Every six months or so, you should complete a test of the safety features on your garage door. These features are meant to prevent accidental injuries, but if the mechanisms haven't been tested in a while, you don't know if they'll work when they're meant to. Here, you'll find some tips to help you test and repair the anti-crush sensor safety feature of your garage door.

Anti-Crush Sensor

This sensor is the most important of all of the safety features of the garage door. This is the feature that is meant to stop the door from coming down whenever anything is in its path. To test this feature, you'll need nothing more than a board or broomstick — anything that is long enough to pass through the sensor without getting yourself too close. Open the garage door, take your remote control and go out to the tracks of the door. Look for a small sensor towards the bottom of the garage door track. Press the button to close the door. As the door closes, position the board to trip the sensor — the door should stop and reverse the second the board breaks the sensor beam. If it doesn't, there are some things to check.

Failed Anti-Crush Test

So, the door continued to close after the sensor was disrupted — that's not good. Before you begin to start searching for a new garage door opener, take some time to clean the sensors very well and perform the test again. Sometimes, cobwebs and dirt can build up on the sensors and prevent them from emitting a strong enough signal to work properly. Get a little bit of white vinegar on a cleaning cloth. Wipe both sensors very well and let them dry. Test the door again and see if that helped.

If cleaning the sensors doesn't work, you'll need to contact your local garage door opener repair expert for assistance. This is not the feature that you don't want working, especially if you have kids and pets going in and out of the garage each day. For the time being, disconnect the power to the garage door opener and pull the cord to release it into manual mode. This is the only sure-fire way to ensure that the garage door opener doesn't cause anyone injuries before it can be repaired. Don't take any chances — that garage door is heavy and with the added force of the opener pushing it to the ground, serious injuries can be sustained. Call for help today!