Storm and Power Cut Readiness

The Door Is Also a Door for the Car

Winter storms here take power out. Not for days, usually, but a few hours in the evening is common enough, and for a lot of houses the garage door is the only way the car gets out.

An opener with no power will not lift anything. That leaves two options, and it is worth knowing which one you have before you need it.

Battery Backup

California requires battery backup on residential garage door openers installed or replaced in the state since the first of July 2019. If your opener is newer than that it has one built in, and the only question is whether the battery is still any good.

Batteries do not last as long as openers. A sealed lead cell that has sat on float charge for five years may hold a couple of lifts or it may hold none, and the little indicator light on the unit is not a capacity test. We put a load on it and find out.

For older openers, many manufacturers sell a retrofit backup that clips to the head unit. Where the model supports it, that is an easy fit. Where it does not, we will tell you plainly that it does not, rather than sell you something that will not work.

The Manual Release

Every opener has one. It is the red cord hanging from the trolley on the ceiling rail, and pulling it disconnects the door from the opener so the door can be moved by hand.

There is a right and a wrong time to pull it.

With the door closed is the safe case. Pull the cord, the trolley disengages, and you lift the door by hand. The springs are still doing their job, so a balanced door should come up with modest effort.

With the door open is the case to be careful about. The door is being held up there by spring tension. If a spring has broken, and a spring breaking is exactly why some people reach for the cord, releasing the trolley removes the last thing holding the door and it can come down fast and hard. If the door is up and you are not certain the springs are intact, leave it and ring somebody.

The other thing about the release is that it seizes. The cable stiffens and the trolley mechanism gums up with years of dust, and the first time it gets pulled is in the dark during a power cut. We free it, work it, test it under load, and show whoever is home how to re-engage it afterwards.

What We Do on a Storm Callout

The order matters, and it is not the order most people expect.

1. Get the car out, if getting the car out is the reason you rang.
2. Get the door closed and secured, so the garage is not standing open in weather.
3. Diagnose properly, once it is dry and the door is not the emergency.

Trying to do a full diagnosis in a downpour with a torch produces bad work and wrong parts. Securing the opening and coming back is usually the better call, and we will say so.

Before the Season Starts

Test the backup, free the release, make sure more than one person in the house knows how it works. Twenty minutes of a dry afternoon.

Call Avoiceforbrady at (562) 709-4729.