If you’re a new homeowner who just bought the house with the garage of your dreams equipped with an electric opener, there’s no doubt that this is exciting—especially if you never had an automatic garage door opener before.
Or perhaps you’ve recently renovated your garage and have just installed an automatic opener for the first time. Maybe you’ve always had an opener with a keypad but your garage was too cluttered until you started binge-watching Tidying Up with Marie Kondo on Netflix, and you used the KonMari Method to clean your garage.
What a great 2-door garage! If you’re thinking of replacing your garage doors and like the timeless beauty of Traditional look, these garage doors are Classic CC design, in 1-car size, Ice White color, and with 4 lite Orion windows
Whatever the case may be, you’re going to want to know how to best maintain your garage’s opening system. In this post, we will provide an overview of just how to do that and will give you a summary of the best practices when it comes to automatic garage door opener maintenance and safety.
STOP RIGHT THERE!
If you haven’t used an electric opener for a while, you’re going to want to read on to find out how to effectively keep your garage opening system running smoothly for a long time.
Step 1: Find Out What Year Your Door Opener Was Made
Here are the main models of LiftMaster garage door openers with their sticker locations and the information you can find on it.
Your garage door opener should come with a sticker that has all the important information regarding its specifications written on it. These stickers usually indicate the model and the serial number of your unit and can be a great reference when calling up a local garage door specialist.
Homeowners should be able to easily find the manufacturing date which will tell them when their opener was made. Those who have a Chamberlain, but not a LiftMaster model, could greatly benefit from this FAQ post that goes over some of the most common questions regarding Chamberlain openers.
Was Your Garage Door Opener Manufactured Before 1993?
If you have an opening system that was made before 1993, you’re probably going to want to forgo maintenance and skip to a full-on replacement of your garage door opener. As much as you want to think that getting the opener serviced can save you money, the truth is that after a certain point— in this case, almost 30 years, you’re going to want a new system. Running an old opener can quickly become a safety hazard.
Why is 1993 such an important date? The reason 1993 is a critical date was that this was the year that the US and Canada included 2 reversal systems that were designed to protect garage door owners.
The first reversal system is mechanical. This built-in safety feature made it so that if something is blocking the garage door when it’s closing, the motor would automatically detect it and reverse.
The second feature is photoelectric. These are the 2 units installed near the floor on opposite sides of the garage door frame. One of the units emits an infrared beam, that isn’t visible. The second unit is a receiver. If a person or object is detected by the beam while the door is closing, then the motor will stop and reverse.
These basic safety features were not available before 1993 which is why you have a system older than that, you’re doing yourself and your family a disservice and are creating a potentially dangerous environment.
Not convinced you need an upgrade yet? Learn more about photocell safety beams and learn which urban legend about planes opening garage doors has been proven to be true.
While 1993 was a critical year as far as garage safety was concerned, 2012 also proved to be a year where garage door opening systems made another major advance in their security and technology.
In 2012, Chamberlain’s garage door openers implemented Security+2.0 a rolling code technology.
This new rolling code technology can protect you from intruders by generating a new security code each time the remote control is used on your garage door opener.
Want to make sure your garage door opener has rolling code technology? Look for the Security+2.0 label on your Chamberlain, LiftMaster, or Craftsman garage door opener.
Once the remote control is activated, the garage door opener using a built-in algorithm can roll the remote control’s code to over 100 billion different code combinations. With Security+2.0 the same code will never be used more than once making stolen codes incapable of letting an intruder into your garage.
These are the major updates to garage door technology in the last few decades. Now that you know which safety features are essential for your garage door opening system, it’s time to test your setup to see if it's working properly.
Step 2: Test Your Garage Door Opener Safety Reverse System
You can do this by setting a wooden 2x4 flat on the threshold of the door. Once it’s set in its place, proceed to close the door with the remote. The door should reverse upward once it hits the board. If it doesn’t, you’re looking at a serious safety hazard. We recommend contacting your local garage door and opener specialist to address the issue.
Step 3: Test Your Garage Door Opener Photoelectric Safety Reverse System
What to look for on your garage door when you want to check your photocell reverse system? 2 photo eyes installed on each side of your door no more than 6 inches from the floor.
How to check this safety feature?
Checking to see if your motion sensor beam is working is a simple task. The goal is to make sure that your garage door goes up if something is placed in front of the infrared beam. You can either place your foot or another object in front of the sensor while closing your door. If the door goes up, then you’re in the clear.
