4 Signs it’s Time for a Garage Door Opener Repair
A garage door that doesn’t close properly leaves your property vulnerable to a home invasion.
Over 300,000 daytime and over 200,000 night time break-ins were reported to police across America between 2019 and 2020 alone.
A garage door opener is an important little device that allows you to get safely into and out of your garage. Openers use a motor to drive a carriage along a rail. That carriage is connected to your garage door and when started, pulls it open.
As with all mechanical devices, things can go wrong over time. Parts get old, break down, and need replacing.
Read on for more information on how to know it’s time to schedule garage door opener repair or when to get a new garage door opener.
1. “Open Sesame” Not Working?
If your garage door won’t open, or if it’s moving very slowly, check to see if your opener is hesitating after you click the button to open the door. If it is, this is a sure sign that it needs maintenance.
In the worse case, the door may even detach from the opener. This is a dangerous situation that needs immediate repair. You don’t want a heavy steel or wood garage door falling on the pets or children in your family!
Sometimes it might not be the opener but the springs or even a damaged, crooked garage door that need replacing. Getting in a professional repair person to review your system can help you troubleshoot where the problem is.
2. Whines, Grinds, and Squeals
A garage door opener is essentially a chain drive system. Drive chains systems rattle obnoxiously when they’re not in the best working order. A loose chain will make loud slapping sounds and cause the door to jump along the tracks.
You might need to lubricate the chain, fix a kink, tighten the slack, or replace the chain.
If the door itself is rattling, check the garage door opener carefully to see if any nuts and bolts need tightening. High pitched squealing noises are likely related to worn-out rollers or hinges, rather than your opener.
3. Garage Door Opener Repair: Strange Vibrations
If your opener is vibrating (and you’ve already repaired or checked the chain), it’s possible the motor is on its last legs.
Rather than hearing this issue, it’s something you can see. A motor with a bent shaft or damaged armature (the coils of the dynamo inside the electric motor) will jump around within its casing.
While a motor can carry on for some time with this vibration, the movement may eventually shake the system loose from its mounts. If this steel framework fails, your opener will fall from the ceiling onto the roof of your car–or worse, onto anyone standing underneath.
4. Door Stops Halfway or Reverses
Contemporary garage doors are designed to automatically reverse if they encounter an obstacle. This built-in garage door safety feature stops sometimes deadly injuries.
However, if your door is reversing as soon as it hits the floor, or if it’s stopping halfway, this could indicate a fault with the close-limit switch.
Always get a switch problem looked at by a professional, says Direct Service Overhead Garage Door Company. A technician will inspect the opener and adjust or replace the closed-limit switch as required.
Keep Your Door Well Maintained
Do you feel like you’re constantly shelling out money for garage door opener repair? Reduce the cost of a garage door repair by booking annual or six-monthly garage door maintenance. A service professional can catch mechanical failures before they become catastrophic and let you know when it’s time to replace your opener altogether.
Browse the other articles on our website for more tips and tricks to help you get the best out of your home.