A reliable garage door opener is essential for keeping intruders out while yourself, and your valuables, are safe. After all, it’s the largest entrance to your house. If your front door wasn’t locking, you’d get that fixed ASAP right? Though, most modern models have a fairly long lifespan, there are still a few steps you should take to ensure yours is working correctly, especially if you’re noticing odd behavior from your door.
Check Your Door Sensors
Your opener actually isn’t the first thing to check, it’s the sensors. As your garage door begins to open and close, your sensors may detect a false signal. There’s a range of problems that cause them to malfunction, from dirty lenses to electrical issues, but it’s usually detectable from its symptoms.
Usually, you’ll see the door go up and down excessively while trying to operate it. In addition to the strain it causes the opener’s motor from this unproductive use, occasionally the garage door may open up automatically without human input. Obviously, this can be quite the security hazard, not even to mention the energy loss associated with a garage door open when it doesn’t need to be.
Many systems have LED lights you can check that show an error occurring, but if that’s not the case you can try turning off your garage door opener manually. If the door stays closed, then the sensors are the likely culprit.
Double-Check with a Garage Remote Control
If your garage door is having issues opening and closing and you’ve checked the sensors, your remote’s battery may be low. It really can be as simple as that. Swap out the batteries or charge the remote to make sure. You could also have a remote range or signal problem. If you have other electric in your garage, especially any smart devices, they could be interfering with the remote. Turn them off one by one until you find the culprit. If you’ve isolated the cause, you can move the device and restore your remotes functionality.
Test Your Bottom Chain Tension and Spring
Next, check your bottom chain tension and spring. If they’re visibly old, worn out, or damaged, then you’ll need to test them and possibly find replacements. Additionally, if the chain is too tight or the spring too worn, then the door won’t close all the way. In this situation, you’ll need to loosen the tension on the chain or pull the spring out entirely until your door closes correctly.
If your new parts still aren’t working, you may not have installed them correctly. You may need to double-check your new parts against your old ones, or it’s possible another issue is going on and it might be time to check in with a professional garage repair service.
Add Some Extra Latch Security
As a final tip, you may want to add and extra layer of security to your garage door if you still feel a bit uncomfortable about its ability to protect your home. A simple latch mechanism can be perfectly efficient in this case. Installing one yourself can take a bit of doing, but is usually manageable with a bit of research and testing. Contacting garage experts is a good thing to keep in mind though if you want to be double sure everything is in proper working order and secure.