Most people take their garage door for granted. After all, you press the garage door remote to open it and press it again to close. Garage doors tend to be fairly reliable and often work for many years before issues occur.
But there’s nothing more alarming than when you press the remote and nothing happens. It can be an especially big problem if your car is in there and you need to get to work.
Fortunately, you can usually open the garage door manually by engaging the emergency release.
How to Manually Operate the Garage Door
Note: You’re about to release an extremely heavy garage door. Never do this while the garage door is open. If you’re uncomfortable doing this on your own, consider calling a garage door technician for assistance. Most companies have 24 / 7 service if it’s urgent.
Most garage doors are equipped with what’s called an emergency release or bypass lever. This is either a lever or rope that’s located directly above the door and it’s usually clearly labeled as such. By pulling the level, you disengage the door from your automatic garage door opener, which will then allow you to manually open and close the door.
Now, before you do this, there’s a couple important things to keep in mind. One, your door is no longer connected to the opener, so you should never disengage the release when the door is open, or IT WILL come crashing down. Second, never let go of the door until it’s properly secured. Your panel is completely loose on the track so letting go of it mid-way will cause it to come straight back down – with an unforgiving force.
Once you’ve completed your task, don’t forget to close the door and reengage the emergency lock.
Have You Considered Installing Battery Backup on Your Garage Door Opener?
The truth is this situation is entirely avoidable — if you install a battery backup system on your garage door opener.
In fact, battery backup is required by law in California on any new garage door or garage door opener installed as recently as 2019. The law was passed in response to California’s wildfires. Several residents were prevented from using their garage doors during evacuation due to a power outage. The law now requires battery backup in new doors installed in Sacramento so homeowners will be able to evacuate in times of emergency.
But the truth is battery backup is a good idea no matter when your garage door was installed. Not only will it help in evacuations during a natural disaster, but battery backup is just highly convenient. Why should a power outage prevent you from using your door? The good news is battery backup can be installed on any existing garage door or garage door opener. Give us a call! We’d be happy to help.