dekor8r2008

I came home tonight, hit the button on my garage door and no problem, door opened, I parked in the garage, closed the garage door. Now it won't open more than a foot. There's nothing blocking the light beam, the tracks look fine, the chain seems fine. I tried opening it with the keypad, but with the same results. What could be doing this??

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[B][COLOR="Purple"][B][FONT="Comic Sans MS"]Emmy:o [/FONT][/B][/COLOR][/B]

Quattro

If it's really cold out, my garage door opener does the same thing. I usually have to release the door from the opener and open/close it manually. OR, I get out of the car and help the door up when my wife hits the button from the warm car...that works too.

I think it's a 3/4" horse chain-drive unit, but it's pulling up a 16-foot insulated steel door. I think I need a new 1hp belt drive unit! Wife says "do it"!

guyod

Hello Emmy
I would start by pulling the emergency release cord. this detaches the garage door from the automatic opener. that way you can try and open the door manually to see if it open and at least you will be able to get your car out.

hopefully you have a newer model that has this feature. if not you may have get a ladder (hopefully your car isn't in the way)and look at where the chain connects to the bar that goes to your door. there should be some type of lever to lift up or down. if its real old you may have to unscrew a bolt

Actually the first thing i would do is hold in the open button and keep it held in while to door opens. Some times this acts as an over ride.

Automatic door act up in the cold for some reason. Normally it is the other way around though the door will act like there is something in way and open back up.

guyod

Darn.. couple mins too slow...

wow. 16 foot garage door. That probably makes your garage bigger than my house. must have alot of cool toys..

dekor8r2008

I took your advice and was able to pull the emergency cord and get the door open and shut so I could go to work. People I asked kept saying it could be the weight setting switch (or something like that). A friend came over and showed me two dials in the opener on the ceiling of the garage (don't you love my technical terms for all this?) and he adjusted the one that controlled the opening of the door. Now it works fine! But I'm sure I'll look into replacing it soon anyway. It's kind of old.

Thanks again everyone!

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[B][COLOR="Purple"][B][FONT="Comic Sans MS"]Emmy:o [/FONT][/B][/COLOR][/B]

travelover

That's what I keep saying. I found the original receipt for the garage door opener in my house. Installed 1972. Dang thing won't die.

Quattro

If you do replace it...look into the belt-drive ones. Or screw-drive. They are quieter than chain-drive units, but more expensive. I'll have to look at mine to see if there is a weight setting dial. Thanks for the tip!

Oh, and guyod, the door is 16' wide, not tall! It's a pretty standard 2-car garage door size. At least I think it's 16'. Garage is just big enough for my mid-size truck, our wagon, golf clubs, and some other junk. Not too huge. But, thankfully, I have a separate 1-stall garage in the backyard that I use as my shop. That's also where I keep my motorcycle. And, it's my little "getaway" from the wife.

guyod

I didn't know garage doors had dials on them it must be fairly new to have that. if it doesn't give you any more problems i wouldn't replace it.

16' wide makes more sense. Extra tall garage doors is the newest must have in my area. i think it had to do with the mine is taller than yours syndrome.

CraigFL

The 'dials' are the safety feature that you set so that the door won't crush anyone that is underneath it. You can use these to temporarily get past your problem but you will be disabling this safety feature. If yout door isn't opening all the way and tripping the safety, you should look into fixing the real problem. Somthing is obstructing the door travel or there is too much friction in the tracks or the door is being pulled up unevenly. Certainly horsepower may seem to overcome it but usually more modern openers have more safety features and they will be tripping even more unless you fix the real problem.

When you operate your door by hand(disconnected from the opener), it should operate smoothly and with little effort by you throughout the travel. If it doesn't, the wheel bearings may need to be lubricated, the track may need to be adjusted or the spring(s) may need to be adjusted.

dekor8r2008

[QUOTE=CraigFL;15086]The 'dials' are the safety feature that you set so that the door won't crush anyone that is underneath it. You can use these to temporarily get past your problem but you will be disabling this safety feature. If yout door isn't opening all the way and tripping the safety, you should look into fixing the real problem. Somthing is obstructing the door travel or there is too much friction in the tracks or the door is being pulled up unevenly. Certainly horsepower may seem to overcome it but usually more modern openers have more safety features and they will be tripping even more unless you fix the real problem.QUOTE]

Sorry, I think I used the wrong word. Perhaps "dials" wasn't correct. It was some tension adjuster or something.

Anyway, just as a follow up, once I got it fixed, it happened again within a week, so I had to call someone to come out and take a look at it. Turns out the door was too heavy for the opener, so the motor had to be rebuilt. Talk about a learning experience!

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[B][COLOR="Purple"][B][FONT="Comic Sans MS"]Emmy:o [/FONT][/B][/COLOR][/B]