08.26.2022
Three Common Garage Door Issues
The average residential garage door opens and closes about 1,500 times every year. That’s a lot of ups and downs. Here are three common problems homeowners can experience and how to trouble shoot them.
Keypad Doesn’t Work
First things first, check to see if the batteries are dead. Replace the batteries and try to enter your keypad number again to see if that fixes the problem.
Your keypad may need to be reprogrammed. Check your manual for how to do this on your particular keypad. Try looking for the model online if you don’t have the original manual.
If all of this fails, it might be that the antenna is faulty, not the keypad. The antenna on the motor receives the keypad’s signal. Verify that it is pointing straight downward. If you still can’t get the keypad to work, give us a call and we’ll be right over.
Motor Runs But Door is Not Moving
What if you press the button to open the door and the motor starts running, but your door is not moving? It could be that the time limits are off. In this case, the door will move, but the motor will keep running after the door stops moving. The time limit settings help the motor figure out how far the door should move to be closed properly. If the settings are off then the door may close properly but the motor believes that isn’t the ground and the door has hit something such as an object.
If the door doesn’t move at all, it could mean the garage door is disconnected from the belt itself. Depending on the installation system you have, you’ll follow specific directions to reattach the belt. This often happens when someone unintentionally pulls the emergency release cord.
Garage Door Doesn’t Open or Close
If your garage door seems unresponsive to whatever signal you send to it, it could be due to multiple reasons. First of all, check the remote and keypad batteries to rule them out as the source of the problem. If batteries are working fine, check the garage door opener unit to see if all lights are on and working. Otherwise, the motor could be disconnected from the power supply, or a fuse is down.
Try to attend to these problems individually to start ruling out the cause of the problem. If none of this works, contact us to diagnose the problem.
Many problems can be prevented with annual garage door maintenance. The exact solutions you use to fix the issues can help prevent them from happening in the first place:
-Brush and lubricate the rollers and tracks at least every change of season to slow down wear and tear and prevent dirt buildup.
-Tighten the hardware to prevent loose pieces from causing noises and other problems.
-Check the springs and pulleys to make sure they’re in shape. These should be replaced from time to time by professionals.
If none of these solutions fix your garage door problems, or you would rather have someone else deal with it, give us a call and we’d be happy to help.