Who is to blame when the garage door doesn’t open? With so many overhead door parts, it’s hard to really point the finger and be sure of your suspicions. What makes things even more complicated is that one problem can be explained in several different ways. So when the door fails to go up, you immediately think that there are garage door opener problems. But are there? How about the springs? Have you thought that broken springs will keep the door on the ground? How about a broken cable or pulley? What about the door having come off the track! Many things can go wrong and make the door noisy or unable to go up.
When it comes to garage door problems, you must have a broad perspective. Why is that? Let us explain. There are two ways of looking at such things.
1. There are parts, which can cause serious problems even if they are hardly damaged.
2. And there are parts, which wear faster or are more susceptible to damage and can cause big or small operational problems.
Which parts cause more problems?
Let us begin by examining option one. And allow us to start with the
obvious example of garage door opener sensors. All it takes is dust or pushing one sensor a bit to the left or right. You are not protected any longer. Whether they just need dusting or alignment, they won’t reverse the door should the need arises! And such minor problem can bring disaster!
Which parts wear faster?
The garage door motor can be damaged rather fast since it’s an electric unit. And when we are talking about damage, we don’t necessarily mean that you will need to replace it. But if one of the wires is disconnected, the opener won’t work. And this will be a major problem.
All steel parts are susceptible to the weather and thus rust. And it’s not just the noise which will irritate you. It’s also the fact that friction produced due to corrosion will destroy other parts. Let’s say you have steel garage door rollers. But the tracks are made of stainless steel. The rollers will eventually corrode while tracks will remain intact. But when rollers are rusty, they scratch the surface of the stainless steel tracks. And then tracks will corrode too. The result? You need to replace them both. The solution? Get them both in stainless steel or choose nylon rollers. And don’t forget the importance of regularly maintenance lubrication.
The garage door spring world
Ah! Springs! They have a world of their own! And they belong to both categories: they can cause serious trouble even if they are just non-lubricated or not well adjusted but they also wear faster than other parts. Together with springs, garage door cables wear too. They too lose their flexibility and might come off their drum. And that’s why both springs & cables are often replaced together.
The conclusion? One way or another, parts wear! Some faster than others but they all do wear. And along they bring problems, which in turn might question your safety which in turn might lead to accidents not to mention security issues. The solution? Inspect, lubricate, maintain, and repair!
