consumer safety

Garage Doors & Openers

A Publication of the Australian Garage Door Association

DOORS MADE FROM PRE-PAINTED STEELYour coloured steel door has been pre-painted with a special formulation, providing a long lasting and durable coloured finish. However good a product may be, all exposed surfaces require some attention to guard against corrosion and any other harmful atmospheric effects. Washing the door with clean water and a cloth at least every six months is recommended. More frequent washing is advised in salty or industrialised areas. For other custom and wooden doors consult the manufacturer’s instructions.

REMEMBER, WHEN YOU THINK OF CLEANING YOUR CAR, THINK OF YOUR DOOR.

NOTE: THE OPENER IS AN ELECTRICAL APPLIANCE AND IT COULD BE EASILY DAMAGED IF IT GETS WET. DO NOT WASH THE OPENER, AS IT WILL VOID THE WARRANTY AND COULD CAUSE ELECTROCUTION.

LUBRICATION (EvERY 3-6 MONTHS)1. Guide Tracks: (Rolling Doors) Clean the internal sections of the guide tracks

with a cloth dampened with mineral turps or methylated spirits. Polish vigorously to achieve a smooth, dirt and moisture resistant surface, allowing the flexible braid to glide more easily. DO NOT USE GREASE OR OIL ON THE GUIDE TRACKS. Take care as the edges of tracks may be sharp.

(Sectional Doors) Should be cleaned as per rolling door instructions, but do not require polishing of the internal guide tracks.

2. Steel Hinges: (If fitted). Sparingly lubricate with an all purpose machine oil. Also lubricate wheel to axle bearings.

3. Plastic Hinges: No lubrication is generally required, however silicon spray may be used if necessary.

4. Springs: (Where accessible). Wipe over with an oily rag.

5. Locks: Your lock does not require special maintenance, however if the key becomes stiff, a spray lubricant such as RP7 is recommended. Do not grease the lock.

6. Openers: If you have an opener fitted to your door it is important that you ensure the optimum operation of your door, otherwise you may reduce the effective life of the opener, and void your opener warranty. For more information refer to the maintenance schedule in your opener’s instruction handbook.

7. Opener Chain: (If fitted). Lubricate with Chain Lube.

SERvICE & REPAIR1. Lifting Cables: (If fitted). visually check for wear. If there is fraying or signs of

corrosion contact a professional garage door technician. These cables are under extreme tension and should never be adjusted, except by a professional garage door technician. On no account should you attempt to unscrew or adjust the bottom cable hangers on the bottom panel of the door. Serious injury may result.

2. Fasteners: visually check that all screws, nuts and bolts appear secure.

3. Spring Tension: It is natural for springs to lose tension. Should the door become hard to operate or become completely inoperative, contact a professional garage door technician.

TO MAINTAIN YOUR DOOR IN GOOD RUNNING ORDER IT IS IMPORTANT YOUR DOOR BE SERVICED BY A PROFESSIONAL GARAGE DOOR TECHNICIAN EVERY 12 MONTHS OR EARLIER AS CONDITIONS MAY REQUIRE.

WARNINGThe spring unit is under tension at all times and should never be adjusted, except by a professional garage door technician. No operator or other person should ever stand directly in the path of the door in its downward travel or walk through the doorway while door is moving. Always use the door handle to manually operate the door. If the door is now, or later becomes automatically operated, the pull down rope on the door, where fitted, must be removed.

This leaflet is provided for general guidance only. Please always refer to the manufacturer’s specific instructions for the safe operation, maintenance and warranty of your garage door and opener.

CONTACT DETAILSAustralian Garage Door Association ABN: 64 842 775 602

Postal: PO Box 519, Baulkham Hills, New South Wales, 1755 Phone: 02 9686 1308 Fax: 02 9686 1360 Web: http://www.agda.org.au/ Email: info@agda.org.au

General Maintenance

You’ve made the right choice

COLORBOND® is a registered trade mark of BlueScope Steel Limited. ABN 16 000 011 058.

A garage door is the largest and heaviest moving item in a house and uses highly tensioned springs to store the potential energy required to make the door move smoothly with minimum effort. Regular inspection and maintenance of your garage door and opener (where fitted) is critical to ensuring their safe, smooth, quiet, reliable operation.

Consumer Safety

regular inspection & maintenanceREGULAR INSPECTION & MAINTENANCE IS REQUIREDDOORAGDA recommends that you check the operation of your door at least every three to six months (more regularly in extreme environments or frequent use). The effort required to manually open and to manually close the door should be about the same. With the door in manual mode (i.e. disconnected from any opener), move the door to the half open position. If the door is balanced, it should remain in that position. If the door is excessively heavy to open or close or is not balanced then call a professional garage door technician to have it adjusted.

When operating the door manually or at any other time of operation DO NOT PLACE YOUR FINGERS NEAR ANY MOVING PARTS OR BETWEEN THE DOOR PANELS WHEN THE DOOR IS OPERATING EITHER AUTOMATICALLY OR MANUALLY. Serious injury including loss of fingers may result. Use handles where fitted.

Also look around the door and or fittings for any obvious signs of wear or damage, particularly at the mounting points for springs, tracks, guides and cables. If the door does not run smoothly, then maintenance or a service is recommended.

OPENERIf you have an opener fitted to your door it should incorporate an automatic reversing feature intended to prevent serious injury or death to children or animals through being trapped under a closing garage door. It is important that you ensure the optimum operation of your door otherwise you may reduce the effective life of the opener and door.

It is a key safety requirement to check the safety features and operation of the opener at least once a month as follows.

Firstly place a block of wood 40mm in height in the centre of the door opening and operate the door to close. The door should, on striking the block, stop and reverse almost immediately. Should the door not reverse call a professional garage door technician to adjust the settings.

If the door correctly reverses, you can for additional peace of mind, carry out the following test. Stand in front of the door with your hands in front of you, arms not fully extended and palms uppermost. As the door closes catch it with your hands. Again the door should stop and reverse and you will have an understanding of the force required to make this happen. If this force feels excessive, call a professional garage door technician to have it adjusted.

An automatically operated door should also stop if obstructed when opening. You can verify

this safety feature by repeating the previous test but grabbing the bottom of the door as it passes your hands while opening. The door should stop, but not reverse.

It is important to note that your opener warranty can be voided if you fail to maintain both your opener and your door.

Due to the safety risks arising from tension within the springs on all garage door systems, AGDA recommends that any adjustments or repairs to the door, opener or fittings only be carried out by a professional garage door technician.

SAFE OPERATION OF AUTOMATICALLY OPERATED DOORS

An automatic, remotely operated garage door is a wonderful convenience, but does have some inherent risks in operation. To date there have been many sometimes fatal, instances of child entrapment under garage doors around the world. The opener should incorporate an automatic reversing feature intended to prevent serious injury, or death to children or animals, through being trapped under a closing garage door. To ensure the safety of your family and

pets please operate it with due care and attention as follows.

1. Only operate the door remotely when you are in a position to watch it close or open completely. Children often follow parents unexpectedly. Always watch the garage door close safely.

2. Never walk or allow others to walk under a door while it is operating.

3. Never leave remote controls lying around for children to play with, or allow them to ‘play’ with the door.

4. Ensure wall buttons / controls are placed at least 1.5m from the ground and that manual release handles are no more than 1.8m from the ground.

5. A modern, correctly adjusted, automatic door opener should have the inherent safety features and performance tested as above. However if you have concerns around the safe operation of your door, consider fitting a secondary safety device, such as infra red beam protection at the bottom of the door opening or an electronic contact strip along the lower edge of the door. Consult your local professional garage door technician or retailer.