Keeping Your Garage Door Operating
Reliably & Safely
In our northern climate the range of temperatures we experience cause garage doors & openers to require periodic maintenance. Its advisable to conduct routine maintenance of door & opener before the winter sets in and before the summer arrives.
- Monthly Checks of cables, pulleys, rollers, hinges & opener for signs of wear
- Spring useful life varies with the amount of use made of the door. If you suspect spring problems, do not try to adjust them yourself. They are under great tension & present major danger to anyone other than a qualified professional.
- Another major danger area is the bottom brackets. They are connected by cables to the springs and also under extreme tension. Have a qualified professional make these adjustments or repairs.
- Regularly lubricate the moving parts of the door with silicone spray or special garage door lubricant which doesn’t attract dirt/dust. Don not lubricate plastic parts.
- Test your garage door opener. Make sure your opener meets current safety requirements by having an electronic reversing system. Evidence of a compliant door opener system is the safety sensor eyes located 6” off the floor at the bottom of the door on each side.
- Make sure these sensors are cleaned and aligned with each other. Cobwebs, leaves & dirt can prevent the sensors from operating properly.
- If your opener doesn’t have this electronic reversing system you are exposing yourself to significant danger if the door should close on a person or property. You are exposed to legal liability if children, pets or property are injured by the closing door. Deaths have been caused by these old garage door openers and they should be replaced as soon as possible.
- Test the opener by:
- Opening your garage door
- Place a 2X4 piece of wood flat on the garage floor near the door center
- Close the door using the opener
- When the door closes on the wood, it should automatically reverse
- If it does not reverse, this is a serious safety hazard & the opener settings should be adjsted or repaired.
- Your garage door is opened by the springs and these springs will lose their strength through usage. Test to see if the door and springs are balanced properly by:
- Disconnecting the door from the opener system by pulling the red disconnect cord.
- Manually lower the door to the half way point & see if it stays in that position with out being held, if so it is balanced.
- If it raises or lowers on its own, the springs may need adjustment.
- Running an unbalanced door with your opener may lead to heavy wear on the opener.
