Help - Garage door opener quit

[jking]

Here's an odd situation. The garage door opener on my detached garage quit working yesterday. This is currently the only way in the garage. The service door was secured shut from the inside due to security concerns.

The button on the remote which is set to control the lights on the opener still functions. I can turn the lights on & off, but, when the button for the door is pressed nothing happens. I have tried all three remotes, same thing happens, so I know it's not an issue with the remotes.

Any ideas on what is wrong (I'm thinking its a short of some kind), or more importantly, how to get the door open? The opener is only about five years old.

[eezlock]

garage door opener?

jking, you should be able to open the door from the outside by taking a
small diameter (1/4") metal rod about 5 ft. long,bend a hook 180 deg. in one end, go to the middle of the door at the top and insert the rod toward the door opener, feel around lightly till you can grab hold of the emergency
pull cord. Then gently slide the hooked rod toward you to engage the handle on the cord ( trapping the hande in the hook) and then pull the rod with a
stiff pull, that will release the emergency opener latch on the door opener.
Then you can lift the door manually from the outside. Hope this helps...
eezlock

[Uncle Cracker]

There are a dozen different things that can cause your problem, so I won't hazard a guess as to what it is, but the above advice on how to get in is good advice. I should add that, if you have glass "lites" in your garage door, you could also knock one of those out to go for the emergency release.

[buckeye]

Do you have a way to cycle power off and on to the garage? Sometimes when mine quits I just cycle the power going to the opener and it will start working again.

[atgcpaul]

jking, you should be able to open the door from the outside by taking a
small diameter (1/4") metal rod about 5 ft. long,bend a hook 180 deg. in one end, go to the middle of the door at the top and insert the rod toward the door opener, feel around lightly till you can grab hold of the emergency
pull cord. Then gently slide the hooked rod toward you to engage the handle on the cord ( trapping the hande in the hook) and then pull the rod with a
stiff pull, that will release the emergency opener latch on the door opener.
Then you can lift the door manually from the outside. Hope this helps...
eezlock

I wouldn't have thought of this one. I'd better go secure my doors!

[dlminehart]

I had this kinda thing happen when I changed the circuitry in my garage to include a ground fault interrupt. Turns out that my garage door motor circuitry didn't like that change. Had to rewire that circuit without the interrupt protection.

[jking]

jking, you should be able to open the door from the outside by taking a
small diameter (1/4") metal rod about 5 ft. long,bend a hook 180 deg. in one end, go to the middle of the door at the top and insert the rod toward the door opener, feel around lightly till you can grab hold of the emergency
pull cord. Then gently slide the hooked rod toward you to engage the handle on the cord ( trapping the hande in the hook) and then pull the rod with a
stiff pull, that will release the emergency opener latch on the door opener.
Then you can lift the door manually from the outside. Hope this helps...
eezlock

Do you think a coat hanger would be stiff enough? I may have to stop at the hardware store on the way home. If I have 1/4" rod, you have one guess where it would be...

[Uncle Cracker]

A heavy coat hanger would work if it's long enough, or a piece of #10 solid copper wire...

[newbie2wood]

There are only two ways that I could think of to gain access.

1. kicking in the service door and breaking the inner latch.

2. Pulling on the emergency cord as others have suggested.

Good luck.

Once you have gained access, try the remote again. If you hear the motor running but the chain is not moving, your drive gear is most likely damaged. It is a small plastic gear that cost around $10 on eBay. If you are handy, you can replace it yourself. A professional service call will run about $150. The cost of a new garage opener is about the same.
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[Thom2]

If the opener was set up properly, the link bar to the door should actually kick 'over center' when the door is closed, I doubt that pulling the emergency release is going to allow you access. On my door you would have to pull the release both down and away from the door to release it enough for the door to open. Trying to do this from the outside is going to be pretty tough.

I'm afraid my advice is going to be to knock out a window or kick the entry door in.

[Stytooner]

Now you understand the finer points of having a non electrical way into the garage. Some folks around here had some trouble after the hurricanes when the power was out. Not so bad on an attached garage.
It's also not a good idea to block the entry door in case of an accident or fire inside. Especially an electrical fire. It may actually be illegal or at least contrary to code and insurance may no even pay if something does happen. I suggest you reopen the entry door and beef it up for security and safety concerns.

[jking]

Update

I was somewhat skeptical about being able to use the rod/coat hanger approach to trip the release. When I looked into it last night, the top of the garage door fits snug against the frame & extends enough above it that there was no way to get anything in that way. It actually makes me feel good to see this; the garage door should seal fairly tight on its own, otherwise the coat hanger method becomes a very easy way to break into garages.

The way into the garage ended up being through an old dog door I boarded up from the inside a few years ago. It was 1x material & I was able to "remove" it & get inside. The service door is operational (I installed a dead bolt) as I won't have time to really look into the garage door issue for maybe a week or two. The safety beam started making very sick sounding beeps (it's supposed to "beep" when the beam is broken) & the lights on the opener turned on & off randomly on their own. It wasn't the normal flashing that would happen when the beam is broken & the door stops or reverses. I suspect the safetly beam unit may be going bad, but, I would think the door should still go up. As stated in my original post, the opener does nothing when the button is pressed. No noises, no signs of life at all. It's as if you're using the wrong remote. The button programmed for the lights would still work, though. Either way, it is unplugged for now.

Thom2,
I'm not sure I understand completely when you say the link bar should be over center. I'm not sure how this would affect the release cord.

[newbie2wood]

If the unit is not making any noise, you may want to check several things.

1. Is there power to the outlet? Check it with a work light or hair dryer.

2. Is the battery in the remote okay? Replace if needed.

3. Can you reprogram the remote button?

4. Does the wall control button works? If the answer is no, it could be a faulty connection. Disconnect the wire from the safety beam and short the wall control terminals to see if the unit runs.

5. If you suspect the problem is due to the sensor, you can also short the sensor terminals and try operating the unit with the remote.

If neither #4 nor #5 works, the circuit board may be dead.
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