The monthly test most people run is the wrong one. Waving a hand through the photo eyes checks the sensors, and that is one of four checks. A proper monthly test covers contact reversal, the photo eyes, the balance of the door, and the manual release, in that order, and it takes about five minutes with a scrap of timber.
Why this test exists
The Consumer Product Safety Commission tells homeowners to test the reversing feature every month, following the opener manufacturer's instructions. The reason is on the public record. Federal rules under 16 CFR Part 1211, which came out of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 1990, were written after the Commission had reports of 54 children aged 2 to 14 who died after becoming trapped under automatic garage doors since 1982.
Those rules set two milestones. Openers made on or after 1 January 1991 have to meet UL 325 entrapment protection. Openers made on or after 1 January 1993 have to add secondary protection: either an external device such as photo eyes or a door edge sensor, or a constant-contact wall button that reverses the door the moment it is released. Under that second option a remote cannot close the door. The current UL 325 edition took effect 13 May 2024.
Test 1: contact reversal, with timber not with your hand
Lay a flat piece of two-by-four on the slab, on its side, under the center of the door. Use the wall button, not the remote, and stand clear. When the bottom of the door meets the timber it must reverse and return to full open. A door that stops without reversing has failed. One that keeps pushing has failed badly and should not be used until it is fixed.
Use timber rather than a roll of kitchen paper or your foot. A solid object tells you the force setting is right, not just that the motor eventually notices something.
Test 2: the photo eyes, one at a time
Start the door closing and pass a broom handle through the beam about six inches above the slab. The door must stop and travel back up. Then check both brackets are square, both lenses are clean, and both LEDs behave the way the manual says. Cover one sensor by hand and confirm the door will not start down at all.
Failures here are usually dull: a bin against a bracket, dust on a lens, a bracket knocked by a bumper, or a nicked low-voltage wire. Low winter sun into a receiver on a west-facing opening is the one that looks like a fault and is not. Safety sensor repair and alignment is an estimated $95 to $195.
Test 3: balance, with the opener disconnected
Close the door, unplug the opener, and pull the emergency release. Lift the door by hand. It should take about ten pounds of effort, move smoothly, and hold itself near chest height without creeping either way. A door that slams down or runs up on its own has a counterbalance fault, and no force setting compensates for that safely. This is also the test that stops you buying an opener you did not need, because a motor straining against an unbalanced door looks exactly like a failing motor.
Look while you are there. Check both lift cables from the bottom bracket to the drum for broken strands, and check the shaft above the opening for a gap in a spring coil. Look only. Springs, cables, drums and bottom brackets hold the stored energy of the whole door and they are professional work.
Test 4: the manual release, and who knows about it
Pull the release with the door closed, open the door by hand, close it, and reconnect. Then make sure every adult in the house has done it once. February 2021 is the local case for this: DFW stayed at or below freezing for 139 consecutive hours and hit minus 2°F on the 16th, with power out for long stretches. A door you cannot open by hand during that is a car you cannot move.
Why the local codes back this up
Richardson adopted the 2021 International Codes and the 2020 National Electrical Code on 24 April 2023, and its residential amendments do not touch garages or garage doors. That leaves IRC Section R309.4 in force here: an automatic opener, where provided, has to be listed and labeled to UL 325 and installed to the manufacturer's instructions. A repair that leaves a safety function bypassed is not compliant work in this city. Any contractor working here also has to be registered with the City of Richardson Building Inspection Department before a permit is issued, and the register is public on 972-744-4180.
Put the test on the first Saturday of the month and keep the timber in the garage where you can see it. A tune-up covering all four checks plus hardware and cable inspection is an estimated $89 to $165 per door, and a failed reversal test is one of the few faults worth calling about the same day rather than waiting.