- Details
- Published: Tuesday, 26 September 2023 01:51
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Garage Door (GD):
Most of the new homes come with a garage and a garage door. If yours doesn't have a garage door, it's NOT something that can be done DIY. It requires a lot of muscles to move 100+ lbs doors, and a lot of precision to make it work. You are btter off paying someone to do it, or live without a garage door. Once garage door is installed, there are 2 options: One to lift it up and then close it manually everytime you leave the house, or the other option is to have a "wireless or wired" garage door opener, that will open or close the door on click of a button. Installing these garage door openers may be a DIY if you have those steel brackets already hanging from the roof, where you can install your big box of "GD opener". Most Builders already have these "wireless or wired" GD openers installed, so you don't have to worry about. However, installing anything from scratch isn't a DIY when working on a GD. However, if something breaks or malfunctions, then it's definitely DIY to fix it.
GD basics:
GD are heavy (150 lbs or more). You will see 2 rails on 2 sides. There will be wheels rolling on these rails. The whole GD rolls on these wheels. There are 2 drums (big wheels) on 2 sides on the top, which have a cable attached to them which help in lifting or dropping the big GD. However, even with these pulleys, the heavy door can't be lifted vertically, as lifting 150 lbs weight to 5 feet height is not easy. To help with that, there is a spring (called as Torsion Spring) that is attached to the rod on top of the door. It is initially winded in a direction opposite to the direction the door is going to lift up. It's like you wind a spring 10 times, then it will unwind as soon as you let it go. If a weight is attached to the spring with a string, then unwinding spring will lift the weight. If the weight just counter balances the torque in the spring, then the weight will just stay where ever it is, i.e there will be no force needed to raise or lower the weight. This is exactly how garage door torsion spring works.
2 good video explaining this:
Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yFhsl3s_4A
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzczI8Aq3AQ
Repairs:
There are many DIY repairs that can be done. Hiring someone to do GD repair is expensive. Parts are very cheap, and can easily be bought for < $100 for most of them. Labot will cost around $200/hr.So, do yourself by watching same youtube videos again and again, and also all different videos on that topic.
Broken Torsion spring replacement:
One of the most common things to break in a GD is torsion spring. It has a life of 10 years, but they may break in as little as 5 years depending on usage. Hiring someone to replace the torsion spring costs about $400, while torsion spring itself costs only $50 (pair costs $100). You can buy from Home Depot, Lowes, etc.
Torsion Spring (HD): https://www.homedepot.com/p/Clopay-0-2437-in-x-2-in-x-27-5-in-1-Green-Left-Wound-Replacement-Torsion-Spring-7030052/312648282
Winding Bars (HD): https://www.homedepot.com/p/Clopay-Commercial-spring-winding-bars-5686901/312648359
Smaller doors have only 1 spring, while larger doors have 2 springs. The Spring needs to make 7-8 complete turns. winding bars are used to make those turns. With each turn, the spring stores energy, and can be very dangerous if it suddenly loses that energy. So, be extremely careful. Few tips:
- There is a straight white line on the Torsion spring. With each turn, the straight line will show a twist. So, 1 turn will show 1 circle of that white line. With 8 turns, it will show 8 circles of that white line. This is to help us figure out the number of turns we have given to the spring. For a 7 ft GD, I had to give 28 turns (7*4) + 3 turns = 31 turns. It worked perfectly. +/- 1 turn isn't going to make or break it. As long as the door is able to hold, it's good. When turning with the winding bars, it's not too difficult. I'm a thin person, but was able to do it with no issues.
- There are left and right torsion spring. Get the correct one, if you have only 1 spring. If you have 2 springs, then get both left and right, as you should replace both of them. Make sure you wind them in correct direction (i.e clockwise or anticlockwise). Both the springs turn the same way when looked at from the same side, as they both try to turn the rod in the same direction. But they reverse direction when you look at them from the end you are winding it from.
