Garage door safety sensor repair in London, Ontario

In a London winter the photo eyes on a garage door get buried. They sit about six inches off the floor at the foot of each track, and the London airport station has recorded snow on the ground 53 cm deep, on 6 January 2001, in Environment Canada's 1991 to 2020 normals. The London branch repairs and replaces sensors from 1003 Farnham Rd in Westmount; call (226) 270-9715 or send the contact form. How the pair works, and why most faults turn out to be alignment, is on the sensor repair page.

Snow on a west wind

The same normals give west as the most frequent wind direction at the airport. A garage door that faces west or north-west takes the drift straight across its face, and when it opens after a squall a wedge of packed snow slides in along the floor, at exactly the height of the eyes. The door then goes up and will not come back down, with the light on the opener blinking.

Clear the snow back from both tracks and look at each eye before anything else. An eye packed with snow reads the same as one knocked out of line, and one that has been kicked or shovelled against reads the same as a dead one. Brush the lens with a dry glove, never a shovel. If the receiving light comes back steady, that was all it was.

The bracket that moved

A bracket at ankle height gets knocked by a snow blower, a bin or a boot, and a few degrees is enough to break the beam. Loosen the wing nut, turn the eye until its light holds steady, and tighten it. If the bracket itself is bent, or the eye moves again every time the door closes, the track may be loose on the wall, and that is a repair rather than an adjustment.

Lights out on both sides

When neither eye lights at all, the sensors are rarely both dead. The low-voltage wire back to the motor head has been pinched or broken, or the opener itself has no power. In a detached garage behind an older London house the power usually comes from the house, and after a summer storm a surge can take out the sensor circuit; opener repair in London covers the breaker, the ground-fault outlet and the logic board in that order.

Out of town

A sensor fault is often one a caller can clear with a cloth and a wing nut, and that is worth trying first when the van has a long way to come. The branch drives to garage door repair in St. Thomas, about 30 km south, garage door repair in Strathroy, about 40 km west, and garage door repair in Woodstock, about 50 km east on the 401. From any of them, check the lens, the alignment and both lights before booking.

If a new pair is needed, the eyes are chosen by the opener, not by what looks similar. Chamberlain, LiftMaster and Craftsman units share a platform; Genie has its own. A photo of the label on the motor head, sent with the booking, means the van arrives with a pair that fits, and the old pair is replaced together rather than one eye at a time, so the sending and receiving units match.

Booking a visit

Call (226) 270-9715 with what each light is doing and the brand on the motor head, or send a photo of each eye through the contact form. Repairs are booked the same day.