When Your Opener Acts Up: Diagnosing and Repairing an Intermittent Issue
Having garage door opener problems can be incredibly frustrating, especially when the issue isn’t constant. One day it works fine and the next it’s acting up – doesn’t get much more intermittent than that!
Well, that was the situation I found myself in recently. My opener would function normally most of the time, but every so often it simply wouldn’t respond when using the wall-mounted button or remote. Slamming the button repeatedly usually did the trick, but not always.
Rather than immediately call out a Garage Door Opener Repair in Virginia Beach, I decided to do some troubleshooting on my own first to see if I could identify the root cause. Here are the steps I took to diagnose and repair the problem.
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Inspecting the Photo Eyes
The first thing to check with an intermittent opener issue is the photo eyes – the white electric eyes located near the garage floor, usually mounted about 4-6 inches up. These safety beams run across the opening and tell the opener when to stop moving up or down.
I cleared away any stored items or cobwebs blocking the sensors, then tested them by waving my hand in front of each one. Only one responded – aha, I had found the culprit! The non-responsive eye needed replacement.
Replacing a Photo Eye
Photo eyes are inexpensive and straightforward to swap out yourself. First I disconnected the power by removing the blue safety pins from the opener’s power head. Then I loosened the mounting bracket screws and disconnected the wires.
Swapping in the new unit was as simple as reversing those steps. I reconnected the wires, secured it in place, and reinserted the safety pins. A quick test confirmed both eyes were functioning properly again.
Problem Solved!
Sure enough, when I tested the opener once more it worked without any issues. The intermittent behavior had been caused by that one faulty photo eye occasionally failing to detect the garage door movement.
Replacing a single low-cost part myself saved me the premium charges of calling out a repair technician. And now I know where to check first if opener problems ever arise again in the future. Solving issues yourself can be very rewarding!
That wraps up my story on diagnosing and fixing an intermittent garage door opener.
My name is Author Name. I post about home improvement ideas and how to make your home look beautiful and liveable. I hope my posts will help you with your DIY projects!
