When Your Automatic Garage Door Won’t Open

While garage doors are generally one of the more reliable devices in a home, they can certainly try a homeowner's patience when they fail to function properly – especially in a driving rainstorm. If yours stops working reliably, here is a quick rundown on what to check:

Replace the Batteries in the Remote.  A small oversight but one that happens often in small electronic devices is to forget to change the batteries on a regular basis. It is more of a nuisance than a problem with the remote control for the garage. Just keep a few extra batteries in the fridge and you can solve your garage door “problem” in less than five minutes.

Reset the Fuse Box.  Most garage doors are not directly wired so the unit's electrical plug will often become loose due to the constant shaking of the door. This in turn can cause the circuit breaker to “trip.” Take quick look inside the fuse box, locate any problem and then flip the tripped switch back to the correct position to immediately solve your problem.

Examine the Release Line.  The release line of a garage door is intended to allow the homeowner to open the door in case of power loss or to safely work on the unit. Unfortunately, it is also an “attractive nuisance” for children. By simply grabbing the line and pulling it down, your teenager can disconnect the door from the opening mechanism. To fix – simply push up the little catch at the top of the line and run the unit through one cycle.

Clean the Electric Eye.  With all the activity that goes on in a garage, there is inevitably a mass of debris or other items that tend to accumulate around the bottom of the garage door near its electric eye. In addition, the eye can often be knocked out of position by a wayward bike tire, thrown basketball or some other activity. In every case, it is simply a matter of unblocking the eye and making sure that it is communicating with its partner to resolve the issue.

Look for Broken Wires.  Similarly, the intense activity that occurs in most garages can easily cut or dislodge the many small wires that are required to properly activate and power a modern automatic garage door. Without a doubt, it is difficult for the average homeowner to know what to look for. In many cases, this is a job for an experienced garage door technician.

Inspect the Springs.  Every garage door uses a spring of one kind or another to counterbalance the weight of the door. Some are located along the top of the door while others travel from the door along the outside of the door track. In either case, these items eventually fail and motor is simply unable to open the door. Repairing this problem is tricky and can be quite dangerous. If you do not know exactly what you are doing, please follow the next suggestion.

Call A Professional.  Unfortunately, garage doors do fail after years of use. When this happens, a homeowner has no choice but to call a professional and have the unit replaced. The cost is relatively insignificant when one considers the security and the convenience that an automatic garage door provides.