There is photocell at the bottom of your garage door to protect your grandchildren from being hit by a closing garage door. Whenever you actuate the garage door opener to close your garage door, a small light mounted on the track about four inches from the floor turns on and shines across the door opening toward a photocell mounted on the track on the opposite side at the same height. If something blocks the light from hitting the photocell, the door opener immediately stops. This would prevent the closing door from hitting a child if he were standing in the light path.
Garages tend to attract spiders that build webs to trap bugs, leaves, and other debris. These insects and debris can block the light from reaching the photocell as effectively as a child for which the safety device was designed to protect. When that happens you will not be able to close the garage door. To prevent this you should clean the area around both the light and the photocell. You should also check and clear these areas about once a month.
Any misalignment of either the light or the photocell caused by a bump from a trashcan or a lawnmower can also cause the door not to close. If this is your problem, you can fix it by adjusting either the light or the photocell where it is clipped on the track so that the light is lined up to shine on the photocell.
Question: We have an 11-year-old Brookfield. What brand and model smoke alarms do we purchase to replace our 5 smoke detectors? They are now BRK electronics model 4120B.
Answer: You should replace your old smoke alarms with First Alert BRK 9120B Hardwired Smoke Alarm with Battery Backup.
Smoke alarms have a useful life of ten years. If yours are older than ten years, there is a chance they will not alert you if your house should catch on fire.
If your old smoke alarms are Firex model ADC, as most of the original Del Webb homes were, you can replace them with Firex model i12060. Please attend to this important maintenance item. We do not want to read in the paper how a house in Sun City burned and the residents were not alerted because the twelve-year-old smoke alarms were not working.
If you have suggestions for future tips or have questions about maintenance around your home submit them to ask.the.woodchucks@gmail.com.
