OT Garage door opener problem

Re: OT Garage door opener problem

Jason Roehl in Mulberry, IN

>You may have binding somewhere that is causing problems. You could try bumping up the "opening force" adjustment.

No expert here, but I did just install a 10' door and opener in a friend's pole barn a few weeks ago. I had to play with the adjustments a while to get it to work right. Had I not had the manual for the opener, I would have been up "the" creek without a paddle. Or a canoe.

Jason

Re: OT Garage door opener problem

Keith Newton

>To trouble-shoot, you need to use the process of elimination. I would start by unhooking the door, and seeing if it will just drive the chain.

If not, I would take the chain off of the sprocket, and try to slide the part that the door connects to by hand. See if it sticks from a grease that gets too solid from the cold. While it is loose, see if the motor will drive just the gears and empty sprocket. If not, I would take a blow dryer and start warming up the most likely spots, and testing them one at a time.

Re: OT Garage door opener problem

Keith Newton

>Jason has a good point to increase the force. While you have the cover off though, I would make sure that the worm gear has plenty of grease on it. Once these parts get dry, they start to eat one another, and I am sure that the drag increases when that process starts.

Re: OT Garage door opener problem

Ted Wong

>Garage door openers can be finicky in cold weather. I had a similar problem with my parents opener a few years ago in MN. First the door wouldn't open without screeching. So I greased up the wheels and track for them. That worked out well for about a dozen openings and closings. Then as the temperature stated to drop the door would really drag and stall out. So next I greased up the worm gear. That helped too for a few opening and closing cycles but again things would stall out again. After a chat with the hardware guy I learned that maybe the grease I applied had congealed in the cold weather and I should use WD-40 or something to clean the grease back out and try some other grease that had a lower congeal point.

Following his advice things seemed to move better but the opener was still stalling halfway up. After putzing around for the better part of the afternoon with it I gave it a rest for an hour and came back and hit the button again and voila works fine. I figure it out that in all the testing of raising and lowering the door there was some type of overlaod that would trip when the motor got hot from the repeated up and down of the door.

Re: OT Garage door opener problem

Bill Howatt

>Since it doesn't run with no load on it and you have checked the adjustments I would say you have a malfunction in the control circuit board. Some component is thermally sensitive which is not unusual and has gone bad. You could try applying some heat in the form of a lamp to the area the circuit board is located.

You probably can get a replacement board but you may find for a DIY job it is non-returnable if you stumble on some other cause. I have replaced 2 in my Sears opener (due to lightning power surges). The cost was around $100 for the board so you may well consider it a better deal to replace the whole thing if it is old, especially if you can find one on sale.

Bill

Re: OT Garage door opener problem

Larry in NW Ohio

>Rich As Bill said maybe get some heat up around the moter. I`m assuming this is a chain drive. I would try the heat around the drive sprocket area and let it point to the motor circuit board area. I don`t think I`d put it right on the CB, because it might get to hot. That is why I`d put it on the sprocket and point it towards the motor CB area. Good Luck and let us know what happens. Larry in NWOhio

Adjust the Open/close Force

Rick Christopherson

>Most garage door openers have an adjustment for the amount of force the motor will apply before it assumes there is a jam. It is not uncommon to have to change this adjustment as the components wear with age, and especially when the grease in the worm drive and door rollers gets this cold.

Some openers have both a closing force and an opening force adjustment, and also open limit and close limit. This are potentiometers on the side of the opener, or directly on the control board.

Another thing that most people don't consider is that the carriage rollers go bad with age, not to mention that the factory rollers may not be very good quality. I have resolved many door opener problems by simply replacing the carriage rollers. Replacement rollers are available at most home centers.

Re: OT Garage door opener problem

del schisler

>(I have two identical openers and only one has this problem ) I thank the responce's are missing the above If only 1 is giving problum's And 1 is working ok It may be in the hand held I would get a new hand held And go from their And not do all the extra work? If not needed So all of the other idea's aren't the problum ?? just my nickel's worth

Are the two units identical?

ark

>If the two units are identical, you could try swapping the circuit boards and see if the problem follows the board.

Have you checked the diagnostic lights on the circuit board after the door fails to close or open? If there is something wrong with the circuit board, it will likely be flashing a code which can be looked up in your manual. Replacing the circuit board is easy but as another poster indicated can easily be half the cost of a new garage door opener and is non-refundable.

Best of luck.

Re: OT Garage door opener problem

Rich in MN

>Thanks for all the suggestions. The problem is at 10 below or so it's too cold to work on it and when it warms up enough to work on it the opener works fine.

I'll keep at it and maybe track it down by the next cold snap.