Maintain Your Garage Door & Opener System

So you push the button and your garage door opens...you push the button again and your garage door closes...everything is working, right? Maybe? Maybe not? The only way to tell is to perform a proper inspection of both the garage door and the garage door opener. We highly recommend having your garage door system lubricated, tuned up, and inspected by a professional licensed door shop such as EOGD once a year. After all, the garage door is the largest moving object in your home and there are many components that when properly maintained will provide many years of reliable service. But that's just the beginning...

In addition to the annual tune-up mentioned above, it is important to perform monthly inspections of your garage door and opener to ensure they are both working correctly. It is not uncommon for us to get a call from a customer who wants to purchase a "stronger opener" because their current opener wouldn't opener their "heavy door". Many times all that was needed was to simply adjust the balance on their existing garage door and the problem was solved, saving the customer a few hundred dollars that they would have spent for a new garage door opener.

The Door and Opener Access System Manufacturers Association (DASMA) has published a 10-point checklist that consumers and home inspectors can use to ensure the proper operation of your garage door system. Click Here to open the checklist.

Torsion Springs

Torsion spring counter balance systems are the most common spring system on modern sectional garage doors. The torsion springs are typically located just above the garage door and can be visually inspected from the inside of the garage when the garage door is closed. DO NOT TOUCH THE TORSION SPRINGS!!! Torsion springs are under very high tension and can cause serious injury and even death if not serviced by a properly licensed garage door technician. If upon visual inspection you discover that you have a broken torsion spring DO NOT OPERATE THE GARAGE DOOR and call us to schedule a service call to replace the springs.

Photo Safety Beam (aka Photo Eyes)

One of the most common calls for service we receive is for reversing garage doors. Typically the customer will describe pushing the button to close their door and it only travels a few inches and reverses back to the fully open position. This is usually due to misaligned or blocked photo eyes. Photo eyes are part of the garage door opener anti-entrapment safety system and are located on either side of the garage door between 4"-6" off the ground. Their purpose is to cause the garage door to retract to a fully open position if anyone or anything crosses the path of the garage door while it is closing. Photo eyes can be bumped very easily and cause the opener system to signal an error when attempting to close the garage door. For this reason misaligned photo eyes are not a warranty call. If you are not familiar how to realign your photo eyes, refer to your owners manual or simply give us a call, we will be happy to walk you through it.