Garage Door Issues in Cold Weather
Cold weather often brings seasonal troubles like snow shoveling, colds and flu, dry skin and higher heating bills. Another misfortune often blamed on cold weather is garage door issues. At a time when we really need our garage doors to work; sometimes they don’t! You may be bundled up and ready to face the cold day ahead. You try and leave for work and…no garage door activity! Maybe you are attempting to leave and bring a nice warm dinner home for the family. Your garage door opened and you backed the car up, but now it won’t come down! Sometimes, our Welby Garage Door Repair technicians are asked about this phenomenon and we respond by giving some helpful tips on how to handle this seasonal problem. See what you think.
What if I don’t live in Welby, CO?
We realize that not everyone lives here in town and yes, it does get pretty cold here in the winter. The fact remains that cold weather does affect garage doors and their components. You should expect this no matter where you live. It doesn’t take much to interrupt carefully laid plans and something as annoying as a malfunctioning garage door can really throw them off. On reason for this is that your garage door guards one of the entrances into your home. It also protects the items that are already inside your garage like cars, tools, storage items, etc. Not being able to securely open or close your garage door affects everything including your convenience. Fortunately, there are some tips to help and items to be on the lookout for if this should occur.
Cold Battery
Everyone knows that batteries low on power sometimes stop working, but were you aware that cold batteries often lose their effectiveness? Now, DON’T microwave your remote battery! We don’t need to go that far! You can simply remove the battery from your remote, warm it with your hands and replace it. If it still doesn’t work, try testing it. Do you have a home battery tester? You can buy used ones at garage sales or at the flea market or many local and online shops sell them new for less than $20. It may be that your battery was mostly drained and the cold weather “put it over the top” and it’s now dead. If you like, you can take it to a home improvement or retail store that tests batteries for free.
Your safety sensors get cold too!
Unless you have a heated garage, your photoelectric safety eyes get cold and this can affect them. This is because your sensors have metal casings that can contract or expand based on the temperature outside. This change in movement is often enough to throw them off of alignment and you know what happens when that occurs! Fortunately, if your beams are not aligned, there is an easy fix! They were designed to be manually adjusted and you can gently do this so that they once again send the right signals to each other. While you are doing this, be on the lookout for items that may be clogging your sensor lens. Spider webs are commonly found in the winter as your garage is dark, often damp and warmer inside than out. Spiders are often good bugs as they eat other insects and flies but you certainly don’t want them taking over your safety sensors. Webs are sticky and can attract dead bugs, leaves, twigs and dirt that can scratch and cover your sensor lenses. You can clean your lenses with a dry cloth and while you are at it, remove any nearby garage items that may fall on, damage or block yours sensors or their beams. This can include trash cans, garden tools, toys, wheelbarrows, bicycles, etc.
Check your tracks
Your garage door has tracks on both sides of it. Your rollers move up and down within these tracks – but only if they are clear and debris free. If they get clogged, your rollers can stop and your garage door will reverse course. At this point you might be wondering what cold weather has to do with this! Think of the grease, oil and dirt caked inside your tracks. This alone is sometimes enough to stop your rollers but in cold weather, this “gunk” hardens and then it acts like cold butter which is hard to spread. Check your tracks once in a while and see to it that they are debris free. If you do find potential clogging, you can clean it out with a toothbrush so that your rollers can move freely inside of them, once more.
Cold garage door springs
Just being cold shouldn’t bother healthy garage door springs. It’s when they get old and are worn that the drop in temperature can affect them. Sometimes frigid temperatures are all that is needed to put your torsion or extension spring “over the edge” if it’s nearly worn out or already damaged. When that happens, your garage door simply will not work as it should, or sometimes, not at all.
A snapped or damaged garage door spring will give your garage door that tilted to one side look. We’ve all seen it and everyone knows that your garage door is damaged. Usually when one spring breaks; the other is soon to follow, so be prepared to have them both serviced and/or replaced. Signs that your garage door is suffering from damaged springs include:
- Tilted look that is noticeable when garage door is open or closed
- Garage door that won’t open but the opener motor can be heard running
- Garage door begins to rise but then falls back down
- Raised garage door can sway back and forth when lightly pushed