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How to open a garage door if there is a power outage?
What’s good about a garage door mechanism that has an electrical opener is that it allows you to operate the door without having to manually lift it straight up or pull it down every now and then.
But what if a strong storm or wind suddenly disrupts your neighborhood’s power supply and you badly need to take your car out? Do you know what to do in case the power goes out and your car is locked up inside your garage?
Knowing how to respond to garage door emergencies is an essential skill that every homeowner must be equipped with.
In this article we will discuss each of the essential steps and tips that you can do in case you need to open your garage door manually.
Make sure that the garage door is fully closed
Before you proceed with any troubleshooting, see to it that your garage door is completely closed.
Especially when the spring is broken or not properly aligned, trying to disconnect the door opener from your garage door can cause the entire weight of the door to forcefully shut down, which may cause serious damage both to yourself and your garage.
Pull the emergency cord
Once you have secured your garage door, pull the door opener’s emergency release cord to disengage the garage door from the garage door opener, allowing the door to operate manually.
This release cord is a red rope that hangs from the center rail of the garage door trolley and should be located near the front door when the garage door is closed.
Manually open the garage door by lifting it straight up
After pulling the emergency release cord, it should be easy to lift the garage door straight up.
However, if you find this step quite difficult due to extreme weight, it means that the spring which is responsible for the manual operation of the garage door is malfunctioning.
Either it’s broken or it has already reached its maximum years of usability which typically happen between 5 and 7 years.
If this is the case for you, it is highly recommended that you immediately call a professional garage door repair service provider to attend to your malfunctioning spring and avoid forcefully opening your garage door as it may lead to extremely serious bodily damage.
Close the garage door completely and re-engage the trolley
Once you have successfully opened the garage door, take your car out of the garage and pull it down until it reaches the floor.
Then, reconnect the trolley to the opener carriage.
You would easily know if you have properly reconnected the mechanism if you hear a click sound.
Additionally, the garage door should also be working seamlessly with the engine trolley when you try to lift it.
Meanwhile, if your garage door is equipped with a side lock, you may opt to use this to lock the garage door temporarily instead of reconnecting the trolley.
Useful tips in during garage door emergencies
- Manually opening a garage door when there is a power outage can be avoidable.
You just have to invest in an automatic garage door that is equipped with a battery backup system so even when the power goes out, your door opener still has a backup energy source that will allow it to operate as usual. - Before attempting to manually open your garage door, make sure that you unplug the automatic door opener first.
This safety procedure is important not only to keep you away from any serious harm but also to prevent the entire garage door mechanism from being furtherly damaged. - If you cannot conveniently lift up the garage door despite pulling on the emergency release cord, immediately contact a garage door repair service provider instead of forcefully doing it yourself as it could be a dangerous work that only professionals are suggested to attend to.
- Do not use the release cord when the garage door is open or it may come slamming down causing some serious damages.
- If you are using the side lock to temporarily close your garage door, make sure that you disable it when the power comes back and before you reattach the trolley to the carriage.
