You probably take your garage door opener for granted. Simply press a button on the wall, and the door opens so you can leave for work in the morning. Press the button attached to your car’s visor, and the door closes to secure your home while you’re gone all day.
You’ll quickly appreciate your garage door opener if you need to use it during a power outage. Your garage door can work without power— you simply have to open it by hand. Here’s how.
How To Manually Open an Automatic Garage Door
Pull the Manual Release Cord
Almost all garage doors feature a manual release function to bypass the opening mechanism during power outages or in case the motor malfunctions or a garage door remote breaks.
To trigger the manual release, locate the short rope hanging down from the garage door track. It usually ends with a red, T-shaped handle. Pull this cord to release the door from the drive chain or belt. This requires some force, but don’t hang from the rope or you could damage the track.
For safety reasons, you should avoid pulling the manual release cord when the garage door is open. If you have no other option, prop open the door with boards and clear out all people and objects before releasing the door from the open position.
Make Sure the Garage Door Isn’t Locked
If you secure your garage door with a manual lock, check to see if it’s in place at this time. If so, remove the lock so you can open the door without causing damage.
Life the Garage Door Handle
There should be a handle somewhere on the inside of the garage door. Grab it and lift upward. With the door disconnected from the opening mechanism, it should be relatively easy for one person to raise the door to the fully open position.
If the door is impossible to lift or opens unevenly, you may have a broken tension spring or cable that needs to be addressed. These can be dangerous to repair yourself, so contact a garage door repair technician to fix the problem.
Because opening the garage door by hand is an effective way to uncover these issues, we recommend doing so a few times per year, even if the power isn’t out.
Reattach the Door to the Opener After Power Is Restored
Once electricity is flowing to your opener once more, you need to reconnect the garage door, so you can open it automatically again.
To do this, make sure the carriage unit, the device attached to the track that lifts and lowers the door, is positioned near the motor in the center of the garage ceiling. Have one person pull the manual release handle while another pushes the garage door up until it clicks into the carriage.
It may also be possible to reattach the garage door simply by pressing the button on the remote after electricity has been restored. The carriage will move and reconnect with the door when it reaches it.
Garage Door Repair & Inspections in Fort Wayne, IN
Are you having trouble pulling the release cord during a power outage or reconnecting your garage door once electricity is restored? Did you discover a problem with your garage door when you attempted to open it manually?
Whatever troubles you’re having, let Overhead Door Company of Fort Wayne fix it for you. Our garage door services are fast, reliable and offer lasting results. We offer repairs by appointment or 24/7 in emergency situations.
Need garage door repair or maintenance? Call (260) 205-8509 or contact us online to schedule same-day service.
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