GARAGE DOOR WON’T WORK – THINGS TO CHECK BEFORE CALLING A PROFESSIONAL

The words garage door and automatic go hand in hand. No one ever thinks of manually opening and closing your garage door each time you use it – that’s what our garage door openers are for! Think for a second; when was the last time you used your garage door? Were you taking the trash can out to the curb for pick-up? Were you backing the car up and out so that you could pick up the kids from soccer practice? Maybe you arrived home after a long day at the office.

Your remote’s battery

Do you have a battery tester at home? If so, use it and check the condition of your remote’s battery. If not, there’s a free way to get it done. Simply take your battery to a local retail store like Best Buy, Target, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Ace Hardware, etc. They all offer free battery testing with no obligation to buy a new one from them. While you are at it, don’t forget to check your remote’s battery terminal. If your battery has leaked fluid onto the terminal, it may not work as effectively. Or, the terminals might have become loosened to the point that they don’t hold the battery firmly in place in which case all you need to do is firmly squeeze them together so that they become tighter.

Photo electric safety eyes

Your safety sensors can play a huge role in whether your garage door works or not. They may be misaligned or they might be blocked; either way, your garage door is not going to work correctly. It may start to come down and then suddenly go back up. It may not move at all. Your safety sensors were designed for a reason; to keep your heavy garage door from squashing you, your loved ones, pets and guests if they are somehow caught beneath it. Have you ever parked inside your garage, but not quite far enough in, and then noticed that your garage door went back up before it hit your trunk? That was your safety sensors at work!

Firstly, make sure the lenses to your sensors are clean and free of any cobwebs, dirt or leaves. Treat your sensor lenses as if it was a camera and wipe away anything that can potentially block the signal. Also, keep the area around your sensors free of items that might fall on them or cause them to be misaligned. Shovels, rakes, trash cans and other bulky items can not only block the sensor signal but they can move the safety eyes just enough so that the beam no longer connects.

Manual garage door lock

Another culprit might be your garage door manual lock. Check to make sure that yours in not engaged. If you attempt to open your garage door but are not successful and you still hear the opener motor running briefly before shutting off, your manual lock might be activated. You can identify this lock by looking at your garage door. It is the knob in the middle of the door with two horizontal bars that run from it to each side. Turning the handle until you hear a clicking sound releases the lock. By doing this, the horizontal bars move away from the edges of the garage door, thereby unlocking it. Sometimes garage door side locks are used. These portable locks slide into a hole in the vertical track and lock the garage door into place. They are often used when no one will be home (or expected to be!) for a while. It prevents anyone with access to the opener to gain entry into your garage. Sometimes, the lock is put into place and then forgotten about until it is discovered that the garage door won’t open.

Wall lock button

Some older garage door opening systems have a manual wall button that can lock the garage door and prevent it from opening. It is relatively easy to accidentally bump this lock and activate it. If you are not familiar with your garage door opener system be sure to check your owner’s manual to see if it has a lock on it. If you don’t have a manual that you can check, do an online search for one by entering the name and model of your opener into GOOGLE and adding the words “owner’s manual” to it.