It will not open

Work through these in order. The first four cost nothing and solve a surprising share of call-outs; the last two are where you stop.

1. Power

Check the opener is plugged in and the outlet is live — garage outlets are frequently on a GFCI that has tripped, sometimes one in another room. Check the breaker. If the opener light does not come on at all, this is where the problem is.

2. The remote and the wall button

If the wall button works and the remote does not, it is the remote: battery first, reprogramming second. If neither works but the opener has power, the logic board or the button wiring is suspect.

Also check the lock button on the wall control. Most units have a vacation lock that disables remotes entirely, and it gets pressed by accident more often than anyone admits.

3. The trolley release

If the motor runs and the chain or belt moves but the door stays still, the trolley has come disconnected from the door arm — usually because someone pulled the red release cord. Most openers reconnect by moving the door to the closed position and running the opener until the trolley clicks back on.

4. Something in the way

Look along the track and the floor. A bicycle, a box, a stone in the track, ice in winter. The door is designed to stop rather than crush, and it is doing its job.

5. The spring — stop and look

If the opener strains, hums, moves the door a few inches and gives up, or trips out, look at the spring before anything else. A visible gap in the coil means the motor is now trying to lift the entire weight of the door. Continuing to press the button damages the opener. The ten-second check.

6. Cable or track — do not force it

If the door is sitting crooked, one side higher than the other, or visibly out of its track, stop. Running the opener now bends the track and turns a repair into a replacement. What to do instead.

Getting the car out in the meantime

If the door is closed and the spring is intact, pull the release cord and lift by hand. It should be light.

If the door is closed and the spring is broken, it will be very heavy. Two adults can sometimes raise it far enough to get a car out, but it must then be secured — locking pliers clamped onto the track below a roller on both sides, so it cannot come down. Never leave a car or a person under an unsecured door.

If the door is partly open and jammed, leave it. That is the position in which doors fall.

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