How To Adjust Garage Door Travel Limits
Effectively adjusting the travel limits is one of the basic concepts that should be at any garage owners fingertips. If anything, checking whether the limit switch settings are appropriate should be part of your garage door maintenance practices.
Whether your garage door fails to open or close as expected, improper travel limit settings are the most probable cause of the problem.
However, ensure you confirm if the garage door travels through an entire cycle before you settle on adjusting the travel limits. This involves operating your garage door opener using a wall console or remote control to see whether it closes and opens entirely.
Additionally, consider checking if theres an obstruction in the doorway. If not, you can then proceed to adjust the limit switches through these steps:
How Do You Adjust The Tension On A Garage Door Spring
Naturally, there are two levels on a garage door the high and the low. To adjust the spring, insert each in the right hole. To adjust the tension of the spring on the garage door to a high level, remove the spring hook from the lower hole and fix it inside the high hole on the track holder.
If you want to adjust it to a low level, remove the spring hook from the top and fix it in the lower hole. Once done, test the spring by opening and closing the door at intervals to ensure that it lifts and pulls freely.
You also have to tighten the spring because if it is loose, the door will still stop halfway when lifting and puling up.
Tips To Prevent Closing Problems & Other Faults
Like anything mechanical, a bit of routine maintenance goes a long way towards preventing future problems with your garage door. Here are a few tips that can help:
For more tips on the care and maintenance of your garage door, talk to our experts at Overhead Door Company of Muncie. Call 765-587-1444 today or contact us online!
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Get To The Root Of The Problem
Once your garage door wont close, take a visual look at what may be wrong. Then you can decide to fix a simple issue on your own. When youve addressed the problem, place a box or board underneath and close the door. If you cant resolve the situation, call a professional as moving forward on your own can be dangerous. A garage door repair professional at Mesa Garage Doors is trained and equipped to correct any problem quickly. To get started, book service online or call 800-893-1107 today, or contact us for a free no obligation estimate.
Why Is My Garage Door Reversing Back Up

Overhead doors start down and reverse back up when the opener thinks their is an obstruction in the way. This is likely due to the safety eyes being blocked, the maximum force sensor being activated or an obstruction actually in the door path.
Blocked photo eyes trigger the door to reverse for safety reasons preventing a small child or animal from being crushed under the door. If the safety eyes fail to work the maximum force sensor serves as a backup. If more force than usual is needed to close the door it will also reverse back up to prevent crushing the obstruction.
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Reprogram Remotes And Keypads
Transmitters and wireless keypads are linked to your garage door opener through the receiver and logic board. The learn or program button on the back of your unit allows you to sync devices to that particular opener. If someone were to press and hold down the learn button, everything linked to that opener would be erased. Power surges from near-bye lightning strikes have also been known to reset circuit boards.
If you press your remote control and the door doesnt move at all, your transmitters could be the source of the problem. Reprogram your remote and wireless keypad to your opener following the instructions in your owners manual.
Help My Garage Door Won’t Close With The Remote
As a service-based company, we have a steady stream of phone calls from homeowners with garage door problems. Surprisingly, one of the questions we hear over and over can be easily handled without a service call. We’re glad to talk our customer’s through solutions over the phone, so we wanted to share them with you on our blog as well.
I’ll begin with the most common phrase we hear from our customers, “My garage door won’t close with the remote, and I have to hold down the wall-mounted button to close the door.” I’m starting with this problem because it’s the most common, but also because we’re nearing the 22nd anniversary of an Safety Improvement Act where this all began:
On December 3, 1992 the Safety Commission published their final rules for Automatic Garage Door Openers. These requirements stemmed from an earlier Congressional mandate in the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 1990.
“A Congressional mandate?? What’s so serious about an Automatic Garage Door Opener?” you might ask. Well, prior to January 1, 1991 garage door openers were built to reverse if they came into contact with an object when closing. However, the force required to reverse the door varied and sometimes the object in the way was not substantial enough to trigger the reverse.
So…The Consumer Product & Safety Act of 1990 required “entrapment protection,” which eventually developed into safety sensors, on all garage door openers manufactured on or after January 1, 1991.
SOLUTION
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Garage Door Torsion Springs Are Broken
A torsion spring, also called a tension spring in some cases, is a type of spring that has many applications and is most commonly used as the part of a garage door opener. It consists of a helical coil that gets twisted to store energy which is then released when you open or close your garage door.
