There are rare occasions when you might find yourself with a garage door that you need to manually open. Perhaps you’re dealing with a power outage or the garage door motor is not working and you need to get to work. The last thing you want to do is damage your door trying to get your vehicle out. In these situations, it’s important to understand how to open a garage door manually.
Here are the steps to get your door opened without a problem:
1. Door Must Be in Down Position
Before attempting to disengage your garage door opener from your garage door, you must be sure that the door is in the down position. Attempting to disengage the opener while the door is in the open position is extremely dangerous and not advised. If the spring is broken or not properly balanced, releasing the opener could result in the full weight of the garage door slamming to the ground. This could result in extensive damage and bodily harm.
If your garage door is stuck in the open position, please contact us immediately so we can safely secure your door. We offer 24/7 emergency services to ensure your safety.
2. Pull the Emergency Release Cord
The emergency release cord is the red rope that hangs from the garage door trolley. When the door is in the closed position, the release cord should be located near the front of the door. The trolley is connected to the door and moves as it opens and closes. Through the attachment point, the trolley is also connected to the garage door opener carriage. The garage door opener carriage is the mechanism that moves the door along the garage door opener boom automatically. The emergency release cord disconnects the trolley from the carriage so that the door operates manually.
3. Manually Move the Garage Door and Return to Down Position
Step 2 will allow you to freely move the garage door to open and closed positions. If you are unable to lift the door manually due to extreme weight, its possible you have a broken spring. A common misconception is that the garage door openers lift the door when in fact, the springs lift the door. If you find a broken spring, we highly suggest you contact us immediately for professional repair services.
4. Pull the Emergency Release Cord Toward the Door
To re-engage the carriage and operate your garage door electrically once again, you will need to pull the release cord toward the door. This will compress the spring lever and allow the two mechanisms to reconnect.
5. Re-connect the Trolley to the Opener Carriage
To re-connect the trolley to the opener, simply run the opener for a complete cycle. That is, all of the way up and all of the way down. When the trolley and carriage pass one another, you should hear a loud click. They are now connected and you can open and close your garage door electrically again.
