It’s a no-brainer when you’re garage door opener isn’t working properly—you push the button and nothing happens. You may be able to diagnose the problems on your own by paying attention to the clues your garage door may be giving you. Use the following tips for diagnosing your garage door opener troubles and you might just save the day all on your own.
Troubleshooting Checklist:
- Check the Safety Sensors: Garage door's safety sensors are designed to prevent the garage door from opening and closing when an object is in the path of the sensor beam, preventing a potentially dangerous event—check to see if the beam is blocked. Garage door sensors may also be dirty and need to be wiped free from dust. They may also be out of alignment which might need to be repaired by a garage door professional.
- Check All Operators: It might sound simple enough, but many times, the battery may be dead in your car remote and the garage door can be activated from the wall unit. If your car remote light flashes in a strange way when activated, it may be displaying a diagnostic code that can be deciphered from the instructions found in the user manual.
- Check the Batteries: While changing the car remote batteries are easy enough, in some cases; you may find that your car remote is working just fine, but the wall unit has stopped functioning. Check the source of power for the wall garage door opener unit—it may be battery-powered as well.
- Check Fuses- A garage door opener is powered by your home's electrical source. It may simply be an electrical breaker that tripped and needs to be reset. To reset a tripped breaker, open your panel box and look for a breaker switch in the half off/half on position—it will be out of alignment from the other switches and easy to spot. Flip it to the off position followed by the on to reactivate the breaker. If it trips again, call a garage door repair professional right away.
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Opener System or Garage Door Hardware?
If all else fails, you may have something wrong with your garage door hardware or the opener system itself—with some garage door opener problems; it might even be both. It’s always a good idea to call a professional garage door expert to diagnose the system.
According to Jim Norman of Overhead Door Company of Central Jersey “Oftentimes, the opener system may be blamed for the problems. In reality, the garage door hardware is the root of the problem. Yet, if either system has a flaw, neither the door hardware nor the opener system can work in unison which results in a total system failure.”
Professional garage door mechanics have the experience to see which part of a system is working and which part is not—and if they are working together in unison. Remember, if all else fails, you can pull the emergency release handle hanging from the overhead unit to open and close the door manually. This will allow you to test the spring and rail systems of the garage door hardware.
As you lift the door, stop halfway and check to see if the door stays open on its own. If it won’t stay where you leave it, you more than likely have a problem with worn or damaged springs and it’s time to call in the professionals to make the repair. However, if the door stays open by itself, then there is likely trouble with your garage door opener system which may need to be repaired or replaced by a professional garage door installer.
Our expert technicians are waiting for your call to help you fix any issues you may have regarding problems with cold weather or planning scheduled maintenance to your garage doors.
We have experts to help you find the best option for fixing garage door problems from cold weather. Help is just a phone call away. Call 908-731-7678 or email us at resi@overheaddoorco.com
We have been serving the Central Jersey area (NJ) for 50+ years!
