A power outage always occurs at the most inappropriate time. You rush to go to work, run children to school, or go on a trip, and then realize that the garage door will not budge. Despite the huge convenience of having an electric door opener, the malfunction of the electrical components, power failures can leave you in trouble. But there is no need to panic. This is a very common occurrence for us, and closing your door manually is often an option.
If you need installation or to repair a garage door in Plantation, talk to our friendly team at Top Service Garage Door Repair!
Security Measures
Your safety should always come first. Garage doors are extremely heavy and, depending on their size, can weigh hundreds of pounds. The springs and cables of the system create a huge amount of tension to reduce the heaviness of the door. If one of the springs breaks, the door can fall instantly with all its enormous weight.
Make sure that the area under the door is free of obstacles such as pets, children, or even cars. Unplug the electrical cord of your garage door from the ceiling outlet. This will ensure that the garage door opener will not start working automatically while your hands touch the movable part of the mechanism. If you are learning how to shut garage door manually, always check the system first. In case of any signs of broken springs or cables, it will be too dangerous to move the door.
Steps of Disengaging the Opener
To move the garage door manually, you need to disconnect it from the electrical opening mechanism. Look up at your garage ceiling, and you will see a carriage attached to your door. There is also a red cord hanging from this carriage with a handle. This is the emergency release cord. With a single pull in the downward direction, you should hear a loud click. This means that the trolley was successfully separated from the opener carriage. The door is in manual mode.
This is a key step in how to manually shut garage door. It should be noted that you should try to pull the red cord when the door is in the lowered position. Otherwise, in the case of damaged springs, it can crash abruptly.
Ways of Closing the Door
After the disconnection of the opener, you need to manually push your door down. Hold the door by using its designated manual handles, usually installed near the bottom panel of the door. If the door has no handles, grasp the bottom panel and slowly pull it downwards. Be careful not to put your fingers close to hinges or joints of panels. The garage door should roll smoothly down the rails with minimal force required to move it. If the door seems to be very heavy or stops halfway, check the alignment of the rails. After the successful lowering of the door, slide the manual locking bar on the inside to ensure safety and manually close the garage door securely.
Cases When You Need Help
Even though manual movement is an excellent solution for temporary situations, sometimes the door needs repairing. If you had to use extreme physical force when lowering your garage door, it probably means that your springs were worn out. Similarly, when the door started to drop after disconnecting the opener, you may have serious problems.
Springs create high torque in the mechanism and should be adjusted only by professionals. We highly discourage you from trying to repair it alone as it can be extremely dangerous. Get in touch with our repair service at Top Service Garage Door Repair so that we can calibrate your opener again. Closing a garage door manually requires care, and we’re just a phone call away if you need help.
Summary
As you can see, moving the garage door manually is easy if done with safety in mind. However, manual operation due to motor damage or broken springs is unsafe and can create security problems. Our professionals will gladly help you solve any issues!
FAQs
You can do it only in the case of installing an external emergency release lock in the system. Using this lever, you are able to unlock the door from the outside. When there is no additional entrance into your garage, it will be impossible for you to enter it. Contact our experts for help.
This process does not require much effort. Simply pull the emergency release cord towards the garage door to return to the automatic mode. Click on the remote control to start your door opener trolley. It will move on the track and reattach to the door carriage.
If it takes a lot of strength to manually lower your garage door, it means that springs are either broken or worn out. Springs reduce the weight of the garage door. Therefore, the door starts to be very heavy if it loses its balance.
Raised in Plantation, Florida, Steve earned a bachelor’s degree from Troy State University. He is an experienced entrepreneur with ventures in oil, real estate, and the garage door industry, known for being adaptable, reliable, and innovative.
Steve is married with two children who have successful careers in South Florida. The Gorey family is proud of its deep roots in the region and its connection to the local community.
