Garage Door Opener Troubleshooting
Common Winter Weather Garage Door Opening
Problems
By: Mark J. Donovan
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It’s during the winter months that I
most commonly experience garage door opener problems, and find myself performing
garage door opener troubleshooting and making garage door repairs. Without fail,
it always seems to be the coldest day of the year when the garage door opens
only partially, and I find myself outside troubleshooting the garage door opener
and the garage door itself.
Over the years I’ve come up with a pretty standard garage door opener
troubleshooting routine.
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The first thing I look at is the
garage door opener itself. I make sure the garage door opener is plugged in and
that it is attempting to at least work. I also make sure that the chain is not
sagging or broken in any way.
I then make sure the garage door opener sensor lenses are clean and that the
sensors themselves haven’t been knocked out of alignment. Often snow and deicing
salt spray find their way onto the surfaces of the sensor lenses and create a
film that prevents the sensors from working properly.
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I also find that during the winter
months, due to snow shoveling or snow-blowing the sensors are frequently knocked
out of alignment. A simple wipe with a cloth and a realignment of the sensors is
typically all that is required to fix these types of garage door opening
problems. Though once I did find that the wire to one of the garage door opener
sensors had been ripped right off, courtesy of a boot I am sure.
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The next step in my garage door
opener troubleshooting process is to inspect the garage door springs to make
sure they haven’t been damaged or are broken in any way. Fortunately, I’ve yet
to find this as the source of my garage door opening problems. When it comes to
fixing garage door springs it’s usually best to leave it to the pros. Garage
door springs are under a lot of tension and if they accidentally let loose you
could lose your head.
Working my way down my garage door opener troubleshooting checklist I move on to
the garage door tracks and rollers.
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This is often the root of my garage
door opening problems. Often there is either insufficient grease in them or the
grease has dried out and become ineffective. As part of my normal garage door
opener troubleshooting routine I typically end up greasing the tracks and
rollers just to eliminate them as a possible problem.
While inspecting the garage door tracks I also look carefully at the assembly
bolts that hold the sections of the garage door track together.
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Photos by Mark Donovan |
In some cases I have found that the
bolts and nuts become loose. This may be related to the extremely cold weather.
Even the smallest amount of play or looseness in these bolts can impede the
movement of the garage door, or at least cause sufficient pressure on the garage
door opener to cause it to stop or retract backwards.
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Finally, in cases where the garage
door opener problems are intermittent I take into consideration the angle of the
sun. During winter months the sun is much lower on the horizon. In a few cases I
have found that when the sun shines directly onto the sensor lens it affects the
performance of the garage door opener. In this situation, there is little to no
garage door repair necessary. The only possible solution for this type of problem is to temporarily duct tape
some type of shield over the top of the sensor to block the sunlight from
shining into the lens. |
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With this basic garage door opener troubleshooting checklist I have yet to not
find the source of my winter garage door opener problems and resolve them
quickly. Good luck with your garage door opener troubleshooting!
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