Garages and Power Outages
A growing number of people rely on their garage doors for an easy entrance and exit. With these new entryways comes conveniences – One primary convenience being the benefits of automatic garage door openers. As this helpful tool has become more widely known, more people have begun to rely on them.
Unfortunately, power outages can sometimes make garage doors difficult to use. As with many things, preparation helps. Knowing how to work your door in a power outage before the power goes out will ease your mind should this ever happen to you.
Simple Release and Safeguards for Power Outages
Considering that no electrical system is infallible, the creators of automatic garage doors have implemented failsafe secondary features. Today, most garage door openers have an emergency release cord, allowing you to open and close the door manually.
To use this feature, simply pull down the emergency release cord. The garage door’s emergency release cord, a red rope that hangs from the trolley, should be visible when the door is closed. This will disengage the door from the opener.
Move the Door
Unfortunately, now you’re back on manual movement – Very inconvenient. You should be able to lift the garage door manually and move it up and down. If the door is extremely heavy and you are unable to do this, there may be something wrong with the springs in the door. Don’t try forcing it any further, and look for a broken spring. These can be extremely dangerous and under great pressure – Don’t try removing them.
Note: If using this feature, ensure that your door is closed all the way before releasing it. If it is not down and you attempt to disengage the opener, you could cause serious damage to both your garage door and yourself. If your garage door is stuck in an open position, be sure to get in touch with us immediately for prompt help.
Reconnecting When Power is Restored
Reconnecting the door is usually fairly straightforward when electricity returns and after you reset the breaker. Firstly, reconnect the trolley to the opener (or, more simply, run the opener for a complete cycle). You should hear a loud click once the trolley passes the carriage if all goes well. Running a complete cycle will automatically retract the door. If this does not happen, ensure the door is closed and pull down on the emergency release cord. This should solve the problem.
Some Risks to be Wary Of.
It is important to use extreme caution when changing between automatic and manual modes. Automatic garage door openers are designed to switch modes, but problems can arise if springs or cables are weak. A garage door opener is a complex mechanism that must be in good working order to prevent damage to the door and its operator. Without regular inspection by a professional technician, your garage’s parts may fail when you attempt to switch to manual – posing huge risk of potentially deadly injury. If you have any concerns about the functioning of your garage door opener, contact a professional immediately.
