How To Open Garage Door Without Power
No power? No problem
Automatic garage doors are great. But like all devices, they are never 100% fail-proof. Knowing how to open your garage door without power could be useful during a power outage or emergencies for you to get your car in or out of the garage. Fortunately, most people can open a garage door without power quite easily as long as they know what to do.
Prepping Your Garage
You can only open garage doors manually from the inside of the garage. This means you must have a secondary entry point, such as a pass door or a man door, to let you get to the mechanism. A man door, as the name suggests, is a standalone door often added to the side of a garage. Meanwhile, a pass door is built into the garage door. Both also provide an additional layer of safety as they can serve as emergency exits if needed.
Locate the Emergency Cord
Photo: Yuliya Taba / Getty ImagesFind the door trolley. It’s the garage door part connecting to both the door and the garage door opener carriage. It moves as the door opens and closes, so disengaging the trolley will allow you to operate the door manually. You should see a red rope hanging from the trolley; that’s your emergency release cord. When your garage door is down, the rope should be somewhere near the front of the door. Pull the cord all the way down and now your garage door can be operated by hand.
Open the Door
Photo: kyrychukvitaliy / Adobe StockLift the door up using the handlebar at the bottom. While doing this, pay attention to any unusual noises because that could indicate other problems with your door. If you cannot lift the door at all, don’t try to force it open. Chances are you have a faulty spring. If that’s the case, hire a garage door repair company. Don’t try to disengage the spring yourself. It is loaded with a high amount of force and impact and can cause severe bodily injuries if you don’t have professional knowledge on how to inspect or repair the spring safely.
Reconnect the Opener
Once your door is open, pull it all the way back down. Go inside and now pull the emergency release cord toward the door. This compresses the spring and reconnects the trolley and the opener properly. Now, run the opener on a complete cycle (all the way up and then down). You should hear a loud click: that’s your trolley and opener reconnecting.
Mistakes to Avoid
Never disengage your opener while the door is open. If your garage door won’t close, call a professional. When the door is open, the spring is packed with immense pressure. Therefore, disconnecting the opener can be extremely dangerous as the door can slam down.
Another common mistake is forcing the door to open. If your door still won’t go up after disconnecting it from power, or you have to put in a lot of effort to push it up, it’s best to call someone for an inspection. Faulty garage doors continue to build up more tension between their parts and will eventually break, causing excessive damage or even bodily injury due to their weight.
If your garage door doesn’t have an emergency release function built-in, you can install a universal garage door emergency kit. Most kits are under $20 and can be easily installed by yourself. However, it’s best to upgrade your door in the long run. Garage remodel can range from $7,000 to $30,000, although installing a new door only costs about $1,200.
If you have a broken spring, hiring someone to open the door is best. If you insist on doing this yourself, make sure you have helpers. Secure your door so it doesn’t snap or fall, then disconnect the opener. Slowly lift the door section by section. Also, ensure the door is secured once fully open, and avoid pulling it back down. However, since a broken spring can cause your door to slam or get stuck at the top, it’s best to hire someone for a repair as soon as possible.
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