Torsion Springs are one of the most common parts of residential garage doors that need to be replaced and the main reason why many householders call out a garage door repair company.
They will gradually lose their tension over time which is why most people replace them around every 10-15 years. The torsion springs on your garage door have a maximum number of open and close cycles. The standard is 10,000 cycles, with each cycle corresponding to the garage door being opened and closed one time. Limiting the times that the door closes and opens will increase longevity and keep them regularly maintained and rust-free.
However, there can be other factors that lead to a broken spring, such as being overloaded with too much weight, for example.
Signs that your torsion springs need replacing include a sagging or uneven garage door, loud noises when opening and closing, difficulty in raising or lowering the door, or if you notice that your garage door takes longer to open or close than usual.
While the actual process is relatively straightforward for replacing the torsion spring for your door to get it working properly, it can also be hazardous.
The Top 10 Reasons Your Garage Door Wont Work
Home | Blog | The Top 10 Reasons Your Garage Door Wont Work
As commercial and residential garage door service professionals, weve pretty much dealt with every issue you can think of when it comes to garage door repair. Even still, there are sometimes issues that continue to surprise us, like the tiny insect nest growing on the photo eye sensor or the tennis ball that somehow managed to knock the door entirely off its track. Even though these issues are uncommon, its nothing that garage door service professionals like us cant handle!
While there are times you may be able to fix the problem yourself, there are many reasons it may be best to leave the garage door repair up to the professionals. Knowing whats wrong with your garage door may help you to determine if it is a problem you can tackle or if its time to call someone for assistance. To help you troubleshoot your garage door issues, here are the top 10 reasons your garage door wont work.
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Obstruction On The Garage Doorway
The first thing to do in such a case is to check the garage doorway for the presence of any blockage.
Modern garage door openers have sensors as a standard requirement. If you have an opener model from 1990 or later, the chances are that it has a pair of sensors installed on both sides of the door, also termed as a safety beam.
The sensors at the bottom of both garage door tracks create a beam that will stop the door from closing if an object sits in the doorway. Any object in this position will break the beam, alerting the system about its presence there.
As a result, the system will reverse the door in an attempt to avoid causing accidents or damaging property by shutting on them.
Removing the object from the doorway should restore the normal functioning of the door. In essence, you will remove the obstruction, causing the beam to complete and allow the door to close normally.
Why Are My Garage Door Sensors Not Working
Whether your sensors have failed the functionality test or you have noted that they are not lighting up, it should suggest that they might be faulty. In that case, you probably are wondering why are your garage door sensors not working? Discussed further below are some of the reasons that can be held responsible.
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The Door Has Been Locked Manually
If nothing appears to be wrong with the opener, yet the garage door wont open, you might have unintentionally locked it manually. A tell-tale sign is when the motor momentarily runs when prompted but then shuts off without raising the door.
Manual locking is another reason your garage door can get stuck. You can easily solve this by disengaging the lock.
Some garage doors are equipped with manual locks, which typically look like handles with horizontal bars. When the manual lock is engaged, the garage door will not activate. While the feature exists for an added layer of security, people sometimes activate these locks unintentionally while performing tasks near the door. For example, if you are pulling something out of the trunk of your car and have your back to the door, you could easily hit the lock and not even know.
To unlock the door, turn the handle until you hear it make a snap. This will disengage the horizontal bar and allow you to activate the door.
How Do I Reset My Garage Door Opener

There are two ways to go about the resetting process. You can do it using the garage opener unit, which hangs over your garage. Alternatively, you may use a separate door control panel if you have one of these.
Inside newer garage opening units there is a button labeled Home or Learn and next to this button will be a LED light, varying in color depending on your garage door brand. Open the door to access the Home or Learn button that is usually located near the units antenna. Press and hold the button for six seconds or until the LED light turns off. This will reset the opener. The light bulb will then flash to let you know the reset was successful. The remote or keypad will not make the door open if the reset worked. If you have a separate control panel follow the same instructions as listed above.
With all the remote controls and keypads unlinked from the opener, you can now program the devices to be able to operate the opener. You can use the opener unit or control panel.
