Pembroke Pines Garge Door Service - A Guide to Cleaning your Photo Eye
- Aug 3, 2016
- 3 min read
The photo eye for your electric garage opener is something that is usually out of sight, out of mind. It’s something you never even think about – until you can’t get your garage door to close.
It’s downright maddening when you can’t figure out why your garage door won’t do exactly what it should be doing. You press the button and it goes down a bit but then it goes right back up. Or maybe you even press the button and nothing happens. It’s so frustrating!
A photo eye is one of the most likely culprits when you are having issues closing your garage door. And now we can reveal what the photo eye is and what it does to give you an understanding why Pembroke Pines garage door repair is such an important part of the solution.
The photo eye works specifically by sending a laser beam or beam of other light from one side of your garage opening to the other side. The eye attaches to one of the beams holding up the door track and shoots the beam to the receptor that sits on the other track beam.
If the laser stream gets interrupted – otherwise known as something being in the way – then the garage door opener will stop the “down” function and move the door back up to the top position. It does this to prevent anything from getting underneath the door as it pushes its way to the ground. It’s a function that’s there to prevent pets or children from becoming seriously injured by a closing door.
There can be many times where the alignment of the laser is off and that can cause your door to never open and close all the way because the beam is not hitting the spot on the other side of the garage that it should. Or it can be a much simpler solution – that the photo eye is simply dirty and needs to be cleaned.
Because the photo eye is located so close to the ground, and the fact that garages are usually not very clean when compared with other parts of a home, it can be very common to have an eye that gets dirty and no longer have works liked it should. You might not need Pembroke Pines garage door repair services if you can clean it correctly yourself, but if you continue to experience problems then a call would be a great idea.
If you want to clean the photo eye, use a very clean cloth and a mild cleaning agent. Using just water along might leave streaking which could be a problem. Windex or other blue glass cleaners are always the best options for these types of jobs. Because the photo eye is made of glass, don’t use anything that can be abrasive and don’t use a harsh towel or cloth. Read all the labels of the cleaning products you plan on using, and make sure they can be used on glass safely.
Cleaning the eye itself on the surface is a great idea. But the actual apparatus with its wires and other pieces can get dirty and that can affect the performance. To counteract this potential problem, take apart the housing for the photo eye and look inside. See if you notice things like excessive dirt and dust, cobwebs or maybe even dead insects. Rather than sticking your fingers in there, try blowing the gunk out with an air gun or even just blowing with your mouth. Don’t use water, as it could end up frying the electronic parts of the photo eye.
After cleaning the surface of the eye and the actual housing, your next step should be to clean your garage out. Sweep thoroughly to make sure that dirt, dust and cobwebs don’t get in the way of your photo eye. You can even use a hose to blast out the entire gunk from your garage, making it easy.
Comments