Garage Door Maintance

The single most important thing you can do to prolong the life of your garage door is to disconnect it from the opener and run it by hand twice a year.  In the name of safety disconnect it while it is closed (if you happen to have a broken spring and disconnect it while open it may fall causing damage or worse injury).  Then run the door by hand.  Does it open and close nice and easy/smooth?  If not it may be a simple as lubricating it or it may need service.  Either way you have saved yourself a much larger expense later on by catching it now.  If you do notice loose screws or missing screws be very careful if you attemp to replace them.  Do not under any circumstances remove or try to adjust the bottom brackets on your door.  These are located at the bottom on each edge of the door and are under extreme tension as the lift cables are attached to them.  Also avoid the bearing plate the the springs are attached to, again under extreme tension and are very dangerous.  If you have any questions please feel free to email me at rob@championgaragedoorsmn.com or call me at 651-321-DOOR.

Have a great Spring!!

Garage Door Openers runs but doesn't move the door

Most garage door openers have a internal gear in them that can wear out over time.  If you press your garage door opener remote or wall control and you hear the motor running but the trolley on the rail doesn't move it is most likely the gear that needs to be replaced and not the enitre opener.  A big thing to keep in mind when purchasing a new opener is that same gear as well...on average we replace over 100 gears a year in openers and 99% of them are on chain drive units.  The belt drive unit gears hardly ever fail due to the fact that the belt itself acts as a shock absorber extending the life of the gear.  Just one thing to keep in mind when purchasing a new opener, it may be worth the little extra cost for the belt drive opener in the long run.  If you have any garage door questions at all please give me a shout at Champion Garage Doors.  651-321-DOOR.  Thanks and have a great day!

Rob

Garage Door opens part way or needs assistance to open

As the weather gets colder everything tends to break more often.  If you notice that your door seems to struggle to open or needs your assistance to open make sure to check your springs.  Most times they are located above the door on the torsion bar.  If one is broken you will see a break/gap in the spring itself. Below is a picture of what a broken spring will look like.

Broken Torsion Spring

 If you see this on your door get it fixed asap.  Torsion springs are very dangerous and should be replaced by a qualified Garage Door Company.  The reason for this post is that a lot of openers out there will continue to lift your door even with one of the two springs broken.  But, by doing that it will chew up the internal gears of the opener causing a much higher repair bill than if caught right away.  I would even go so far as to say just take a peek up at your springs every once in a while in the winter especially to make sure you are not causing damage to your opener due to a broken spring.  Thanks and have a great day!

Champion Garage Doors
www.championgaragedoorsmn.com

Garage door opener won't close

A common problem that has an easy fix......if you push your remote or wall control button and your door starts to close but stops after a few inches followed by your opener lights flashing it is probably that your photo eyes are out of alignment.  Do this to make sure.....go to your wall control and push and hold down the button.  If it continues down it is your photo eyes.  That is an over ride feature built in to the opener.  Check to see if they got bumped and realign them.  90% of the time this will fix the problem.  If it doesn't check the wiring for breaks.  Worst case the photo eyes are bad.  Try these first and save yourself time and money buy fixing it yourself.
www.championgaragedoorsmn.com