To link your remote control, first open the door on the opener unit and locate the Learn button once again. Press the button once and the LED should light up. Then proceed to press the button on your controller that you would like to activate. The light bulb will blink to let you know the remote is programmed. Test the controller by pressing the open button, if the programming was successful the garage door should open.
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Why Does My Garage Door Go Up A Foot Then Stop
Garage door openers are built with resistant features that once the door feels heavier than it should, it will go up a foot and then stop.Apart from the resistant feature, you will find a torsion spring on the top of the garage door.
This spring reduces the weight and makes it easy for the garage door to open and close. If the torsion spring is broken or bent, it is also another reason that your garage door will not be able to go up a foot longer than the way it should.
Apart from the spring, your garage door can go up a foot and then stop because of the settings of the limits. The settings limits function as a tool that helps you increase or decrease the limit the garage can go whenever it is open or close.
If the setting adjustments are too low, your door will not go beyond or above the way you set it.
Contact Us Today For Garage Door Repair In Muncie
As you have seen, sometimes its easy to fix a garage door that wont close all the way. Other times, you need help from a professional to conduct a safe, effective garage door repair. If you are unable to troubleshoot the problem on your own, call Overhead Door Company of Muncie. We offer free estimates and 24/7 service to get your garage door working again when you need it most.
Give us a call at 765-587-1444 or contact us online to request garage door repair in Muncie today.
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Why Is The Garage Door Not Closing Fully
So you found a problem with your automatic garage door, eh? Don’t you just hate that? Of course you do. These sort of issues tend to pop up when it’s least convenient, often when you’re in a hurry, and don’t have time to deal with a non-responsive garage door. Well, before you go stressing over solutions, know that Garage Door Repair Natick offers same day repairs seven days a week, including Saturdays and Sundays. So whatever problem you may be dealing with, the nearest experts are available to help.
Check For Proper Alignment
An invisible laser beam runs across the opening of your garage from one photo eye to the other. If the safety eyes get knocked out of alignment the beam from the sending eye wont hit the receiving eye. When the eyes are knocked out of alignment the glow lights will turn off completely, blink or flash.
Aligning the eyes is a matter of adjusting the mounting brackets and wing nuts until the eyes are pointed at each other. A successful alignment results the green, red or amber glow bulb lighting up.
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Garage Door Wont Respond To The Wall Switch
If your garage door isnt responding to the wall switch, this typically means that power has been lost or disrupted. Try the following solutions to resolve the problem.
- Check to see if the motor unit has been unplugged. Locate the power outlet where the door opener is plugged and confirm that you plug the cord in correctly.
- The circuit breaker or fuse may have tripped on burned out. If other garage lights arent operating, you will have to reset the breaker or replace the fuse. If the circuit breaker is repeatedly tripping, there may be a short circuit in the garage or elsewhere.
- There is a possibility that the garage door openers motor has burned out. If this is the case, you or a garage repairman will need to replace it.
Confirm Door Works Manually
In efforts to pinpoint any issue, it is always helpful to place your garage door in manual mode.
CAUTION: if your door is in the open position and the garage door spring happens to be broken, the door may come crashing down. This could cause not only damage to the door, but also bodily injuries. Proceed with extreme caution.
You can place your garage door in manual mode by pulling the red cord on the trolley. If the spring is properly balancing the door, it should remain in the same position and be easily lowered or raised. If the door feels heavy to move, you may be dealing with a broken spring. This repair should only be performed by trained professionals.
Before you make any adjustments to your garage door system, you should always consult the owners manual. Your system may have particular issues that need special attention. When in doubt, call a specialized garage door repair company to do the job.
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Check Your Safety Sensors
While they may seem like a relatively small component in the grand scheme of things, your garage door safety sensors are actually the most likely culprit if your garage door wont close. Theyre also one of the easiest things to fix.
The sensors are located on either side of the garage door, a few inches above the ground. One sends a signal, and the other receives it. If something gets in the way of this signal, such as a child or pet, your garage doors safety mechanism kicks in and it wont shut.
The sensors have small LED lights to let you know when the signal is on and uninterrupted. Thats very helpful in finding out if theyre the reason your garage door wont close. If the light is off, the sensor itself is probably off, and if the light is blinking, it means something is getting in the way of the signal.
Sometimes the sensor signal gets interrupted by accident, from things such as: