More Reasons Why Your Garage Door Isn't Working
Today, Boulder Garage Door gives you more reasons why your garage door isn’t working. Perhaps you checked out the last blog that offered common reasons why your garage door isn’t working, but none of the suggestions turned out to be what was wrong with your door. Maybe you will find the answer in today’s list of more reasons why your garage door isn’t working.
- The springs are broken
Garage doors are incredibly heavy. If you’ve ever tried to lift one manually, you know this to be true. The mechanism that is powerful enough to lift all that weight are those heavy duty springs you see. There may be 1 or 2 depending on the type of system that you have. Those springs only last for a certain number of cycles and then they can all of a sudden just snap.
If you happen to be home at the moment a spring snaps you will hear a loud noise, similar to a firecracker going off inside your garage. If you are not home, you will notice that the garage door suddenly stops working, yet the transmitter seems to be working just fine. On a 2 spring door, if only one spring breaks, the door may try to work but will probably fail.
Messing with the springs is a tricky business and can be downright dangerous if you don’t know what you are doing. If you can see or suspect that one or both of the springs are broken, call in a professional and please don’t try to open the door on your own.
- The limit settings are incorrect
The garage door has limit settings that tell the system how far the door needs to go down. If the setting is incorrect, the door can touch the ground before the system thinks it is supposed to. This will result in an automatic reversal, the safety feature that causes the door to go back up when it touches an object, to not crush anybody or anything under the heavy garage door.
So if your door is going down and then going right back up the limit setting may be the issue. This is also the case if the door goes down and doesn’t close all the way. The limit setting is too low, and the system thinks the door is closed, even though it hasn’t reached the ground. Using the owner’s manual for your garage door opener, you may be able to reprogram the limit settings on your own. If you don’t have any luck, it’s time to call in a professional technician.
- The disconnect switch is enabled
Every garage door comes with a disconnect switch so that you can disconnect the door from the motor in order to operate the door manually. This is useful in power outages otherwise your garage door would have to remain in whatever position when the power went out.
If you try to open the door and hear the motor working for what seems to be the right amount of time to open the door, but the door doesn’t budge, the disconnect switch may be the problem. There is usually a string hanging from the disconnect switch that you can use to engage or disengage the switch. If there is no string, or if it still too high, you’ll need a stepladder to engage the switch on your garage door opener.
- The door is locked manually
What if the motor comes on and the door doesn’t move, but the motor only runs a few seconds, not what would be the full cycle? If you’ve checked the tracks and the door springs and they are not blocked, it may be that the door accidentally got locked manually.
Some garage doors come with this as an extra security feature. Check the middle of your door for a knob or handle with a bar extending out to each side. It is common to bump the handle when maneuvering large objects out of your trunk etc. and unintentionally lock the door. If the bars are touching the sides, that’s an indication the door is locked. Turn the handle until you hear a click and the bars retract a bit. Now you should be able to open the door.
- The tension springs or cables are broken
We’ve already mentioned the symptoms that are present when the torsion springs for opening the door have broken. There is another set of springs, called tension springs, that come into play when closing the door along with the door cables. The purpose is to ensure that the door lowers slowly and safely.
If your door closes especially fast or finishes its descent with a loud bang, it could be that one or more of these springs or cables has broken. This is a serious issue and can be very dangerous as there is nothing to stop the door from slamming down onto a person or object in the way.
If the springs have broken, the cables are very likely to snap, as they are not made to handle the entire weight of the door. If one of those cables snaps, it could cause serious injury to a person standing nearby or significant damage to an object. We suggest not parking your car in the garage while the door is in this state and calling for garage door repair immediately. We also recommend not continuing to use the door until it is repaired to avoid any mishaps.
If you’ve gone through this list of more reasons why your garage door isn’t working, and still haven’t found the cause of your garage door problems (or can’t fix it on your own), it’s time to give us a call. Here at Boulder Garage Door, we have more than 40 years of experience installing and repairing garage doors. Our staff is friendly and knowledgeable, and we can help you get your door moving again as quickly as possible. We know the importance of a functioning garage door and can provide you with peace of mind.
