There’s never a good time for a garage door to stop working!
After all, we only operate them when we are doing something. It may be as
simple as opening the door to move the garbage can to the curb for pickup. Or
maybe you’ve just come home after a long day at work and really want to relax
and unwind. We depend on our garage doors to work safely and on-demand. These
garage doors can be at home or at a business location; the bottom line is that
they need to be dependable at all times. When they are not, we know to rely on professional garage door
service technicians to help us out. Surprisingly, there are a few smart
things we can do ahead of time that may even fix the problem! San Pedro Garage
Door Repair offers these easy and simple tips that might just save you an
unneeded service call and a few dollars!
Remote battery
Callers to our shop panic when the garage door doesn’t work!
This happens here in San Pedro, CA and everywhere else that garage doors are
installed. Often, something as simple as a remote battery can be the cause.
These batteries wear out with use. If they run low the signal to the opener
unit is weak or non-existent and the garage door will not move as expected. How
can you tell if the problem is a low battery? Test it. If you have a battery tester
at home; great! Use it and see for yourself. If not, simply take your remote
battery to your local Wal-Mart, Target, Lowes, Home Depot or Best Buy store and
they will be happy to test it for you – no charge.
While you are checking on your remote’s battery, be sure to
check the terminals inside the remote that hold that battery in place. If they
are loose, tighten them by gently squeezing them together with your fingers
until they hold the battery securely in place. We’ve all dropped remotes on the
ground or have accidentally sat on them if they are not attached to the visor.
Sometimes, these actions can loosen the terminals, as can changing batteries
over time.
Check your sensors
By sensors we mean your photoelectric safety eyes. If these
aren’t working right, your remote control won’t work either. In fact, neither
will your outside wireless keypad. Your sensors are designed with safety in
mind. The two sensors beam lights to each other indicating that it’s safe to
open or close the garage door. It’s these sensors that stop the garage door
from moving if something (or someone) gets underneath it or in the way of the
beams. Have you ever not parked far enough into the garage and the garage door
starts to descend but goes back up before it hits your trunk? Your safety eyes
did that! If the sensors are not aligned, they beams don’t connect and the garage
door won’t move. Make sure that your sensors are clear from dirt, spider
webs and other debris. Remove cobwebs gently with a stick and clean your sensor
lenses with a dry, soft cloth. Look for any cut or frayed wires and be sure to
keep items that may block the signal or bump into the sensors far enough away
so that they don’t interfere with the garage door’s movement. Items like these
include rakes, garden tools, trash cans, dog food bags, bicycles, skateboards
or anything else that is stored or kept in your garage. Being in San Pedro, CA
we tend to collect lots of outdoor activity items like lawn movers, ATVs,
sports equipment, fertilizer and other items that can crowd too close to your
sensors and block the beam or even bump the sensors so that they no longer work
right.
Manual lock
If your garage door has a manual lock, check to make sure
that it is not engaged. These are mainly found on older garage doors and are
easy to spot. If you try and open your garage door and you hear the opener
motor run briefly and then shut off, it may be that your manual lock is
engaged. This lock looks like a knob in the middle of the garage door with two
bars that run horizontally from each side. To unlock your garage door turn that
handle until you hear a clicking sound. This moves the horizontal bars away
from the edges of the garage door so that it can now open.
Your garage door may have a manual side lock that you
secured and forgot, or that someone else locked, and didn’t tell you about.
These locks slide into a hole in the vertical track and keep the garage door
from opening. Often they are used when people go away for a few days for
vacation or on a road trip, and are meant to keep your garage door from opening
by anyone having one of your remotes.
Check your lock
button
Article Source: Garage door won’t work; things to check before calling a professional.
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