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Garage Door Opener Hums But Doesn’t Move

  
  
  

garage door opener emergency releaseHave you ever pressed the garage door opener button and the motor runs but the door doesn’t move? It could be a couple of different problems, but start with the easiest first.

Cross your fingers that the emergency release has been pulled. This is the handle attached to a short section of rope. It is attached to the carriage and moves along with the door as the carriage moves. If for some reason the opener isn’t working, you can pull the handle and it will disengage from the chain, screw, or belt drive that it is attached to. This will allow you to manually lift the garage door by hand to get your car in or out of the garage. Check to see if this is the case with your garage door opener. If the handle has been pulled you can simply re-engage it by pulling it toward the motor.

If the handle is engaged, you likely have a broken or worn gear inside the motor. You can take off the motor’s cover and look inside. The gears are plastic and the teeth wear down on them. Look for a powdery looking substance on the bottom of the motor’s housing. The broken or worn gear will need to be replaced.

Garage Door Opener Hums But Doesn’t Work

  
  
  

releaseYou press the button for your garage door opener and it hums but won’t open or close. What do you do? Well, you hope that the carriage is disengaged from the rail.

There are a couple reasons why the opener’s motor operates but the door doesn’t move. Look for a manual release on the rail of the garage door opener. It is a handle attached to a short length of rope. It is possible that the manual release was activated which will make it so that the motor runs but he door doesn’t move. This happens if, for example, you have kids that like to get into mischief, or sometimes the handle can get caught in a roof rack of a tall SUV. Pull the handle back and re-engage it, press the button and cross your fingers that it works.

More challenging fixes follow. If you have a chain drive operated by a sprocket, the gearing may have broken or the sprocket may have sheared off. You will need to take the housing off of the motor and look inside. If you see a lot of white powder, that is the remnants of the teeth of the gears, and they will need to be replaced. That probably isn’t a typical homeowner job and you may consider calling a garage door repair technician.

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