Garage Door Gets Stuck in cold weather

[Cubfan]

I meant to try and solve this issue after last winter, but of course I forgot because the door worked all summer! Anyway, so my autmatic garage door gets stuck when the weather gets really cold. It might open a foot, then stop. Then after a while it might make it up to about 5 feet. On and on, but never all the way up. So I have to manually do it.

Actually last year I did put some grease in the tracks, my FIL said to grease the rail (the part with the chain) and to decrease the tension. I've fiddled with what I think is the tension adjuster but no luck.

Any ideas what to do here, short of calling Sears and having them send someone out? It's a Sears 1/2HP 75 Anniversary model.

[DarthDaddy]

There should be an adjustment on the motor to make it use more or less force. Wheneven the weather get really cold I need to crank that up a little and when it warms up I turn it back down.

On mine there are two little Flat Head Blue Plastic Screws. One is for UP and one is for DOWN... They are numbered 1-9 on the little twist.

Mine is also located on the side closest to the BACK of the garage.

Hope This Helps

[sao95]

that's odd, can you give a bit more detail, like will it go down okay from the five feet mark, also is five feet starting from the floor or from where it stopped at one foot? also is the garage heated? does it make a clicking sound when it stops?

[Cubfan]

Thanks Darth - Yes, I've played around with the dials but didn't get much of a response, if any. I thought the dials would "stop" at some point, but I was able to keep turning and turning. So I wonder if they are even functional.

OK I'm confused. When the weather is cold, do you crank to a higher number or a lower?

The 2 knobs, one is for adjust the tension up and the other for adjusting it down?

There are 2 more dials on the side of the unit. I think they control how far up and down the door actually goes, but I'm not sure. I wish the previous home-owners would have left us manuals!

[Cubfan]

that's odd, can you give a bit more detail, like will it go down okay from the five feet mark, also is five feet starting from the floor or from where it stopped at one foot? also is the garage heated? does it make a clicking sound when it stops?

Sao - Yes, it will always go back down easily after it gets stuck. I just press the button one more more time and it easily goes back down to the ground.

- the 5 feet is where it will go one back down to the floor. In other words, it never goes from 1 foot to 5 feet.

-garage is not heated (I wish!)

-no clicking sound, it just stops.

[DarthDaddy]

Thanks Darth - Yes, I've played around with the dials but didn't get much of a response, if any. I thought the dials would "stop" at some point, but I was able to keep turning and turning. So I wonder if they are even functional.

OK I'm confused. When the weather is cold, do you crank to a higher number or a lower? For Mine the HIGHER number the MORE force

The 2 knobs, one is for adjust the tension up and the other for adjusting it down? That is how mine works... Both numbered 1-9 for amount of force

There are 2 more dials on the side of the unit. I think they control how far up and down the door actually goes, but I'm not sure. I wish the previous home-owners would have left us manuals!

Hope the Highlighted Blue area helps (above)

[Cubfan]

OK, it seems to be working normally now. I just kept turning the dials round and around. However the only thing is that when it used to get stuck due to the cold, it usually works fine as the day goes on. I dont know if it's a function of the sun coming out and warming it or what (and the sun has been coming out now). So I'll play around with it again tomorrow morning and see if the adjustments are what fixed it, or if it's a temperature variation thing as the day goes on.

So credit either to Darth (or Helios) for the fix!!! Thanks to Sao too!

[sao95]

glad it's fixed, honestly I've never messed with them in winter before as we lived in sunny Texas ;) and I don't really get why it would need adjusted for cold weather, any enginerds out there with an answer? uh jeffus?

[sao95]

I actually quit a job because of overhead door springs, putting up steel buildings, got to the door and only me and another guy on the site, told the boss we needed another for safety reasons while winding the spring and he said wasn't needed, so I quit, they're not to be trifled with....

[jeffb]

We just fixed our garage door. but we have the different type so we just replaced the cable and tightened all of them and the doors work great now....They are a pain the a__

[jeffus]

glad it's fixed, honestly I've never messed with them in winter before as we lived in sunny Texas ;) and I don't really get why it would need adjusted for cold weather, any enginerds out there with an answer? uh jeffus?

Sorry......I don't even have a garage :mad: !

Probably the temperature difference. Especially if it's a metal door.

8 feet of metal will expand or contract quite a bit with a 50 degree temperature swing. Aluminum - about 1/16th of an inch, steel - 1/32nd of an inch. That's enough to bind-up something.....(Quickie calc, there, don't quote me...).

[Dr. Goldfoot]

I had the same problems with my door a couple of years ago. My father-in-law and I tried to fix it ourselves. We loosened the tension of the springs then couldn't lift the damn thing let alone get it back together. Anywho, we had to call in the professionals and they fixed what we messed up and informed me my sensors were actually fogging up and needed to be replaced. You may check the sensors. It would have saved me a couple hundred bucks and a day of seriously hard labor. I guess in the morning they may have been actually icing and then thawing out as the temps rose? The sensors read that as something in the doors way. So going up was no problem but getting 'em down was. Except when we loosened the springs my problems flip-flopped. I didn't realize how heavy garage doors are.

[chuck]

hey just a tip, with most stuff sears you can ussually get info/manuals at there web site under the parts/repair section, they have been working hard to get everything online althou some stuff is just not there, much is. I'd go with the metel in the door expanding and contracting as the reason for your problums but I'm with Jeff and dont even own a garage.

[sao95]

informed me my sensors were actually fogging up and needed to be replaced. .

I was wondering about that, I wasn't sure if a fog over it would stop it or not, good info to have..

[Cubfan]

The door seems to be operating fine this morning. Too bad I didn't try to adjust things earlier! I just assumed that the cold weather was causing freezing or sticking or some kind.

I agree with the earlier post (sao's was it?) that it seems silly that you would have to adjust things for temperature!!!

Thanks again guys!

[kctipton]

My door gave me problems when I first moved into my house nearly 10 yrs ago. It would go all the way down, then back up -- but not consistently. It was the behavior you'd expect if it bumped your car or something solid on the way down. My opener doesn't have a nice dial to twist; it has little plastic 'blocks' attached right to the chain that tell the thing when to stop running (by pushing a switch). I moved one of the blocks over a link or two so it would stop before pushing down on the ground so hard, and problem was solved.

As for the big springs, one of mine broke a few years ago, so I replaced the set of two. The installer suggested lubricating them every so often to keep them from binding up. Now I give them the WD-40 treatment about once a year.

[Mark B.]

The door seems to be operating fine this morning. Too bad I didn't try to adjust things earlier! I just assumed that the cold weather was causing freezing or sticking or some kind.

I agree with the earlier post (sao's was it?) that it seems silly that you would have to adjust things for temperature!!!

Thanks again guys!

After you adjusted them so the door would operate to your satisfaction up and down, did you test to see if the door would reverse itself correctly if say a child ran under it? Try the old roll of paper towel test to be sure.

[Riggs]

Good point on checking to make sure it reverses, wouldn't want a kid caught. I usually just grab the door as it's going down to see what it takes to stop it. Should be pretty easy to grab and stop. By the way Cubfan, I've got Sears openers, and they've always worked in cold, down to -20 F. I installed them, (even the springs, not bad if you're careful and learn how to do it), must have done OK. Not sure about yours though.:confused: