What you are seeing
- The opener hums or clicks, and the door does not move at all.
- The door starts to lift, then stops a short way up and hangs there.
- The door opens but will not close, or closes but will not reopen.
- The door moves a little and then reverses as though something is in the way.
- The wall button works but the remote does not, or the remote works and the wall button does not.
- The emergency release has to be pulled before the door can be moved at all, and then it moves freely by hand.
Likely causes
What a good contractor will do
- Tests the door by hand first, with the opener disconnected. A door that moves smoothly by hand and stays put when released half way up has sound springs and hardware, which points straight at the opener.
- Inspects the springs, cables, drums, rollers, hinges and track for breakage, wear or misalignment, and looks at the door's balance rather than only at the part that failed.
- Tests the sensors, the wall control and the remotes, then reads the opener's own fault indicators, so the fault is narrowed to the unit, the hardware or the supply.
- Names the parts in the estimate - spring, cable, roller, hinge, track section or complete opener unit - so that two estimates can be compared like for like.
Before you call
- The door make and approximate age, and whether it is a sectional door, a one-piece tilt door or a roll-up.
- A photo of the door in the open position, and a photo of the hardware above the door and of the track on each side.
- What the door does when the button is pressed - nothing, a hum, a short lift, a reverse - and whether the opener light flashes a code.
- Whether the emergency release has been pulled, and what the door feels like when it is moved by hand with the opener disconnected.
Safety first
- Never touch, adjust, unhook or remove torsion springs, extension springs, cables, drums or track brackets. These parts hold stored energy and can release without warning, which is how homeowners are seriously injured every year, and this work belongs to a trained technician with the correct tools.
- Do not stand in or under the doorway of a door that is hanging on a broken spring or a single cable, and keep children and pets clear of the opening until it is repaired.
- If the door is stuck open, secure the building by other means rather than trying to force the door down by hand.
- If a spring has visibly broken, do not run the opener to see whether it will still work, and do not pull the release and let go of the door.
Ask the contractor
- Are you insured, and can I see a certificate of insurance before work starts?
- What exactly has failed, and how did you confirm it rather than assume it?
- If one spring has broken, will both be replaced, and why or why not?
- Will you balance the door and re-set the opener's force and travel limits after the repair?
- What parts warranty and what labour warranty come with this repair, and what does each cover?
- If the opener is near the end of its life, what are my options for repairing the door now and dealing with the opener later?
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