WHAT ARE THE MOST COMMON REASONS?
If your garage door is not opening and you have an automatic door opener, then you might have experienced this situation: You are in the car, either outside or inside, you push the garage door opener button repeatedly like a normal day, but nothing happens. The feeling is a little stressful at first, BUT! It is not the end of the world, and of course at the end of the day is only a small problem in the grand scheme of things. But still, what happened? We are usually never prepared for these kind of moments when your technology decides to turn on us.
So what do you do now you ask? If your garage door is not opening or closing automatically, the good news is that the problem at hand is most likely for a good reason. We will go over the most common reasons for this occurrence with you and help you get to the bottom of this problem! :-)
The electric eye not working properly could be the reason your garage door will not open. One of the more common reasons that your garage door is not opening on its own is because of the electric eyes. The eyes are located on both sides of the door, just a couple inches above the floor. The 2 eyes send a small beam to one another, making an invisible line that keeps automatically reverses the opening of the garage door if it is interrupted. You can try to clean both of the eyes using a tissue or soft cloth. If that does not do the trick then perhaps you can check if the eyes are not aligned properly. Meaning that the line connecting the doors is constantly signalling itself as "interrupted" and that is keeping the door from opening and closing on its own properly. You will not be able to see them beams, but you can see that each of the eyes are mounted on a little piece of metal which can become bent. That could be what is causing the issue at hand, something has bent the metal and the beam are no longer lining up with each other. You can try taking the box between your fingers and bend it in small amounts and keep trying with your remote to see if that fixes the issue.
The track has become bent of misaligned, could be another reason your garage door will not open. Another common problem with garage doors not opening properly is because the metal track has become bent or misaligned. If you are using a door that is too heavy for your opener, this can cause bends in the tracks or sections between the rollers and the tracks themselves. . Generally if there is damage to your track, it is probably on the part of the tracks that go straight up to the attachment of the wall on the doors opening. Even if the weight of the door is not the problem, you would be surprised with how little effort it takes to damage the tracks – accidentally bumping them with your car or with any other equipment as you go in and out of your garage could do the trick, leaving you with a door that won’t operate properly. If you are handy you can fix this issue yourself if the damage isn't too bad. But remember you will need to replace parts.
The simplest fix would to be to check if the batteries in your garage door opener are dead. Try replacing your batteries, usually the type of remote you have will determine the battery type that you will need. Your best bet would to be checking your garage door opener manual. If you don't happen to have that on hand, you will probably be able to figure that out since most remotes are similar. Most remotes take a coin-cell battery (also known as a button cell battery, most often a 3-volt 2032 lithium coin-cell battery). If this does not seem to be what is needed for your remote, you can also try using a simple AA or AAA. You can also find batteries for most garage door remotes under common household names such as; Energizer, Maxell and ACDelco. If changing the batteries is not solving the issue, then your remote may be malfunctioning and may need to be replaced. If you happen to be outside your garage you can try manually opening the garage by pressing the opener button on the outside and to see if that fixes the problem. Regardless of weather the batteries are dead or faulty you should try to remember to replace the batteries more frequently to avoid this problem in the future.
Your opener could be in the wrong "mode" some garage doors have a "vacation" or "lock" mode that prevent the garage door from opening. Try making sure that neither of these modes are activated. If they have been then the garage door will not open via remote. If changing the batteries and double-checking for the correct mode do not resolve the problem, then the issue is probably not with your remote. But just to be sure, stand underneath the box but in a place where you can see the little red light (it’s usually right where the chain enters and exits). If you stand there and click the remote and the little red light is blinking, that means that the box is registering an “instruction” from the remote but is still unable to open the door. In other words, this shows that your remote is fine and therefore your problem must be elsewhere.
A wire is loose or the spring is broken could be the reason your Garage Door Won’t Open. If the issue is not with your remote, then it is likely with either the wiring or with the electric eye (the part which makes the door reverse if something gets in the way). To check the wiring, first locate the wires coming out of the box. The wires will be in sets of two, and they will be running to three different locations: one set running towards the manual switch on the wall, and two sets running to each of the electric eyes on either side of the garage door opening, just right off of the floor. Go through each wire, one by one, grabbing it a few inches back from the connection point. For each wire, wiggle it in one hand while pushing the remote button with the other. If, by doing this, the door opens when you wiggle a particular wire, that means that the wire is loose. If you are comfortable repairing the loose wire yourself, then turn off the power to the garage door opener and tighten the loose wire with a screwdriver. If you are uncomfortable with this process, please call a professional for assistance.
If the problem with your garage door not opening is with your torsion spring, then calling a professional is essential. The springs are located above your door and lift the weight of the door when it opens. If the springs seem to be separated, then that may mean that a torsion spring is broken. Trying to replace the torsion spring yourself is very dangerous; therefore, you should call a professional right away if you believe that a broken spring is what is causing your door not to open.
Generally speaking, garage door openers are user-friendly, simple devices which are intended to serve at the convenience of their users. This means that they usually work well and, if your Garage Door Won’t Open and you have problems, these problems are relatively easy to fix. If you are having trouble getting your garage door to work, try the steps above to see if you can resolve the problem quickly and easily.
