Automatic garage door problems – FAQs

 

How do I choose the best electric garage door opener for my garage door?

Buying a garage door operator is a long-term investment into the security of your home, so it’s important to take professional advice from a reputable garage door provider. Choose from modern chain or belt driven operators that are quiet and low maintenance. Soft start/stop motors are particularly useful for heavy doors or where noise is an issue. Make sure you choose the correct power output – around 45kg pulling force for doors up to 8’ or 60kg for larger doors – and low energy consumption models. Access controls may include internal push buttons, digital keypads, card readers, finger readers, built in timers or extra lighting in addition to standard hand held remote control devices. Finally, make sure you choose an operator with an effective self learning safety stop system so that your particular door always responds to your needs.

How secure are automatic garage doors?

An electric or automatic garage door can be extremely secure but a lot depends on the actual door itself. The best electronic operator will make no difference if the basic garage door panel is not secure enough to withstand being broking through. For optimum levels of security, you should install a good, strong garage door panel fitted with a correctly specified high quality electric garage door operator. Roller doors that come with a built-in motor are designed with mechanical additions to help hold the roller door panel down, making these doors particularly burglar proof. When fitting a remote control operator to an existing high quality door installation, e.g. an up and over garage door or sectional garage door, try to achieve 3 point locking via the door operator mechanism. For ultimate protection, look out for manufacturers with a ‘Secured by Design’ rating such as Hörmann’s ‘Bi Secur’ 2 way technology with 128 bit encryption.

Why won’t my automatic garage door open?

There could be several reasons why your electric garage door won’t open. Assuming the garage door is not locked (!), your remote might be out of range or there could be interference or a physical blockage between the remote and the receiver that stope the signal from being transmitted. Press the wall control button to see if the door opens. If not, the problem could be with the door tracks to cause binding, which will need readjusting. Finally, there could be a problem with the logic board. Ask your garage door installer for advice and a repair service.

Why does my automatic garage door close but then reverse back up?

If your garage door travels down to nearly closed before reversing, check that there isn’t anything blocking the beam between the safety sensors at the bottom of the rails, and check the sensor alignment too. If the door closes first before it reverses, the close limit on the garage door openers may be to blame. This limit sets the distance that the door will travel before closing; if it set beyond the point of full closure, the garage door will hit the floor, then act as if it hit something and reverse as a safety feature. Adjusting the close limit should solve the problem.

My electric garage door refuses to open or close all the way. What’s wrong?

If your garage door doesn’t go all the way to the top or bottom, inaccurate travel limits may well be the problem. Following the manufacturer’s instructions, reset the open limit and close limit, and also check their alignment. If this doesn’t fix the issue, the travel limit switches or the logic board may need to be replaced.

My garage door opens and closes by itself – what to do?

If your garage door opens and closes without you having triggered the remote, one explanation may be it is responding to someone else’s remote! Erase the codes and reprogramme your remote. Should the problem persist, the next step is to check the wiring between the wall control and the motor unit in case there’s been a short circuit that can cause the motor unit to open/close the door at random. Replace the defective part to remedy the situation.

How do I (re)programme my automatic garage door opener?

Press and hold the LEARN button on the motor unit until the indicator light goes out to erase all codes. Then reprogramme each remote control by pressing and holding the ENTER button until the opener unit’s lights start to blink or click. To add a new remote, press and release the LEARN button so that the learn indicator light glows, then press and hold the button on your remote until the overhead unit light blinks or clicks. While all automatic garage door openers use radio frequency (MHz) to send a signal to open/close the door, the process of programming the remote may vary slightly depending on the model of your system.