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Automatic overhead doors are rampant in all residences and commercial buildings.
After all, it has security features to safeguard your property.
Even when you’re still in the car, you can open it with a click of the remote control.
While this is convenient, what would you do if there’s a power outage?
If you don’t know much about your automatic overhead door, this scenario can be problematic.
The first thing you do is to call for a garage door repair company near you.
But, don’t you know you can open it manually whether you are inside or outside?
If you probably don’t know, automatic garages have an emergency release kit that allows you to open the overhead door manually.
That’s why before you prepare yourself for another power outage, read this guide on how to open the garage door manually.
It’s relatively easy, and all you need to do is follow the steps whether you’re inside or outside the garage.
Manually Opening the Garage Door From the Inside
If you happen to be inside your garage during the power outage, consider these steps on how to open the garage door manually:
- Make sure the locks or latches located near the outside of the overhead door are open. This ensures that these components won’t interfere with opening the door.
- Next is to unplug the opener. Disconnect the opener from the power source.
- All automatic garage doors have an emergency release cord. To locate it, a red handle can be seen hanging from the center rail of the track. The red cord is attached to the trolley. The trolley connects the garage door’s arm to the center of the track. Also, an Emergency release handle should be used when the overhead door is closed.
- Pull the emergency release cord. The cord should detach the garage door from the trolley. This allows you to open the garage door manually.
- Then, you can lift the garage door. You have to keep the garage door in place before releasing it and successfully back your car out of the garage.
- Once you’re outside, close the door. Make sure to lock it if you have a lock bar.
After you have successfully opened the garage door, make sure to lock the door.
The manual lock keeps your garage door and other belongings safe, especially during a power outage.
Also, unlock it before trying to open the garage door, whether automatically or manually. You can also check out the manual for more details.
Manually Opening the Garage Door From the Outside
On the other hand, if you are outside when the power outage happened, you can follow these steps:
- Find the emergency release kit located at the top of your garage door. You should also search for the small lock where the emergency release cable is stored. But make sure you have a key to unlock it.
- Then, unlock the emergency release cord. This cord allows you to open the garage door from the outside manually.
- Pull down the emergency release cord. Then, unlock the garage door and turn the handle to keep it vertical.
- You can already manually lift the door. Make sure it stays open when you’re parking your car inside.
- Lastly, you can close the door all the way once you’re inside the garage.
Once you have successfully used the emergency release cord, you have to check if you can use your automatic opener again.
To do this, you can check this video to reengage your garage door opener.
TIPS AND REMINDERS
To ensure that you open the door successfully, lubricate your rollers and chain for lesser friction.
In this way, it will allow for quiet and smooth operation, and you won’t face any problems during the manual process.
Also, refer to your user manual to execute how to open the garage door manually.
Lastly, never pull the emergency cord if the garage door is in an open position.
It will crash the door with a strong force that causes damage and injury to who and what gets in the way.
Seek help from us!
If you’re not quite sure how to open the garage door manually, seek help from a garage door repair company near you.
If you’re living in Mississauga, you can always count on A1 Garage Doors to aid you in your concerns.
Even if you’re stuck inside or outside, you can always ask help from us to help you manually open the door during a power outage.
After all, we provide an emergency garage door service around the clock.
We also cater to other garage door problems – from garage door installation, cable repair to springs replacement. Rest assured we’ll fix it for you.
What are you waiting for? Call us now!
