Garage door openers are great when they work right. They can lift doors that would otherwise be too heavy, keep you from having to get out of your car in the rain, and generally make life easier. When they stop working though, figuring out what's wrong can be mystifying. Here are some common causes of door opener failure for you to consider.
Dead Batteries
Like your TV remote, your in-car garage door opener control (aka the "transmitter") needs batteries in order to work. When the batteries go dead, the opener mechanism won’t get the signal to open. To test whether the batteries are dead, try to open the door using your hardwired in-garage transmitter that's on the wall. If the door opens from that controller, replace the mobile transmitter's batteries.
Faulty Transmitters
If changing the batteries doesn't work, there could be a defect in the transmitter. You’ll need to buy a replacement, which can easily be found online.
The Photo Eyes are Dirty
Photo eyes stop your garage door from closing when an obstacle is detected. When they are dirty, they "see" the dirt as an obstacle, and stop the door from going down. Misalignment can also cause them to falsely detect obstacles.
The Garage Door Itself is Immobilized
In order to move, a garage door has to have tracks that are free of dents, bends, and substantial amounts of dirt. When the tracks are damaged, the door's rollers can't get through. The result is an immobile door.
Broken or overly-stretched springs can also immobilize a door. Since garage door openers aren't made to handle the weight without the assistance of the springs, they can't lift the door without them.
Someone Forgot to Re-Engage the Door Opener After Disconnection
Most garage door openers have a disconnect switch to allow for manual operation in case of power failure. Unfortunately, this switch can sometimes be hit by accident. It's also easy to forget to re-engage the door opener once the power returns after an outage.
While each of these problems seems simple enough to detect, finding out which issue you’re dealing with can be like reaching around in the dark. The best way to avoid the frustration of blind, process-of-elimination diagnostics is to hire a professional technician. Pros can tell which problems are the most likely just by the way the door is acting, and have the specific issue pinned down within minutes.
If you're located near the Chanhassen, Minnesota area, call us here at Door Power. We'll not only find your garage door opener problem, we'll fix it for you at a fair price!