Maintaining Garage Door Opener

Garage door maintenance is often overlooked but twice a year seasonal inspection and maintenance should be part of your routine.

Maintaining garage door opener.

Yearly garage door opener care lubricate the garage door rollers bearings and hinges with a silicone spray such as super lube or a white lithium spray grease. If it doesn t open you ll need to replace the battery. Garage doors that are neglected can put a lot of stress on an automatic garage door opener and spending an hour or two in the early spring and late fall each year may save you from an expensive repair bill. Check that the backup battery on your opener is working properly.

Don t grease the door tracks grease will attract dust and dirt inhibiting roller movement. Common reasons your garage door opener may not be working properly. Use a screwdriver or pry bar to unseat the old weather stripping from the channel at the bottom of the door. The garage door s path may be blocked.

Then lower the door about halfway. A properly balanced garage door is less likely to crush someone or something and keeps your door opener from working too hard. The safety sensors are out of alignment. Test the balance of your door.

Although they are rugged they can use some maintenance and care periodically. Remove the cover on the opener unplug the battery and replace it with a new one. Unplug the opener and try to open the door with the remote or wall button. The door needs lubrication.

Garage door openers have a lot of moving parts and are expected to provide years of use during their lifetime. Raise the garage door to about chest height then secure a clamp over the track under the roller to keep the door in place while you work. Your automatic garage door opener requires periodic maintenance to ensure safe and efficient operation. In fact because a garage door is often the heaviest and largest single piece of moving equipment around a home frequent testing and maintenance are especially important.

Don t use wd 40 because it will dry out the bearings rollers and hinges. Use white lithium grease on the opener s chain or screw and a spray lubricant available from your garage door specialist to coat the overhead springs. Shop garage door opener batteries. The batteries in the remote control need to be replaced.

The track is not aligned properly. The springs are broken. Keeping your garage door parts greased up will add years of seamless operation to your system and it takes just 10 minutes a year. To know how to balance a garage door first disengage the opener from the door by pulling the opener release handle see opening photo.