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What should you do when your garage door opener stops working? People wonder if they should buy a new one. Or, should they throw their old remote in the trash? Will any opener system work once installed? Can they troubleshoot their model and if so, how? There are so many questions about opener units. It’s odd because until they stop working or perform sporadically, most people never give their openers a moment’s notice! They have them and expect them to work, every time and on demand. It’s when they don’t that the questions start coming.
Sure, our garage door openers afford us some nice convenience. In the “old” days, we had to manually open or close our garage doors. No one complained; that’s just what you did. What choice did you have? Garage door openers changed all that. We could simply tap a button and move that several hundred pound wood or metal door up and down with ease. With our remotes, we could do this from the inside of our vehicle and even inside our home!
Is it raining hard and you don’t want to get wet? Drive up to your home, push the remote button and drive into your garage where you can stay dry the whole time. Are you listening to your favorite song or to an important news story? You don’t have to interrupt it or miss part of it! Just tap your remote and glide into your garage without missing a beat!
Our garage door openers also give us added security as well as convenience. We never have to actually leave the safety of our cars in order to open or close the garage door. Think about that. Let’s say you drive up to your home and you have to physically get out of your car to open the garage door. Your car is still running and your purse or wallet is still in the vehicle. So are your registration, insurance papers and driver’s license. So are your house keys and car keys. What’s to prevent someone from driving off with your car and important documents? How easy is it to mug you or force you to go inside the house while you are vulnerable outside of the car?
Ok; so you know how vital your opener system is to your safety and convenience. So how do you go about troubleshooting your system if it doesn’t work? Try checking your remote’s battery. This often overlooked task is too often the problem. In this case all that is needed is a new remote battery! Simply take yours out and test it for power. Do you have a home battery tester? Use it. If not, take your battery to a local home improvement or retail store. They test batteries for free. You can always buy a good home tester for less than 20 dollars. Check online or in local stores. You might even be able to find a slightly used one on Craigslist or at a yard sale.
Your garage door’s photoelectric safety sensors might be the culprit if your remote’s battery checks out. If something is blocking the signal, your garage door won’t close. If the sensor beam is not aligned, your garage door won’t open or close at all. Many are sometimes fooled into thinking that their remote is at fault. Some even want to buy a whole new opener system. Make sure that your sensor beam is working correctly. Most sensors are easy to manually adjust so try moving them gently until they are correctly in place. You can view any number of videos online that show you in close up detail how this should be done. You can also check your owner’s manual that came with your garage door opener for step by step instructions. It’s easy to call a local garage door repair shop and order service but this is one adjustment that is quick, easy, and perfect for do-it-yourselfers.
If your opener remote has a working battery and firm battery terminals, the problem may be your opener system itself. Try this. Push the wall switch power button inside your garage. Do this to see if the garage door opens this way. If not, unplug the opener system from the electrical outlet in the garage ceiling. What you want to do is plug something else into that outlet and see if you have power. You might try a hair dryer, small radio or power drill. If it works, your power source is not compromised and the problem is most likely your opener’s motor. If your small appliance test fails you might have a loss of electricity or a blown fuse. You should find your fuse box and look for a tripped or blown fuse and reset it.
Not all garage door openers have this feature but if yours does, check to see if your vacation lock is activated. These locks prevent any remote from opening your garage door when activated. It was designed to protect property while the owner was away on a trip or vacation. If someone got access to the remote control (like a house guest, neighbor, or burglar) the garage door would remain locked until the vacation lock was released upon the owner’s return. Your system may or may not have this feature. To check, refer to you owner’s manual or call the manufacturer of your opener system. You can also on online and search for a PDF of your brand and model to see if this feature is included.
If you are still unable to troubleshoot your garage door opener, don’t be afraid to call for help. You can always contact a garage door company for help with your garage door opener.
