Sensor alignment

One of the most common reasons for garage door closing malfunctions is your sensor alignment. First, check to make sure that one light is always shining. This one is your transmitter. The other one is the receiver and it should light up when the view to your transmitter is clear and unobstructed. If one of the sensors is bumped and moved even slightly out of alignment, the signal can be disrupted. Try bending it back so that they have a clear view of each other again.

Sometimes, the sensors can be aligned perfectly but something is blocking the signal. Remember; garages are usually full of items like cars, ATV’s, bicycles, brooms, rakes, shovels, garden equipment, dog food bags, trash cans, boxes, skateboards, tools, hand drills, leaf blowers, storage containers and lots more. Anyone of these can fall, be nudged, or be positioned so that the light from the transmitter is NOT received by the receiver. Also, items that are sharp can cut or fray the wires to the safety eyes. Bugs and animals can damage the wires and the end result is the same; sporadic garage door working ability. This is due to the fluctuations of the current through the damaged wires. Sometimes they work and often, they don’t. Even if you were to splice and tape the damaged wires together, moisture and humidity can enter and cause the safety override to trigger.

Faulty wiring

Many times, the sensors offer sporadic performance due to faulty wiring. The wires could have been chewed on, nudged, partially cut or accidentally pulled, but if they are not connected properly, your safety override can be triggered causing your garage door to start back up again or not come back down at all.

Dirty sensors

Having dirty safety eye sensors is much like trying to see out of dirty glasses; it doesn’t work! If it does, it’s not too reliable. You can clean the sensor but do it carefully – they scratch easily so use a cloth to wipe them clean and it’s ok to use a cleanser, but try and make it a streak free one. Remember, these small sensors are made of glass and you don’t want to scratch or crack them in any way.

Track build-up

Another reason that your garage door may not close properly is that there is build-up material in your tracks like dirt, small rocks, mud, lint, gum or other debris. It may not be obvious but even a little of this can cause your garage door to start to close, and then go back up on its own. This is due to the inability of the rollers to move forward on the tracks as they are designed to NOT crush or roll over anything lodged in the tracks; instead they retract. Clean tracks periodically to ensure that the rollers can move through them.

Cables and tension springs

Your tension springs and cables are designed to SLOWLY and SAFELY lower your garage door when you want to close it. Can you imagine not having them and pushing the close button that results in a falling or rapidly descending door? NOT a good idea! This is what happens when the cables or springs break or snap. Your door can drop suddenly and crash to the ground with a loud BANG! When your springs break, it puts tremendous pressure on your cables and they usually snap too causing your garage door to fall down fast! Don’t try to fix these! Professional service is always recommended and here in Centennial, CO there are many full service garage door repair shops that are both affordable and fast responding.