Chamberlain garage door opener won t close

You come in tired from work and push your remote button to open the garage. The light goes on, and you pull into your garage, happy to be home. Then you push the button again, and nothing happens. Your garage door is wide open, and the door won’t close. You ask yourself why won’t my garage door close.

Unfortunately, it happens, and it’s always inconvenient. Your garage door is heavy, and it takes a complicated assembly  to make it lift easily. A lot of things could go wrong. Some issues are easy to deal with. But, others will require professional repair.

Easy issues you can fix:

• At the bottom of the door on each side are safety sensors with lights. If anything is in the way (including your car bumper), the door will not close. Are the lights on the sensors steady or blinking? Blinking lights indicate obstruction or misalignment.
• Check for any object that might protrude between the two sensors.
• When safety sensors are misaligned, the garage door won’t close with a remote or a keypad. They have to be clean and lined up with the lights on the same level, facing each other (imagine a straight line between them).
• You can override the safety eyes by holding down the wall button until the door is completely closed. If the door still won?t close then give it a visual inspection.
• Make sure the garage door arm is attached to the trolley. If the trolley moves when you push the garage door opener, but the garage door does not, bring the trolley to the top of the track and pull the cord. The trolley will engage, and your door should close.
• Next, inspect the parts of the assembly. Does your garage door look level and straight? If it appears to be skewed, call for repair. Don’t try to close it. Do not disengage the garage door from the trolley. That would increase the chances of the door falling, which could damage the door, the track, and be dangerous to anyone in or around the garage
• Check the track. Look at the fittings and brackets. Are there any loose bolts or screws? If so, tighten them and try to close the door.
• If that’s not it, check the track itself. Are there any obstructions blocking the wheels?
• Do the wheels turn freely when you move the door? If not, lubricate the tracks and hardware with garage door lubrication.

So, if you find and fix any of these issues, try to close the door. You’d be surprised at how often it’s a simple fix!

When it’s time to call for professional repair:

• Does your garage door opener have a loose drive chain or visible damage?
• Are the cables slack?
• Are the cables properly spooled around the drums and pulleys?
• With the garage door open, you won’t be able to inspect the springs. Broken springs is one of the most common garage door problems. Once you’ve eliminated everything else, broken springs are most likely the culprit.

Most noteworthy, we do not recommend trying to fix the door assembly yourself. The cables and springs are under a great deal of pressure and can pose serious risk to your body and your property. And, closing the door by hand could be dangerous. Your garage door weighs a lot, and a broken assembly means there is no tension to slow it down as it crashes to the ground. So, once you close it, it will be equally dangerous and difficult to open. If it’s not a simple fix, call a professional garage door repair service for help.

Garage doors are supposed to do one job: open and close. When they fail to do just that, they quickly become a frustrating nuisance for any homeowner. A common problem with garage doors is their refusal to stay shut, which can become a dangerous concern, even in the nicest of neighborhoods.

As a homeowner, you know that your garage door, when it works, should serve to protect your home from unwanted strangers. When it doesn’t work, it leaves your home completely vulnerable, much like a broken window or an entry door that’s been left wide open. Your garage door won’t stay closed, so now what do you do?

Trouble Shooting a Garage Door That Won’t Stay Closed

It’s time to investigate the problem. There can be a few reasons as to why your garage door won’t stay closed, and by doing some snooping and checking a few parts of the garage door system, you’ll be able to see what’s really going on.

Adjusting the Limit/Travel Setting

The most common reason as to why a garage door won’t stay closed is that the limit settings are off. This means that the limits are telling the garage door that it’s fully opened when the door is in reality, closed. The door is being told that even though it touched the ground, the system is telling that it hasn’t, or the system is communicating that the door has instead hit an obstruction, sending the door back to its opened position.

Fixing this problem will depend on what type of garage door opener you have. All openers have travel adjustments, and common brands like Chamberlain and Craftsman have two setscrews on their back or side of their housing unit.

Other brands like Genie will sometimes have trip levelers on their travel bars, enabling the user to reposition to adjust the setting. If you are unsure, you can always pull out the manufacturer’s manual for the limit setting instructions.

It may take some trial and error with adjusting the limit/travel setting on your garage door. For most models, a little adjustment is required, and the garage door should respond by shutting to completion.

All you’ll need to adjust the limit setting on most models is a screwdriver, but on new models, it may be even easier to do so. If you lost your manual to your opener, you can always search online to find the instructions as well.

Garage Door Sensors Misaligned

In connection with the limit setting, the sensor for your garage door could be misaligned. The sensors are located near the bottom of the garage door where it meets the floor, ensuring that the door does not collide with any possible obstructions along the way. Sensors are crucial to a modern garage door system, but for them to function properly, they must be aligned. Some sensors are extremely sensitive, so even the slightest bump can send them out of alignment.

If your garage door isn’t closing and is backtracking its way up to the open position, the sensors being bumped out of place could be the cause of the problem. You can resolve this problem by leveling the sensors.

Most modern sensors have a red indicator light that beams when they have been aligned correctly. If you’re certain that the sensors’ beams are meeting, but the garage door is still refusing to stay closed, the sensors could be dirty. Clean them off with a damp rag, then dry them.

An Obstruction Preventing Door Closure

Your garage door might not be making it all up after all—there could be an obstruction in its path. This can happen if your garage door is set to close, but begins to retract itself back up to its point of origin. Whatever is blocking your garage door doesn’t have to be a large object, necessarily; it can be something as small as a rock or the buildup of grime, dirt, and debris.

Garage door systems can be sensitive, and this includes their tracks as well. Not every homeowner decides to maintain the tracks by cleaning them every year and for most garage doors, their whole lifetime passes without being cleaned, or at least until a problem such as this arises.

The buildup can be the trigger, signaling to your garage door that something is in the way because technically, dirt and debris are in the way. Clean the buildup with the appropriate cleaning solution and a damp rag.

There are moments when something big is, in fact, in the way. With kids running around or a messy garage, an object could easily fall in the path of the sensor, which triggers the garage door to retreat to starting position. You might not notice it right away, but do some investigating and you may come to find a fallen object in the door’s path.

When It’s More Than a Common Problem

In some cases, a garage door refusing to close may be a bigger issue than just fixing the sensor, cleaning the tracks, or resetting the travel/limit setting. When it isn’t one of these common issues, it’s probably that time to call in the professionals. Your garage door system may require a professional analysis in order to diagnosis the problem.

Common Garage Door Problems

When your garage door won’t stay closed and you’ve done everything to repair it then it’s time for a replacement. At Feldco, we have everything from standard to carriage garage doors. All the garage doors are customized to fit into the opening and they come in a variety of different colors to bring out the curb appeal. Speak to a product specialist and get a free quote online today.

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