How to add years of life to your average garage door opener. A guide from a local garage door repair expert.

A vast majority of homeowners use their garage door instead of their front door to gain entrance to their residence. It can be a tremendous inconvenience if your garage door or garage door opener system fails due to lack of maintenance. Listed below are a few simple actions that homeowners can perform to help insure your garage door system is working properly.

The first thing you should do is close the door and do an overall visual inspection of the door and opener. Check for loose bolt and nuts. Also check to see if any of the track brackets have moved since the door was originally installed. If a bracket is crooked then you know it has moved. Check the rollers to make sure they turn freely and are not wearing out. Some inexpensive doors come with plastic rollers and they tend to wear down and loose their circumference causing the rollers to pop out of the track.

If your garage door is making a loud squeaking noise as it opens and closes the hinges more than likely need to be lubricated. There are many types of hinges used by different manufacturers but each hinge has to have a pivot point so it can move as the door goes through the curved portion of the track. Lube each hinge at the pivot point with a good quality penetrating oil.

When the door is in the down position check the torsion springs which are located above the door. They run horizontally and a good quality 2 car garage door will have 2 springs connected together with a center bearing plate. There is really no way to visually determine if the springs are bad or not. Some oil tempered springs, which are blackish in color, will begin to show signs of rust. This will contribute to premature spring failure. Use penetrating oil and lightly coat the springs to prevent them from rusting further. It will also prevent them from binding in cold weather as the door goes up and down.

You can determine if the springs have lost some tension by conducting a door balance test. Make sure the door is in the closed position and disconnect the garage door opener from the garage door by pulling on the red release rope hanging down from the opener rail. Never disconnect the door from the garage door opener while it is in the up position because the door could come crashing down to the floor and damage the door sections. Raise the door half way up and door should stay in the half way up position. It should fly up or crash to the floor. If the door falls to the floor the springs have lost their tension. You can call a professional to add more spring tension if the springs are less than 5 years old. If they are older than that then it is recommended that the springs be changed since they are nearing the end of their life cycle. Standard springs are rated at 10,000 cycles and if you open and close your door an average of 6 times per day you can exceed the 10,000 cycles in less than 5 years. If the door flies up while it is in the half way up position then there is either to much tension in the springs or the wrong springs are installed on the door. Call a professional to inspect it further.

As far as the garage door opener is concerned visually inspect to make it is securely lagged into the header above the garage door and also at there motor head. Make sure you clear any cobwebs from the safety photo sensors to ensure that the door will close properly. Cobwebs can obstruct the safety photo sensors and cause the door not to close. Check the sensitivity reversing system on the opener by placing a 2” x 4” piece of wood under the door at the center. When the door closes it should reverse when it hits the piece of wood. If it does not you can consult your manual and adjust the reverse settings on the garage door opener. If you have a belt or chain drive opener check to make sure it is not sagging as the garage door opener goes up or down. If it does sag, tighten the chain or belt just enough take the slack out.

By following these few tips you can ensure your garage door and opener system will operate smoothly for years to come. If you do not feel comfortable performing any of these procedures, please call a Orange County garage door repair professional.

American Empire Garage Door
309 Zorro Vista
San Clemente CA 92673
(949) 498-8783
www.americanempiregaragedoor.com