If you want to avoid any major incidents, we recommend using a random object like a bike or toolbox laying in your garage instead of your foot or your pet. If your door doesn’t close with something blocking the beam, then you’re going to want to call a garage door specialist who can help repair your system.
Step 4: Check Your Garage Door Opener Wall Control Panel
A wall control panel? is placed on the wall. In most cases, the panel is located near the garage entry door to your house or beside the garage door itself, at least 5’from the floor.
To ensure that your wall control panel is operating properly check if the main opener button is functioning. Also, make sure to check if the light button works.
Step 5: Check Your Garage Door Opener Remotes & Keypad
When was the last time you changed your remote and keypad batteries?
If your remote or keypad is no longer working, it might be because the batteries haven’t been changed in years. One easy way to test if it’s time to replace your batteries is by checking the LED light that turns on when you press the test button. If the LED doesn’t light up then your batteries may have to be replaced. But overall, the biggest sign that you will need new batteries is if your remote is no longer opening your door.
Sometimes you might still experience issues even after changing the batteries. If this is the case you might need to reprogram your remote or keypad. Here’s a breakdown of how to program many LiftMaster accessories.
If you’ve been struggling with reprograming your remote or need to learn how to reprogram a new remote for someone in your family, you can learn more in the article about remote controls, 3-button mini remotes, and universal remote compatibility.
If you’re garage still isn’t opening after trying all these things, you should check the antenna. This is the wire that can be found sticking out of the bottom of your garage door opener. If you notice that the wire is cut or bent upwards, this could be the reason why your garage isn’t opening.
Step 6: Check Your Garage Door Emergency Release Rope & Handle
For the most part, assuming your garage door opening system isn’t from the 80s, you should see a rope hanging down near the rail that connects the opener to the door.
How to check if it still works:
● Pull the Emergency Release Cord
When you pull the emergency cord, you are essentially disabling the trolley operator which is the mechanism that moves your garage door.
● Locate the lifting handle on your garage door & lift it
Once you’ve pulled the emergency release cord, use the manual lifting handle on your garage door. This can be found near the bottom panel and sometimes on the panel above the lowest one.
If your garage door spring system is well-balanced, it will be easy to lift your garage door with only 1 hand.
If you’re trying to lift the door and it seems unusually heavy and difficult to lift, STOP LIFTING IMMEDIATELY.
Carefully close the garage door, and step away. Make sure nobody goes into the garage until you have your door inspected, repaired, or it receives maintenance.
Not being able to lift your door means that the springs are under extreme tension. If one of them is broken or malfunctioning this could lead to serious injury and will need to be addressed as soon as possible.
A common misconception is that garage door openers lift the garage door. This is actually not the case. It’s the garage door springs that are doing the real work of lifting the door.
Step 7: Do Maintenance on Your Garage Door Opener Trolley and Rail
Once you’ve completed all the prior checks on your garage door opening system, you can begin to take the final steps to make sure that everything is working properly.
Time to do a little bit of maintenance!
The installer is checking if the garage door opener trolley slides well on the rail
The first thing you’re going to want to do when performing your final maintenance check is to make sure the garage door opener trolley slides smoothly along the opener rail. You can use a dry cloth to remove any debris or dust build-up on the opener rail. Once you’ve dusted your rail you can then proceed to lubricate it using a petroleum-based lubricant. And since you already have your ladder out, you might as well do a quick check on the garage door tracks, springs, and hinges.
That’s it! You successfully checked your automatic garage door opener! Don’t forget to repeat all these steps twice a year to make sure your garage door opener is not a safety hazard.
Realized You’re Not Up for this Challenge? Want to Talk to a Garage Door Opener Specialist Before Going Further?
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If you require maintenance, repair, or installation on your garage door or your garage opener system, consider getting in touch with our garage door specialist. Our team of dedicated professionals has years of experience and can help you with any garage door project no matter how big or small.
Contact us now at 1-877-342-4666.
Is it time for a new garage door opener or a new garage door?
At Gagnon Overhead Door Ltd., we have you covered. Schedule a consultation where we can answer all your questions to better determine what garage door and garage door opener will work best for your space.
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Check out our previous projects in our residential photo gallery to get a better idea of what your garage door could look like after installation. If you want to preview how the different garage doors would look on your house check out our Design Centre App. This interactive app allows you to explore all of our different offerings. You’ll have fun building your dream door and you’ll be able to try it on a picture of your house.
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