Troubleshooting Garage Door Opener Problems

Electronic garage doors have made the manual efforts of opening and closing the garage doors, redundant to a great extent. You can control the operation of the garage door by a push of a button or by simply pressing the key on the remote. But as many electronic components are involved in the entire system, it is bound to give certain problems, sometimes. However, these are minor problems, that you yourself can solve. But for that you should first understand what are the different components that make up the system and how the system actually works.

The garage door system consists of optic sensors, transmitters, wiring, remote control, tracks, rollers, motor, switch, chains, door etc. The mechanism of a garage door is quite simple. The motor rotates in the clockwise directions to open the door. The limit switches then make the motor rotate in a counter-clockwise direction, which leads to the closing of the door. These limit switches are programmed to accurately tune the opening and closing of the door. The rotational motion is transferred into the mechanical energy by the chains, which leads to the opening of the door. Most problems arise due to the malfunctioning of either of these components. The common problems that the garage owners encounter are:

Garage Door Opener Remote Doesn't Work
If you are able to open the door with the interior button, but are unable to do so with the remote, then the problem definitely lies with the remote. Try changing the batteries, and see if it works. If it doesn't, check the program. Go through the manufacturer's instruction codes and reprogram it. Even if that doesn't solve your problem, purchase a new remote as there is a possibility of a defect in the remote itself.

Garage Door Won't Open
Forget about the remote, what if the garage door doesn't open even by pushing the interior button? For this, you will have to make sure the opener is powered and the motor is running. Inspect if there is any debris on the tracks which might be blocking the door's movement. If everything seems to be in place and yet the problem persists, then you will have to seek professional help. The problem is with the opener and it might warrant some repair work.

Garage Door Struggles to Open or Makes Noises While Opening
The cause for this problem is either the fact that there is debris clogged in the tracks or there is poor lubrication of the tracks. In either case, the solution is pretty simple, clean the tracks, remove the debris and make sure the tracks are well lubricated.

Garage Door Opens and Closes on Its Own
If your garage door starts opening and closing on its own accord, there is probably a short circuit in the wiring or in the transmitters. First check for the short in the transmitter. A short in the transmitter makes the transmitter send continuous signals. The door will appear to close completely, but as soon as the arm run and the carriage pass the down limit and hit the header, the action reverses and the door begins to open. Take the batteries out of the transmitters and try again. If there is still a problem, it means there's a short in the wiring and you need to replace it.

Nowadays, technologically advanced garage door opener systems have monitors, which display the apparent cause of the problem and the associated troubleshooting tip. This can prove to be very helpful for the garage owners as they would no longer need to waste time in detecting the problem. You can expect your system to run smoothly if you undertake the routine maintenance activities, as instructed by the manufacturer.