Garage Door Repair Conifer | Garage Door Conifer
Call (720) 310-7836
Call us (720) 310-7836
One of the most misunderstood appliances in your household is none other than your garage door opener! Believe it or not, there are folks who think that their remote is their opener!
Our garage door openers give us added security, time savings and most of all, convenience. No longer do we have to put our cars in gear, get out of the vehicle and manually open our garage door. No; we simple reach up and tap a button and boom; our several hundred pound garage door rises and shuts on demand! We simply drive in or out, and that is that! On days of perfect weather, this is fine but we really appreciate our opener units when it’s raining, snowing and super windy. We might be talking on our smart phones, or listening to music in our car; no need to interrupt any of that; just tap that garage door opener button and the “magic” happens.
Another big advantage of having and using a garage door opener is the safety and security factor. Staying in your vehicle protects you from the vulnerability of manually opening your garage door. Think about it; your car is still running, door open, with the keys in the ignition. You are outside the car; alone and unprotected. Your wallet or purse is inside your car along with your driver’s license, credit cards, insurance papers, vehicle registration, and other vital documents. You, your car and your property are all vulnerable at this point!
Okay, you get it; your garage door opener is important and appreciated; now how do you troubleshoot it in case it needs help? Let’s start with the easiest and most basic task; check the battery in your remote. Our garage door repair shop often gets calls for garage door opener repair and even replacement when all the problem was, was a drained remote battery. Use your home tester to check the power in your battery. If you don’t have a home tester, you can get on online or locally for around $10 or the free way to do this is to simply take your remote battery to a local store like Wal-Mart, Home Depot or Target that tests them for free. You are under no obligation to buy your new battery there but if you need one, why not patronize their store?
Okay, it’s not the battery you say. Is it the remote itself? Check your terminals and look for two things; battery leakage and/or loose terminals. Either one or both can block the juice from your battery so that your opener system stops working or works sporadically. If your terminals are dirty, clean them with a mixture of half white vinegar and half water. Use a cotton swab and clean the battery acid off of your terminals. If they are loose, they can be squeezed together gently until they hold your battery snugly again. Easy peasy!
Your garage door’s sensors are the next step in our do-it-yourself troubleshooting. This step is equally easy and equally important. Again, you are looking for any possible signal interruption. It’s vital that your safety sensors communicate with each other via their respective signal beams. If these get blocked; your opener will not be able to do its job. The process is the same; clean and squeeze. Clean your terminals gently with a soft cloth. Be rue to remove any twigs, spider webs, dirt, grime and leaves that may be stuck to your sensor lenses. These can block the signal and harbor spiders and other unwanted bugs, so keep them clean. If the sensors are clean, be sure that the beams work and align. The sensors are made so that they can be easily adjusted by hand. Refer to your owner’s manual for instructions or go online and watch any number of YouTube or Vimeo videos on the subject. Do it once and see how very easy it is!
Sometimes, it really is the fault of your opener unit. Here’s how you can tell. Push the wall switch power button inside your garage. If it opens the garage door, your opener unit is fine. If it doesn’t, then unplug the opener from the home’s electrical system. You do this by disconnecting the plug up near the garage ceiling. Our goal here is to see if the plug is working. Find something else to plug into the outlet. Use a small hairdryer or portable radio and see if they work. Does it work? If so, your power source is not compromised and the problem is most likely you’re motor. If it doesn’t work, your power is not working or you have a blown fuse.