Need A Garage Door Opener Repair? A Few Common Ailments

In the world of home appliances and systems, doesn’t it seem like 10-15 years is the magic number? It’s the expected service life for things like water heaters, dishwashers, and refrigerators. Garage door openers have a similar lifespan with proper garage door opener maintenance.

That means the day will come when you need garage door opener repair.

While you may be able to DIY some of your garage door problems, it’s usually better if you get help from a professional garage door repair specialist. If you’re interested in troubleshooting, we’ve put together a guide to the most common issues.

Keep this guide handy to help when you have a problem opening and closing your garage door.

Have You Changed the Battery Lately?

There’s nothing like a garage door that won’t open to start the day off on the wrong foot. If you’ve ever pressed the button on the garage door opener remote only to hear silence, you know what we’re talking about.

Garage doors open one of two ways. Either you use the remote or the transmitter. Transmitters mount on the garage wall just outside the interior door. If you have a newer door opener, you may have a keypad instead of a transmitter.

Garage door remotes and keypads use battery power. The wall switch transmitter relies on electricity.

A common issue for garage door openers is a dead battery. Troubleshooting begins by checking the wall switch. If the door opens at the switch, move on to the remote or keypad, and replace the battery.

If you have a keypad and a fresh battery for the remote doesn’t solve the problem, you may need to reprogram the keypad. If that doesn’t work, it’s time to schedule service with your garage door repair technician.

The Eyes Have It

If you’ve ever felt like something in the garage is watching you, it could be the photo eyes on the sides of your garage door. Of course, they’re not real eyes, but they do sense when something obstructs the garage door.

The eyes—two small sensors—use an invisible light beam to connect. If they detect any interruption of the beam, they stop the door from closing.

Dirty photo eyes block the light from the beam. Use a cloth and a gentle cleanser to clean the sensors. If a good cleaning doesn’t solve your problem, check the eye’s alignment. If the door still doesn’t close, call your service technician.

Tip: Your garage door repair company should include an inspection of the photo eyes as part of your annual garage door maintenance.

Old Gears and Broken Sprockets

One of the most common garage door opener repairs is a gear and sprocket replacement. If you can hear the motor running but can’t move the door in either direction, look for clues that you have a worn-out gear or a broken sprocket.

Black crumbs on top of the gears can indicate either abnormal wear and tear or a chain wound too tightly. If you notice the chain drooping, you may have a broken sprocket.

You can’t replace the gear without replacing the sprocket—they come as a unit. You can order the parts based on the type of garage door opener you have, but calling your garage door company to come out and change these components will get the job done faster. It also ensures you get the right parts the first time around.

Do You Have Bad Springs?

When you have the gear and sprocket replaced, the technician should inspect the garage door springs. A weak spring often causes gear and sprocket failure and call for garage door opener replacement.

You can inspect the springs yourself to determine if they have any unusual wear, loss of tension, or separation. Another spring test you can do without assistance is to close the garage door, disconnect the opener, and see if you can manually open the door. If the door opens with little effort, you likely have good springs.

When you can’t lift the door, or it won’t stay open, suspect one or both springs. Straining, creaking, and grinding also point to a problem with your springs.

Spring replacement is not a DIY project!

When you think about the weight of a garage door, you’ll understand why. Most garage doors weigh between 155 and 500 lbs, and the springs, which hold a lot of tension, help raise and lower the door. Aside from the danger of lacerations and fractures when springs uncoil, you also run the risk of the door abruptly coming down on you.

The wise thing to do when you suspect a problem with your garage door springs is to call a professional for garage door opener services!

The Motor Is the Heart of Your System

When the garage door opener motor quits working, your door won’t go up or down. It’s the heart of your system, and when it fails, you can be a faulty capacitor.

When a capacitor goes bad, the motor struggles to raise and lower the lower. Sometimes a capacitor warns you it’s about to fail, and sometimes it doesn’t.

How do you know whether you need a repair or a replacement? Contacting a company specializing in garage door opener installation can save you the time and energy you’ll spend trying to figure it out.

Call the Garage Door Opener Repair Experts In Katy TX

Garage door openers and convenience go together until the day your opener fails you. Then, all you can think about is how inconvenient it is that you’re late for a work meeting or you can’t pick up your child from school on time.

Here at Ohana Garage Doors, our team of experts can help troubleshoot your garage door opener issues and let you know whether you need a garage door opener repair in Katy, TX.

Our garage door company is here to make the necessary repairs or help you select the new garage door opener that best serves your needs. Contact us today, and let’s get your garage door back on the right track!