If your garage door has been opening on its own, you’re not alone. It happens to other people as well and there are a series of reasons why the door is opening on its own.
The first thing you should do is to change the code as soon as possible – take of the cover of your remote, find the code wheel and pick a different code. Then go in the garage and change the code in the opener to match the one you set in the remote.
If the problem persists, read on. Your garage doors Atlanta GA experts will walk you through all of the possible reasons and what you should test and do in each of the scenarios. And remember: keep the door to your house CLOSED until you solve the issue with your garage door opener, just in case it opens when you are not home. You don’t want to be vulnerable to theft.
1. Surges of House Electrical Power
A power surge occurs when something suddenly boosts the electrical charge in your home. If the electricity in your house experiences surges of voltage, amperage, or wattage, the remote of your garage door opener can be activated without anyone pressing the button. It happens because the energy might be tripping and this interferes with the electric frequency of your remote and its code.
Why do power surges happen and what can you do?
- Lightning: it is a temporary problem and you can’t do much. Wait for it to end.
- High-power electrical devices (AC, refrigerators, etc.): if you notice that power surges occur after you plug in a high-power electrical device, try to unplug temporarily another device, such as the refrigerator, to make space for the high voltage.
- Faulty wiring: call a professional for help.
- Problems with the utility company’s equipment: call your utility company for help.
2. Thunderstorms & Lightning
Lightning and thunderstorm are completely unpredictable and there is nothing you can do about them. The good news is that the fault is not with the garage door opener, the remote, or wiring issues. Bad weather is temporary and the problem will not persist.
3. Malfunctioning Remote Control
A remote control that is malfunctioning usually needs to re-programmed. Many garage door opener remotes lose will lose their memorized and recognizable code with time, especially if they are old. This is not your operator’s fault and it has nothing to do with the weather; it is a common reason for old garage door opener remotes. If the problem is a malfunctioning remote, just have it re-programmed.
4. Old Batteries
This is probably the first thing you need to do, before getting to technical about the problems. Many homeowners solve the problem of a garage door opening on its own with a trip to the store. Change the batteries and see if the problem persists.
5. A short
If the problem is a short, it could be either one of your transmitters or the wall button for your garage door opener. You can easily test for a short.
If you come home from work and find your garage door open, even though you precisely remember closing it, then the problem is most probably with your transmitters. What happens is, as you close your garage door, it seems that it closes completely and stops. However, a short in your transmitter cause the door to reverse and open as soon as the arm and carriage pass past the down limit and hit the header bracket. To test your transmitter, take off the batteries and try to operate your garage door only from the wall button.
If the problem persists, then the issue is not your transmitter and you should test the wall button. To do this, remove the wall button wire and try to operate the garage door only from your transmitter. If that solves the problem, replace the wires for the wall button. If not, the reason could be something else, so read on.
6. The Wall Button
If you are a handyman in the house, try to look at the wires of the wall button to see if they are in place. We know about a case where the homeowner checked the wires and saw that one of them got loose and it was lying against the contact, making the garage door open from time to time.
Also inspect the wall button to check if it is not too old or sticking. If the light next to the wall button is flashing quickly, it means that it got stuck.
7. Old Stanley Openers – Malfunctioning Circuit Board
Old Stanley garage door openers are known to have problems with the circuit boards, which causes the door to open/close on its own. Call a professional for garage door opener repair. You have All 4 Seasons Garage Doors serving your area. You can reach us at (678) 981-8454.
8. Old Remote In a Drawer
Do you remember how many remotes you are supposed to have? Find every remote you have. It might be that an old remote is somewhere in a drawer and something is placed on top of it that is pushing the button.
9. Living next to a military base
If you live next to a military base – your opener can be triggered to open by the equipment they use that has the same frequency. However, this is not a common case.
10. Rare Case – It Could Be Your Neighbor’s Remote
This is a rare case that happens if your garage door opener is very old, and we’re talking about 20 years old or so. The newer garage door openers change their codes continuously with millions of combinations, while the old ones don’t do this. So if your neighbor has new one, it could happen that his transmitter’s code is currently the same as yours and it accidentally opened your door. Again, this is a very rare case. Most probably, this is not the cause your door opens on its own.
If the problem persists, call All 4 Seasons Garage Doors at (678) 981-8454. We are a local, family-owned, licensed and insured business operating since 1999. We’re available 24/7, so give us a call anytime!