Complex mechanical system, which is exactly what your automatic garage door is, are bound to experience some issues over time. Unfortunately, due to the many different parts involved in the operation of this mechanism, the range of issues you may encounter is very broad. However, some problems tend to occur far more commonly, so it's important to know how to recognize them when they rear their ugly heads.
Garage Door Off Track
This is a type of situation where the door gets stuck suddenly while opening or closing, and you can see that one or more of its rollers on either side have popped out of their track. The reason for this type of problem is often is a bent track section, which forced the rollers to slip out. Track misalignment is also a potential cause of this sort of problem. The alignment will need to be adjusted, the damage will need to be repaired and the rollers will need to be reinserted. We suggest that you let our technicians handle this to avoid getting hurt by the door accidently.
Door Keeps Reversing
This type of problem involves a scenario in which the garage door opens back up when you try to close it. There are a few potential reasons for this problem, such as blocked tracks or some other type of movement resistance that the door encounters as it tries to close. However, most commonly, this type of problem involves the safety sensors of the opener. If the photo eyes are misaligned then they may cause the opener to reverse the door each time you try to close it. If something is blocking their lenses, or if they are dirty, they could also cause this issue. A bit more rarely, wiring issues, or a malfunctioning circuit board, could also be responsible.
Door Won't Open At All
When something like this happens there could be a few very different reasons as to why. Let's get the simplest one out of the way first. Dead batteries; yes, you read that correctly. Many times people simply forget to change the garage door opener remote control batteries and then stand around for minutes, if not more, trying to figure out what's wrong. After you make sure the batteries aren't at fault, check the power cord and the wall-switch to make sure this is in fact a problem with the opener itself. Give the drive system a visual inspection to see if some part of it (like the trolley) has detached from the door or is somehow damaged. If the opener motor is making strange sounds there could a problem with its gears. If it isn't working at all, the circuit board may be at fault. Figuring out exactly which component is at fault can be a bit more complex at this stage, so it's better to contact our team to have our professional garage door technicians troubleshoot and solve the problem.