How to Maintain a Garage Door Opener
The regular maintenance and adjustment of your garage door opener needs to be a priority. Careful maintenance will help to extend its useful life. It can also insure the safety of your family and pets. Monthly maintenance should only take a few minutes of your time. This can typically be done with items you have on hand. Establishing a routine will help you avoid costly repairs later. A well maintained garage door opener will retract with light pressure. It will close with a minimum of force, helping to extend the life of the unit. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
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Use safety first. Always make sure that the power to your garage door opener is disconnected before you perform maintenance activities. Make sure to wear appropriate clothing. Lose the dangling jewelry. Tuck in loose shirttails. Pull up long hair so that it stays out of the way of moving machinery. If using a ladder, place it squarely on a level surface.
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Clear away debris. Dead insects, dirt and leaves collect in the arm and rail guides of your garage door opener. Keep them clean and clear by brushing them monthly with a soft brush.
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Inspect the hinges and tracks for grime and rust. Remove grime with a soft rag. Use steel wool to remove accumulated rust.
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Lubricate the drive chain, axles, wheel bearings and hinge pins on your garage door opener with a light, penetrating oil. There are oils designed especially for use on garage doors that can be found at most home supply stores.
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Remove excess oil lubricant with a cloth.
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Adjust garage doors with stretched springs and cables. Prolonged use can cause minor stretching that will need to be addressed periodically by tweaking limit screws.
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Check the chain tension. Sagging chains will cause premature drive sprocket wear. Use a flat head screwdriver to tighten any chain that sags more than half an inch lower than the rail.
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Check the sensor alignment. If your door is fitted with safety reversing sensors, make sure that they are properly aligned by testing them periodically. Place your hand in the beam as the door closes to make sure it retracts immediately. If it doesn't work, clean the sensor lenses and adjust the alignment. Test again. Problems with the wire connections are best left to a professional.
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- Photo Credit Courtesy of Morguefile
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Comments
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Gerrie Grimsley
Sep 25, 2010
Here we go again...more hate mail. This seems to be happening alot lately. I've written for ehow almost two years now and have never seen anything like it. lynb doesn't even write articles! I suppose just likes to be critical. So sad. This is a good article and not worthy of the raking it's taken here. Keep up the good work S.A. Don't let the turkeys get you down (as some might say!) -
lynb362002
May 22, 2010
OK, how desperate are you to call yourself a writer? Write about something you know about. The safety tips are idiot filler. "Lube stuff", awesome, "Remove Debris" are you kidding me? "Remove rust with steel wool" you better hope they arent removing rust from a torsion spring when the summers heat and this new annoyance decide to pop the spring (OOPS! There went my face!) The only smart thing this woman said was call a professional, if you call before you destroy your door and/or opener, it will probably cost you much less.
