If a garage door closes on your pets, children, or car, it can cause some serious problems. Modern garage doors will have obstruction sensors which will detect any obstacles in your door's way and send a signal to the motor to reverse the direction of your door when closing. While these sensors serve a necessary function, they can cause problems when they are not working properly. Luckily, you should be able to get them working again on your own.
Clean up
It should be obvious that, if your garage door starts to close, then reverses, you need to check for obstructions. On the other hand, what do you if there are no obvious obstructions? Start with cleaning. An obstruction sensor has a laser and a set of electronic eyes. If the lens of the eye gets covered with dust, cobwebs, or other debris, it will not work like it should. A thorough cleaning might be just what you need to get the sensor working properly.
Bent Rails
Obstruction sensors are attached at the bottom of your garage door rail. If you bump the rails with a bike, mower, or whatever, the rails can bend, which in turn can misalign your sensors. Carefully, inspect your rails to make sure that they are perfectly straight. If you find any bends in the rails, you can straighten them out by placing a block of wood against the rails and striking them with a hammer. The wood will help to distribute the force of the blow over a greater area so that you don't dent your rails and cause new problems.
Bent Brackets
If your rails check out, the problem might be a problem with the brackets that attach the sensors to your garage door rails. These brackets are made from thin metal or plastic. In either case, you should be able to get them back to working order by gently bending them back and forth or up and down until your sensors are back in line.
As long as you don't have a problem with the electrical components of your obstruction sensors, you should be able to get them working again on your own. On the other hand, if you have expended your best efforts and you can't seem to get your obstruction sensors working, it is time to call for backup. Taking a few minutes to troubleshoot your obstruction sensors should be all you need to get your garage door working again the way that it should. For bigger problems, call a garage door repair company.
Share7 April 2016
Does your garage door open and close as it should? How long have you been having troubles with your garage door? If you have been putting off getting repairs on your garage door, now is the time to step up and get it operating properly. Find some troubleshooting tips and tricks that can help you pinpoint the problem and possibly make the repairs without the assistance of a professional repair technician. You will also learn about the repair tasks that do require professional assistance and get an idea of what each of those services will cost you to have done.
