“How come my garage door won’t open.” Many will have asked this question when living in their dream homes. However, it can be frustrating as a garage door is usually one of the ways you gain entry into your home.
When this happens, it is tempting to try and DIY your garage door repair, but you should remember that are 30,000 injuries associated with garage door accidents annually. So what do you do about a broken garage door? If you’re wondering why the garage door won’t open or close, look at the troubleshooting tips below to help your situation.
The Photo-Eye Has Gotten Blocked
The photo-eye is the garage’s safety sensor determining whether a person or object is blocking the door’s potential movement up and down. A technician can see something wrong with the photo-eye when light flashes are coming from it or clicking noises you can hear.
Most of the time, the photo-eye may be dirty or dusty and need cleaning. Other times the red and green LED lights may be misaligned or flickering. The lights can then get readjusted or moved to see if the problem gets resolved that way.
The Opener’s Force Needs to Get Adjusted
Often when your opener is more than a few years old, there was a specific level of force that the opener was programmed to run on so the garage door could get lifted. The more time passes, the more force is needed to compensate for damage to door tracks or rollers. In addition, depending on your opener is brand, there is a nut that can get turned via a wench.
This will increase the pulling power and force necessary to open your garage door.
See Whether the Trolley is Connected
Trollies are often used as part of a garage door system to smoothly open the door along a drive attached to the ceiling.
Depending on whether you have a belt or chain garage door opener, the pull cord or switch that disengages the system could affect how well it runs most of the time.
If you find the trolley disconnected, ensure the pull cord hasn’t gotten used beforehand.
Yet if it turns out to have gotten activated, the owner’s manual or a discussion with your technician are the next best steps to figuring out how to reconnect them.
The Remote Control Isn’t Working
If your garage door can operate automatically with a remote, it may not be a simple battery issue causing it to not open when you click a button.
There could be a chance that the antenna that usually receives your remote control’s signal might be damaged or blocked.
Therefore, the garage door technician should check whether the antenna is visible or hanging over the motor when looking it over.
They should also see what the door control wiring is doing, especially if the wall-mounted panel is working right but the issue isn’t fixed.
They can reconnect the machine and reprogram your remote.
The Garage Door is Locked in Position
If nothing else appears suspicious about why the garage door will not open, it can be considered that the garage door may have accidentally gotten locked manually.
You can tell this may be the cause when the motor works right, but it shuts off before the door can move. So the door may have been manually locked while other tasks were being done to the garage door or near it.
A manual lock will look like it has a handle with horizontal bars.
Turn it until you hear a snapping noise. From there, your door will work with no further issues.
The Sensitivity is Adjusted Wrong
This particular issue happens all the time on newly installed doors. This is where a garage door won’t open if the sensitivity is set at the wrong level. If this isn’t resolved, the opener will either think a door is too light for any force requirements or too heavy for the opener’s weight allowance.
A garage door repairman will need a close look and determine the right amount of force necessary to suit the doors.
The Cables Have Snapped
Like when you sometimes ride a bike, the cables maneuvering your garage door can pop off or completely snap. This has led to many home and vehicle damages in the past. It can be scary to witness firsthand, but it can cause serious harm to you should you be in the way.
This is a precarious situation that needs a professional’s help. Given the number of times a garage door opens and shuts throughout the year, they must help prevent this from occurring and get the cable replaced as soon as necessary.
If Your Garage Door Doesn’t Open, Get It Troubleshot Now
When a garage door doesn’t open, it can be difficult to see a solution when figuring it out yourself. If any of the above issues happen, you should call a professional from companies like Gateway Door & Contracting in St. Louis to see which issue is causing the jammed garage door.
Our technicians can take a look at what is causing the issue. They will solve it according to what brand the installed system is.
Estimate how much fixing your broken garage door would cost today.
