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Determining Why You’re Garage Door Won’t Open
Below are some of the most common garage door problems and reasons why your garage door will not open:
Transmitter
The transmitter or remote on the wall could be your problem. If it needs a new battery, it will not allow you to open your door. The problem may start off gradual until you can no longer open the door. When you need a new transmitter battery, you’ll need to replace it in order for it to communicate with the handheld transmitter or remote, in your car. When you discover this to be the problem, don’t just change one set of batteries, change both the wall units and the handheld remote. It is likely that they were all installed at the same time and will need replacing at the same time. This is definitely something that you can do on your own without the assistance of a garage door technician.
Debris on Sensors
There are sensors inside your garage, on both sides of your garage. They face each other and communicate with each other. If the sensors or photo eyes have debris in front of them or anything is blocking them, it will prevent your garage door from closing. This is something that happens a lot. Perhaps someone was taking out the trash and they placed a small trash bin too close to the sensor and it is now blocking part of the sensor. The trash bin needs be removed in order for the door to close. If your safety cord is blocking the sensor or anything else, it will prevent the door from closing. This is actually there to protect you from harm. The only thing you’ll need to do, if there is nothing blocking the sensor, is to clean it. You can take a light weight cloth and a mild detergent and gently wipe the lenses. You may not be able to see the dirt or debris but it doesn’t mean that it isn’t there. Don’t wipe too hard or you might really have a problem on your hands. You want to avoid scratching the lens.
Unaligned Tracks
This can very easily occur considering how often you roll over your tracks and how hard the door is. The metal track takes a beating. If you are inspecting your tracks to determine if they are the problem, you will have to look under your tracks to see if there are any gaps between the rails. If there are then you’re tracks are probably unaligned. Continuing to try to use your garage when this is the problem will make the problem worse and more costly for you in the end. Also listen out for a rubbing sound. If you notice a sound whenever the door gets to a specific point, the track is misaligned. You can gently tap on it with a rubber mallet to see if you can reposition it. Use a level to make sure it is straight. If you’re still unsure as to whether you have been able to effectively align the track, call us and we’ll handle it for you.
Transmitter Out of Range
Your door will not be able to open if the transmitter or remote is out of range. When you are around the corner and you are trying to open your garage but it won’t open, this could be the problem. Not every car remote will give you a wide range signal. In some cases, you’ll need to be directly in front of your garage to open it. The transmitter needs to communicate with your wall transmitter in order to work. Also, if your antenna is damaged, it can cause a problem with your transmitter properly communicating. If you your antenna aren’t damaged and you’re directly in front of the garage and it still doesn’t open, you may require the services of a garage door professional.
These are the many reasons that your garage door will not open. You don’t have to call us to troubleshoot this, as you can see it is quite easy for you to do on your own. However, if you have performed all of the suggested fixes above and you’re still experiencing a problem, please feel free to call us to assist you.