There are obvious reasons why your garage door keeps opening when trying to close, including something blocking the sensors at the bottom of the tracks. This is a safety feature, not a flaw, obviously. You don’t want something–or somebody–getting crushed by the door as it tries to close.
The photo eye sensors send signals to one another to ensure there’s nothing on the ground under the garage door when in use. If something is blocking that signal, the reversing mechanism is triggered. The sensors are a few inches off the ground, so if the bumper of your car isn’t all the way in, the garage door may hit it before going back up.
That’s another feature of your garage door opener: if it does encounter something that’s causing some resistance, the door will (hopefully) go back up. But, if nothing is blocking the door and nothing is in the way of the safety sensor, you may need to clean the sensors or have them serviced.
Other Garage Door Opener Fixes
While faulty sensors or stray objects are the usual suspects, there are other features of a garage door opener that you may not be aware of. These settings are usually adjusted during installation to ensure the garage door opener operates properly. For the most part, they need little to no adjustment.
But just like anything else that’s mechanical, there’s always a chance they could fail or become “out of tune” so to speak. Or something else could be affecting the performance, such as settling with the garage door frame or tracks or the garage itself. If the tracks at the bottom have somehow bent, that could be triggering the opener.
The majority of garage door openers, especially newer models, have “travel limits” and “force limits” to determine when your garage door should be all the way closed. Travel down settings determine how far down the door should be before stopping. If it stops before that distance is reached, it will assume something is wrong and open.
Force limits operate in the same fashion: it closes the door to a certain point. In either case, your opener may have buttons for adjustment. Force Limits are calibrated by new motors to determine how much force is needed to lift and close the door. On all new models, the force limits are determined by the motor after setting the travel limits. Consult your opener manual to see where these settings can be adjusted in the opener.
It also may just be time to replace the logic board or electrical circuits, check the control wiring, fix the motor unit, or change out the entire opener. All openers have a specific lifespan, although they last longer when serviced or inspected at regular intervals. If you’ve owned your home for years, and the opener came with the house, it could just be time for a replacement.
Or maybe one of your kids got their hands on a remote and is playing a practical joke, like kinking the hose when you’re trying to water the garden. We don’t have a solution for that–that’s something the homeowner will have to figure out on their own.
Work with Experienced Garage Door Opener Installers
Ponderosa Garage Door and Repair has been working with garage door openers for decades, with installation, replacements, and services. When your garage door closes or opens at incorrect times, or is stuck opened or closed, reach out and we’ll send one of our expert garage door technicians out to investigate.
We also provide other garage door services that can help your opener, such as damaged tracks, broken springs, and other issues. Is it time to replace your garage door with something a little more updated? We can help there too. Give us a call–we look forward to seeing how we can help.