Sound familiar?Etobicoke
- The call
- On bright mornings the door will not close, then by lunchtime it behaves itself. The garage faces the low sun, and the light reaches straight across the floor to one of the little black sensors.
There are no sensors at the floor at all, or a previous owner has wired the pair together up beside the motor so the beam never crosses the doorway. A home inspector has just pointed it out.
In plain words
Two small sensors face each other across the doorway: one sends an infrared beam, the other receives it. While the beam lands on the receiver, the opener will close the door; the moment anything interrupts it, the door stops and returns to open. Every sensor call comes down to why the receiver has lost the beam: an object, a bent bracket, a dirty or frosted lens, sun in the receiving eye, a broken wire or a tired sensor. The technician works through those in order, fixes the one that applies, and shows you the steady indicator lights that mean the pair is talking again.
Photo-Eye Sensor Alignment or Replacement · Etobicoke
How the visit goes
Scene 1
Clearing and walking the beam
Before anything is adjusted, the technician clears the strip of floor between the two sensors and looks along the beam line at sensor height. Things that break a beam are rarely dramatic: the corner of a recycling bin, a hose left coiled by the wall, a bag of salt, leaves blown in under the door, a cobweb bridging a lens, a new weatherstrip or track shoe that sits a little proud. Snow and ice piled inside the door in winter count too. With the path clean, the door is tried again, because a fair share of sensor calls end right here, with a lesson about where things can and cannot sit.
Scene 2
Dealing with the sun
A receiver that looks into the low sun is fixed by geometry. The simplest cure is to swap the two sensors side to side so the receiver looks away from the doorway light and the sending eye, which is not affected, takes the sunny position. Where the layout rules that out, a small hood or shade is fitted over the receiving lens, deep enough to shield it without narrowing the beam path. The wiring is extended or re-routed as needed and both lights are checked at the time of day the fault used to appear, or with a strong light aimed at the lens to stand in for the sun.
Scene 3
Winter habits
In the cold months the sensors ask for a little attention. On frosty mornings give a misted lens a moment to clear rather than pressing close over and over, and wipe it with a dry cloth if it does not. Keep salt slush from building up against the brackets, since salt is what corrodes the mounts and terminals over time. Clear snow from just inside the door before closing it, and if the bottom seal has frozen to the slab, free it by hand rather than asking the opener to pull it loose. If the door closes at noon but not at nine, mention it; the low sun may be reaching the receiving eye and a shade sorts that out.
In the van
- Track-mount sensor brackets
- Protective wire channel
- 2x4 test block
- Receiving-eye sun shade
- Insulated wire staples
What shapes the quoteHumber Valley Garage Door Co.
- Corrosion reaching the head unit
- Where salt and water have travelled up the wire to the terminals, or the sensor terminals on the board are damaged, the repair extends beyond the pair and that is set out separately.
- Access to the doorway and the head unit
- A clear strip along the floor and a reachable head unit make for a direct job. Shelving, vehicles or stored goods that must be moved to reach the sensors, wire or terminals add time.
- Number of doors
- Each opener has its own sensor pair and wire run, so a double garage with two doors is two sets of checks, two possible pairs and two rounds of testing, quoted per door.
FeesSame any hour
Have a question?
How high off the floor should the sensors sit?
Low. The industry checklist expects the beam no more than roughly 15 cm (6 in) up from the floor, so that a small child, a pet or a bicycle wheel breaks it. Both sensors are set at the same measured height and level with each other, since a difference of a couple of centimetres is enough to lose the beam. Within that rule the technician can raise them a little to keep them out of the strip where slush collects.
How do I test the sensors each month?
Start the door closing and, while it is moving, swing a broom handle through the beam low across the opening; the door should halt and travel back up. Next, put a 2x4 flat beneath the door's centre and run the door onto it; it should back off as soon as it touches. If either test fails, close the door first if you can, use it by hand with the manual release, and book a visit; do not release it if it feels heavy.
The door closes if I hold the wall button. Is that a fix?
It is a built-in stopgap, not a repair. When the sensor circuit is not satisfied, many openers allow a close from the wall control only while the button is held, on the idea that a person standing there can see the doorway. Newer units drop that behaviour altogether and simply hold the door open. Either way the door is telling you the beam has failed, and a sensor visit puts remote closing back.
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Etobicokeinformation
TorontoOntario
Photo-Eye Sensor Alignment or Replacement · Toronto, Bloordale Gardens, Eringate, Glen Agar, Islington, Princess Margaret, Thorncrest Village, West Deane Park
- Town
- Etobicoke, Toronto
- In business
- 22 years
- Hours
- Open 24/7
- Nights, weekends and holidays, same fees
- Phone
- (289) 804-5885
- Visits
- On-site assessment preferred. Request a visit or call.
2021 census: what it means at the door
Every square is one home in a hundred.
- 58 in 100 homes · older homes
- 23 in 100 homes · mostly attached
- About 58% of homes in Toronto were built in 1980 or earlier, according to the 2021 Census.Extension springs are common on older doors, and they should carry a safety cable through the middle so a broken spring is held rather than flung. Adding those cables is a small job the technician checks for and offers on any older door he services.
- Single-detached houses make up about 23% of homes in Toronto (2021 Census).Townhouse rows generally have a narrow single door on each unit, with shared walls on both sides. Noise from a chain opener or dry rollers carries straight into the neighbour's home, so quiet belt-drive openers and nylon rollers are a popular and considerate choice here.
Nearby
On-site assessment
Request a visit.
There are no sensors at the floor at all, or a previous owner has wired the pair together up beside the motor so the beam never crosses the doorway.
(289) 804-5885, open 24/7.