If your garage door is not opening and you have an automatic door opener, then you might have experienced this situation: You are in the car, either outside or inside, you push the garage door opener button repeatedly like a normal day, but nothing happens. The feeling is a little stressful at first, BUT! It is not the end of the world, and of course at the end of the day is only a small problem in the grand scheme of things. But still, what happened? We are usually never prepared for these kind of moments when your technology decides to turn on us.
So what do you do now you ask? If your garage door is not opening or closing automatically, the good news is that the problem at hand is most likely for a good reason. We will go over the most common reasons for this occurrence with you and help you get to the bottom of this problem! :-)
The electric eye not working properly could be the reason your garage door will not open. One of the more common reasons that your garage door is not opening on its own is because of the electric eyes. The eyes are located on both sides of the door, just a couple inches above the floor. The 2 eyes send a small beam to one another, making an invisible line that keeps automatically reverses the opening of the garage door if it is interrupted. You can try to clean both of the eyes using a tissue or soft cloth. If that does not do the trick then perhaps you can check if the eyes are not aligned properly. Meaning that the line connecting the doors is constantly signalling itself as "interrupted" and that is keeping the door from opening and closing on its own properly. You will not be able to see them beams, but you can see that each of the eyes are mounted on a little piece of metal which can become bent. That could be what is causing the issue at hand, something has bent the metal and the beam are no longer lining up with each other. You can try taking the box between your fingers and bend it in small amounts and keep trying with your remote to see if that fixes the issue.
The track has become bent of misaligned, could be another reason your garage door will not open. Another common problem with garage doors not opening properly is because the metal track has become bent or misaligned. If you are using a door that is too heavy for your opener, this can cause bends in the tracks or sections between the rollers and the tracks themselves. . Generally if there is damage to your track, it is probably on the part of the tracks that go straight up to the attachment of the wall on the doors opening. Even if the weight of the door is not the problem, you would be surprised with how little effort it takes to damage the tracks – accidentally bumping them with your car or with any other equipment as you go in and out of your garage could do the trick, leaving you with a door that won’t operate properly. If you are handy you can fix this issue yourself if the damage isn't too bad. But remember you will need to replace parts.
The simplest fix would to be to check if the batteries in your garage door opener are dead. Try replacing your batteries, usually the type of remote you have will determine the battery type that you will need. Your best bet would to be checking your garage door opener manual. If you don't happen to have that on hand, you will probably be able to figure that out since most remotes are similar. Most remotes take a coin-cell battery (also known as a button cell battery, most often a 3-volt 2032 lithium coin-cell battery). If this does not seem to be what is needed for your remote, you can also try using a simple AA or AAA. You can also find batteries for most garage door remotes under common household names such as; Energizer, Maxell and ACDelco. If changing the batteries is not solving the issue, then your remote may be malfunctioning and may need to be replaced. If you happen to be outside your garage you can try manually opening the garage by pressing the opener button on the outside and to see if that fixes the problem. Regardless of weather the batteries are dead or faulty you should try to remember to replace the batteries more frequently to avoid this problem in the future.
Your opener could be in the wrong "mode" some garage doors have a "vacation" or "lock" mode that prevent the garage door from opening. Try making sure that neither of these modes are activated. If they have been then the garage door will not open via remote. If changing the batteries and double-checking for the correct mode do not resolve the problem, then the issue is probably not with your remote. But just to be sure, stand underneath the box but in a place where you can see the little red light (it’s usually right where the chain enters and exits). If you stand there and click the remote and the little red light is blinking, that means that the box is registering an “instruction” from the remote but is still unable to open the door. In other words, this shows that your remote is fine and therefore your problem must be elsewhere.
A wire is loose or the spring is broken could be the reason your Garage Door Won’t Open. If the issue is not with your remote, then it is likely with either the wiring or with the electric eye (the part which makes the door reverse if something gets in the way). To check the wiring, first locate the wires coming out of the box. The wires will be in sets of two, and they will be running to three different locations: one set running towards the manual switch on the wall, and two sets running to each of the electric eyes on either side of the garage door opening, just right off of the floor. Go through each wire, one by one, grabbing it a few inches back from the connection point. For each wire, wiggle it in one hand while pushing the remote button with the other. If, by doing this, the door opens when you wiggle a particular wire, that means that the wire is loose. If you are comfortable repairing the loose wire yourself, then turn off the power to the garage door opener and tighten the loose wire with a screwdriver. If you are uncomfortable with this process, please call a professional for assistance.
If the problem with your garage door not opening is with your torsion spring, then calling a professional is essential. The springs are located above your door and lift the weight of the door when it opens. If the springs seem to be separated, then that may mean that a torsion spring is broken. Trying to replace the torsion spring yourself is very dangerous; therefore, you should call a professional right away if you believe that a broken spring is what is causing your door not to open.
Generally speaking, garage door openers are user-friendly, simple devices which are intended to serve at the convenience of their users. This means that they usually work well and, if your Garage Door Won’t Open and you have problems, these problems are relatively easy to fix. If you are having trouble getting your garage door to work, try the steps above to see if you can resolve the problem quickly and easily.