Is your garage door not opening today when it worked perfectly yesterday? Most common cause for garage doors that worked perfectly yesterday and then quit working today in Denver is cold weather. Denver’s very cold weather can affect every component in a garage door system.
What’s going on with your Garage Door?
Why Cold Weather Affects Garage Door Performance
Denver’s climate causes unique problems for garage doors that don’t occur in warmer parts of the country. For example, many nights the temperature can drop 40-50 degrees in just a few hours. This causes metal to contract, lubricants to thicken, rubber to harden, and the electronic components of openers to behave differently.
The Most Common Cold Weather Garage Door Problems in Denver
The Spring Tension Loses Force. The torsion springs on your garage door or the extension springs on your garage door, contract in the cold weather. So even though the spring was wound tight a few days before, by the time the cold weather hits it can lose as much as 50% of its tension. If the garage door opener tries to open a door with low spring tension, the opener will over work itself and the motor can even trip the thermal overload protection and cease to operate. Smart Garage Door Service can send a same day repair technician to increase the spring tension on your garage door if it has been working fine before a cold snap in weather and stopped suddenly.
Most Garage Door Problems Caused by Weather are Bottom Seal Problems Frozen to the Ground. When the Rubber Garage Door Bottom Seal freezes to the Ground in freezing temperatures it can pull and even break the bottom seal from the Garage Door when trying to open the door in the morning. This can be very costly when a garage door needs to be repaired because of the severe damage that can occur to the door. So in a nutshell be sure to check the bottom of your Garage Door for any frozen debris and use some warm water to help loosen up any ice that has built up on the bottom seal. Also be sure to use a Garage Door Bottom Seal that is rubber and not plastic as rubber is much better in cold weather then plastic.
Grease and lubricant become less effective as the temperature significantly drops. The lubricant on your door’s rollers, hinges, and springs will thicken as the temperature drops. This will cause increased friction throughout the system which will cause your door to have to work much harder to open and close. There are many lubricants on the market that are specifically rated to work well in cold temperatures.
Also note that batteries in remote openers will lose power in cold weather and may not work. Try to open the garage door with the remote after warming the remote in your hand for a few minutes. Then try replacing the batteries in the remote to see if that will open the garage door.
On many garage door installations the steel tracks are welded together in a straight line. As the temperature drops, steel contracts or gets smaller. If the tracks were not perfectly aligned when they were installed, or the wheels on the end of the rollers are worn, the cold weather can cause the door to bind or get stuck as it travels up and down the tracks. This problem can often be solved by tightening up the bolts that hold the tracks together. This will pull the ends of the tracks back into alignment, so that the door can travel up and down the tracks smoothly.
Electronic components can malfunction in extreme cold. This usually occurs below the temperature for which the opener was rated, usually around -20°F to -30°F. For Denver’s temperatures this is a rare occurrence but does happen from time to time. Extended periods of cold weather can affect your opener’s circuit boards and sensors.
How to Fix Garage Door That Wont Open in Cold Weather.
Before calling a garage repairman to service your garage door in cold weather check the bottom seal first. If it has frozen to the ground to open the garage door manually pour warm water along the bottom of the seal to dissolve the ice. After the ice has been melted manually pull the bottom seal up from the ground and then try to open your garage door with the opener. In the future to prevent this problem apply a good silicone lubricant to the bottom seal in the fall.
Check the remote control battery. Many times a simple battery change can correct the problem of not being able to open the garage door with the remote control.
Check the door’s balance. It’s rare for us to encounter a situation where the door is unbalanced and the cold weather has anything to do with it but it can happen. To check the door’s balance pull the red emergency release cord and lift the door by hand. If the door feels extremely heavy when lifted by hand as if it has gained a tremendous amount of weight then the springs have most likely lost tension in the cold weather. If this is the case then the door’s balance will need to be readjusted by a professional.
Lubricate moving parts. While garage door lubricants are typically used in warmer weather, there are cold weather lubricants on the market that can help. If you choose to use a regular lubricant, apply it to the rollers, hinges, springs and tracks. When choosing a lubricant to use on your garage door, make sure to select one that is not a solvent such as WD-40. These types of lubricants actually strip away the lubricant that has already been applied to the door’s moving parts. Instead, choose a lubricant that is specifically made for garage doors, or opt for a white lithium grease.
Let the opener ‘reset’. The thermal overload on opener’s motor can be tripped when it is pulling against a sealed door that has been frozen in place, or an extremely heavy door that has been overloaded. Unplug opener for 15 minutes to allow the opener to reset. Plug back in and test opener.
When to Call a Professional
If your garage door is not opening and none of the above steps have been able to fix the problem, then there is a good chance that you will need to have your garage door repaired by a professional. Many of the problems that occur with your garage door in cold weather can cause other problems as the season continues on. This is why it is always best to have any problems with your garage door repaired as soon as possible.
Smart Garage Door Service is able to provide same-day service for garage door repairs throughout Denver Metro year-round the year. We carry a supply of cold-weather lubricants, and all the common sizes and types of springs, and typically have all of the necessary parts to complete common cold-weather garage door repairs in one visit.
