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How to Open a Garage Door During a Power Outage

Aug 01, 2017
A power outage is inevitable, whether it’s from bad weather, a blown transformer, or something else. Knowing ahead of time how to operate your garage door during a power outage will save you time and frustration.

At Factory Direct Garage Doors, we are your source for the highest quality custom doors in Melbourne. Buy garage doors direct from the manufacturer, and we’ll have them ready to go in 7-10 days at our always competitive pricing. Whether you’re looking for sectional garage doors, custom roll up doors, timber garage doors, or something completely custom, we’ve got the door for you. Contact us today for a free quote!

Here’s what you need to know about operating your garage door when the power is out.

Manual Release

Every electric garage door has a manual release, which can bypass the motor when something goes awry. Most of the time, it’s attached to the motor itself. Typically, it’s a red cord with a red handle or ball attached. Your door should have handles that you can use to open and close the door in manual mode. If your torsion springs and cables are in good working order, the door should stay up on its own so you can back out. If the door doesn’t stay open on its own, have somebody hold the door for you while you back out, and be sure to have the cables and torsion springs replaced to avoid more issues down the road.

We cannot emphasize enough how important it is that you disengage this when the garage door is already down. It will release the door, which could crush or kill somebody when it falls, not to mention the damage you could do to the door itself.

Keep Your Belongings Safe

If your power is going to be out for a while, you’ll want to take precautions to ensure that nobody can open your door from the outside. Take a look at the side of the track next to your wall, where you’ll find a manual lock. When you’re not at home or while you’re sleeping, you should lock the door. Be sure that you disengage the lock before you engage the manual release. When the power returns, you could seriously damage your door if you use the electric garage door opener while the lock is employed.

When The Power Returns

When the power comes back, it’s time to reconnect the opener. Make sure that if you’ve used the lock, it’s now disengaged. This is likely going to be a two-person job. Sometimes, you might be able to simply run the garage door opener, and it’ll reconnect automatically. If you try this route, hold the door open a little and run the opener. If that doesn’t work, you’ll have to do it manually. Look for the carriage, which is the part of the chain that connects the door to the motor. You might want to run the door automatically until the carriage is where you want it. Now, lift the garage door until it locks with the carriage. Run the opener, and you should be all set. If you run into any issues, have a professional take a look.

As you can see, a power outage can expose issues you weren’t aware of. We recommend running your door manually a few times a year, which can expose these issues before an emergency comes up. Further, have your garage door maintenanced on a regular basis.

Contact us for a free quote today.
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