Having Trouble With Your Garage Door? Here's How You Can Solve Some Problems
If your garage door doesn't work, you may be able to address a few minor problems on your own. You don't always need a new motor or even a new spring and cables to the door; you may, however, only need to replace a few parts or make a few adjustments for the door to start working again. Note a few things to consider if your automatic garage door should ever fail.
No lights or sounds at all
You want to ensure your garage door motor is getting electricity, so check the circuit breakers of your home. If those are not tripped, you may need a new circuit board to the actual garage door motor itself. Changing out the circuit board is not as difficult as you might expect; you can usually order one from the manufacturer and then simply open the front of the housing unit for the motor. You'll see some wires screwed into the motor's circuit board and you can easily unscrew them; just make a note as to where they're connected to the board. Screw them into your new board and replace the front of the housing unit, and your motor should work fine.
The light doesn't work, but the door does
If you've tested the bulb for the garage opener light, you may need a new socket. Like the circuit board, you can get a new one from the manufacturer and then simply replace the old socket by unscrewing it or unsnapping it. There are usually wires screwed into the socket as well, so remove those. Slide in the new socket exactly as the old one was attached, screw the wires back into place and ensure there are no loose or exposed wires, and this should fix the problem.
The door closes too quickly
Remember that the garage door motor only moves the chain of the garage door, whereas the chain itself is what holds the weight of the door. If the garage door suddenly closes too quickly, the motor may be working fine but the chain may be too slack and, in turn, it can't control the door as it closes. Your garage door owner's manual should tell you the right tension of the chain, as well as how to measure this tension and fix it when it's too slack. Try tightening the chain when the door closes too quickly and see if that addresses the problem.
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