 | Keith Bomholt
has been installing and servicing residential garage doors since 1971. He is president and owner of Cheney Door Company, Inc. headquartered in Wichita with a second location in Hutchinson. Cheney Door offers several products for the home including replacement windows, entry, storm and patio doors and central vacuum systems. Commercially Cheney Door sells and installs overhead doors and dock equipment in Kansas and surrounding states.
Keith, who is a member of the Wichita Area Builders Association and the Wichita and Hutchinson Chamber of Commerce may be contacted by e-mail at keith@cheneydoor.com or by phone at (316) 262-2098. |
Home Improvement
2002-10-01 12:06:00
Who made the rules?
Keith Bomholt
Question: Are there safety rules for garage doors and openers? Who made the rules? What do they consist of?Answer: Safety rules for garage doors and openers are everyone’s business. An improperly adjusted garage door or automatic opener can exert deadly force when the door closes and may cause serious injury or even death.Garage doors and garage door openers are built according to industry standards. The safety rules (other than industry standards) are developed by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. This federal agency develops all safety rules for consumer products. You can look up the rules for garage door openers at their website . . . www.cpsc.gov/about. ANSI/UL standard 325-1982 calls for a number of safety features not found on earlier openers, and also subjects new openers to more stringent safety tests.Garage door openers manufactured prior to 1982 may have a device intended to reverse the closing door when it strikes an object, but for reasons related to age, installation or maintenance, these products may not be safe enough to prevent the entrapment of a child. Proper installation, operation and maintenance, and testing of the garage door and automatic opener are necessary to provide safe, trouble-free operation. The CPSC requires that all garage door openers manufactured in the United States or imported after January 1, 1993, for sale in the U.S. be outfitted with an external entrapment protection system. This system can be an electric eye, a door edge sensor, or any other device that provides equivalent protection, reversing when hitting a one inch obstruction in their path. They are required to not only have the reversing feature, but must also be manufactured with photo eyes.According to industry experts, garage doors with remote controlled openers should periodically be checked to make sure they are working properly. The garage door is usually the largest moving object in most homes. Due to the springs, cables and other hardware being under extreme tension, only a qualified professional should adjust your garage door.For more information about garage door and garage door opener safety, log onto http://www.cheneydoor.com/ and click on “Doors” under “Products.” Then click on the icon for IDA (International Door Association).
