problem. However, they will have to get a garage door guy to adjust the auto rev and install torsion bars.

Maybe we need to listen to Jae Williams. ha ha. ha.

Marcel :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

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Say, now that’s a good idea. I always like to things the competition doesn’t…:wink: :wink:

Hey Jae; Could his name be CHUCKY??? ha. ha.

Marcel :slight_smile: