Ever had the unfortunate occasion of your garage door opener failing? These devices may be sturdy, but they can malfunction at the most inconvenient times. The best recourse is to call a garage door service to fix any minor or major glitch. But it also pays to know what kinds of problems your garage door opener could encounter. If you can narrow down the problem, you can provide more helpful info to your garage door repair technician.
If you’re using an old opener, garage door repair professionals may recommend a newer model with more features. But if you want to first learn about the issues affecting your current garage door opener’s operation, here are some of the most common ones:
Your remote control and wall switch won’t operate the opener
When the garage door doesn’t move at all when you press its remote or wall switch, one reason might be that there’s a sudden power disruption to your motor unit. Any number of things can cause a disturbance – a damaged cord that shorts a wire, an electrical glitch of some sort, circuit breaker failure, outlet damage, and more. Finally, it may just be that your garage door opener has burned out and can’t be operated anymore. With all these possible scenarios, the best thing to do is call a garage door opener repair. Unless you are very experienced with electrical maintenance, we advise that you do not attempt to fix these types of problems on your own. Call your local garage door repair company when this happens.
Your opener only responds to either the remote or the wall switch
While this is a notch better than the abovementioned issue, it’s also a problem because you can only rely on one controller to operate your garage doors. If the opener can only be turned on using the wall switch, check first if your remote has working batteries. If that’s out of the way, try using the remote nearer – you could be out of range when you’re using it. New garage doors are like radios, which means they need a strong signal to work properly. Once you’ve done all these and the remote still isn’t working, then it may need a reset by a garage door repair technician.
As for your wall switch, any malfunction could be a result of electrical interruptions. And again, the problem might lie in the antenna. The control can send the proper signal, but the opener won’t move if the signal isn’t received. It’s best to contact a garage door opener repair company for this concern.
The garage door won’t close all the way
There are a number of reasons that can affect how your garage door closes down the path. These include:
- The photo-eye sensors need adjustment
Located on both sides of the bottom part of the garage door tracks are photo eye sensors, mechanisms that prevent the heavy garage doors from crashing down on objects or people. These are reliable sensors, but their performance could be affected if something is blocking the line of sight. Also, if the brackets holding these eye sensors become misaligned, the door will not close down all the way but instead will stop and reverse movement. Check if there are dry leaves, dirt, or other debris blocking the sensors’ path. Removing these might address the problem. But if the brackets are loose, you’ll need a garage door technician to adjust the part.
- Damaged rollers affect how the door binds in the tracks
Worn-out or damaged rollers can cause the entire garage door to bind in the tracks. This results in an unbalanced movement on each side of the wheels, contributing to an error in the door’s closing motion. Inspect the rollers; they may need lubrication to improve the condition. If the tracks are the problem, check with your local garage door repair team to get the part fixed right away.
- The close-limit switch is malfunctioning
Modern garage doors have a close-limit switch technology that signals the motor when to stop running. Sometimes, this could be wrongly set, resulting in the door not closing at the right moment. Incorrect settings can also cause the garage door to halt the closing and reverse movement. Adjusting the close-limit switch will stop the garage door from behaving erratically. Professional garage door service can handle these type of problems.
Get your garage door opener problems fixed
These are among the most common garage door opener problems homeowners experience. We recommend that you contact a professional garage door repair team with experience handling these matters. Apart from saving you time, you can be sure that they have the right tools and knowledge to get your garage door running smoothly again. Here at Alpine Garage Door Repair, we offer garage door opener repair solutions. We cater to both residential and commercial property owners. Get in touch with us today to learn more!