Video 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5k9qrgZ9rPs
Garage Door Open/close issues:
This is one of the most common issues, where garage door will open fine, but will not close. It will try to go down an inch or 2, and then lights starting flashing, or it will go half way down, and then open back up, or it will go almost almost all the way down (or even touch the ground), and then open all the way up. Most of the times it's an issue with the sensor, or an issue with an adjustment knob on the controller system. Both of them pretty easy to fix.
First, make sure that by bypassing the sensor, you are able to close the door. Bypassing the sensor can be done by pressing the "garage opening button" mounted on the wall (one to open/close the garage door), and keeping it pressed, until the garage door closes. If it does, then it's one of the 2 issues:
- Sensor issues: These are the 2 sensors (Sensor pair) mounted on the bottom of the 2 rails on the 2 sides of the garage door. One of them is the one sending the IR light, while the other one is receiving the light. If there's anything in between the 2 sensors (such as a person or car ), then the receiving sensor doesn't get the IR light, and garage door won't close. The light on the controller will blink 10 times to indicate an obstruction. Sometimes, sensors get misaligned, and not seeing seeing each other. You need to loosen them and then get them to see each other. One of the sensors which is transmitting IR light will be lit orange, while the receiver will lit solid green. If it's blinking, then it's not in line of sight. Adjust it until it's solid green. Then tighten it to keep it in place and check if garage door will close. Many times, sensors will have dirt or something on the lens which will need to be cleaned with a cloth. If it still doesn't work, then tr replacing the sensors, as old sensors may show solid green light, but may still malfunction. Replacing the sensor is easy 5 minute job, and quick way to find out if sensors are the issue. You may return the sensors if you figure out that replacing sensors did nothing.
- Video on replacing sensors =>
- Adjustment via controller: If even after fixing the sensor, the GD still doesn't close all the way or remain open halfway, then it's most likely adjustment issue. There's an adjustment knob on all controllers, that allow you to adjust how much door you want to open or how much you want to close. The door will stop at that point. Each system has it's own method to adjust the knob. You have to take a ladder and get to the control system to adjust it. No parts needed, as it's usually a simple push button or a screw to turn around (use a screwdriver to turn it).
- Adjustment for Chamberlain => https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6d9IMjyze4. Direct from Chamberlain => https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7HTQQ11sPE . Four Steps for this procedure. Close the GD. Now open the cover and locate the center push button (aka adjustment button) and up/down arrow buttons.
- Push button in center for a second. Light for top arrow will start blinking. Push the top arrow button and keep it pushed, until it's to a point where you want your GD to remain when opened. Now push button in center. There will be a beep and Lights will blink. This will set the desired setting for open position of GD.
- Now the down arrow will be blinking. Push the down arrow button and keep it pushed, until it's to a point where you want your GD to remain when closed. This is generally the point where the GD touches the floor. Now push button in center. There will be a beep and Lights will blink. This will set the desired setting for closed position of GD.
- Now the up arrow will blink again. You push it, and it should allow the door to open until it gets to the open position that you set. You should NOT press the central rectangular button in this step or the next, as setting is already done. Step 3 and step 4 are just to cycle thru.
- Now the down arrow will blink again. You push it, and it should allow the door to close until it gets to the closed position that you set. Light will stop blinking, implying the whole setup is complete. Now you close the cover, and try opening/closing GD from GD opener on the wall. If you messed up something, start from step 1 again. To test that GD will open if it comes in contact with anything while it's in between these 2 positions, place a wooden piece (~1 inch or so) on the floor. Now close the GD, GD should reverse and open on coming in contact with this wooden piece. Lights will blink indicating an obstruction. The test is complete at this point.
- Adjustment for LiftMaster => This is also owned by Chamberlain, but has a different style of knob for adjusting. Video her: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSyI-zbpxEc&list=TLPQMTAxMDIwMjMANt1Sc1eWEg&index=2
- Adjustment for Chamberlain => https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6d9IMjyze4. Direct from Chamberlain => https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7HTQQ11sPE . Four Steps for this procedure. Close the GD. Now open the cover and locate the center push button (aka adjustment button) and up/down arrow buttons.