Garage Door Opener

[PikeTipper]

I have a chain drive garage opener that won't go down when it gets cold out. It goes up just fine but will want to stop right away when it goes down and return to the up position.

Any ideas on how to fix it?

Thanks

[Pooh]

if its anything like my chamberlain, you can adjust the tension for the up and down. there is 2 screws that you turn in and out for how hard the motor will push up or down, (in your case down) before it decides that it will go back up. other than that i dont know that i can help u much.

[BoxMN]

I have seen the cold affect the rails (contraction/expansion)just enough so that the safety lights don't line up just right. Easy quick thing to check, if you haven't yet. But you need to watch them as the rails start to flex a bit as it comes down.

Good luck.

[PikeTipper]

I did increase the down force but it didn't seem to help.

I tried the safety lights and that didn't seem to help either. I even unplugged them and it still wouldn't go down.

Any other ideas?

[sparcebag]

It shouldn't work at all with the sensors unplugged.Keep trying the sensor alignment 99% of the time thats what is.Put your hand in front and see if it beeps.if so start the door down right away block the beam so it stops.Does it stop sooner than before you intentionally blocked it? this assures the sensor is working correctly. Read the mannual and realign the sensors as it states.

You may have some frost heave starting,someone may have bumped the sensors,But my guess is the alignment,.just because the light is lit doesn't mean there zeroed in 100%.

[MNmikew]

My craftsman opener has started acting up this week too. It goes up fine but will not go down. It goes down a couple inches then stops and the lights flash like the sensors were tripped (they were not). The only it will close is if I use the hardwired opener switch in the garage and hold the button in until it is down. I also noticed the outside wireless switch quit working as well.

[Macgyver55]

Sometimes it is as simple as frost or slop on the sensor lenses. We run into that frequently at work with the constant in and out of vehicles. Make sure they are clean and aligned. As was said before, the cold can cause movement of tracks and door jambs, so a little spray of lubricant on rollers and hinges is always a good idea even if thats not the problem.

[Dotch]

Dog hair can also cause this, from experience. That and the dogs sometimes bump the sensors when they get to tearing around out there. Just had to re-adjust one after the door was behaving the same as the initial poster described a few weeks ago. Lights on the sensors were off, was an easy fix. Happens to be a Chamberlain door opener no less.

[bowhunter54]

I had intermitent problems similar to this and would only happen occasionally. It took a good month to figure it out and was a very simple fix. I had a small spider web with a small piece of a leaf smaller then a button that was attached to the door so I could never find anything between the sensors when the door would reverse. After removing it hasn't missed a beat.

Good luck!

[bucketmouth64]

How old is it? I had a chamberlain that was about 15 years old and it started to act up during the summer. Same issue about not wanting to go down all the time. Called local rep and they said there is a piece in the housing (sorry I forgot what it is called) that you can replace that can resolve the problem. About a $40 part. They asked how old the unit was and they recommended to get a new opener instead. Menards have them on sale pretty often. So I bought a new one and my son and I had us a project for the afternoon during the summer.

[PikeTipper]

Turns out it was the sensors afterall!

Thanks for the tips!

[Dotch]

lol! Just backed the truck outside moments ago after a long spell in the garage. Sure enough, same deal, door wouldn't come down. Dogs had bumped one of the sensors, again.

[cliffy]

I had the same problem today...Garage door would only come down a few feet and then back up it would go. I spent the better part of the day trying to figure it out. In the end, it appears that the warm air from my heated garage would fog as it exited into the -15 temps outside and get so thick it would break the sensor beam thingy......so simple but it took me a couple of hours before I saw the problem. Crazy.