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| How Do I Open My Garage Door When the Electricity Goes Out? |
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| Maybe this will never happen to you, but if it does, will you know how to handle it? | ||
| We take our garage door openers for granted. When we pull our cars into the garage, we push a button and the door goes up. When we need to go somewhere, we punch in our code and the door opens. | ||
| But what happens when there is no electricity? Nothing! | ||
| So, be prepared for that unlikely circumstance when you need to leave for an appointment, or you come home from shopping, and you can't open your garage. | ||
 Right at the top of your garage door, in the middle, you should find a keyed lock. In your collection of house keys, gate keys, and others, you should have a smaller key that fits that lock in the garage door. |
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 The key turns about a quarter turn clockwise - at least that's how it works on my garage door - and then the lock mechanism pulls out of the lock. If you continue to pull the lock mechanism, you'll find that it is followed by a foot or two of steel cable. |
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  click photos for larger version |
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| It may take a stiff tug to activate the emergency
release, but that steel cable pulls on the same release mechanism that
is activated by the red-handled rope that hangs from the center rail of
your garage door opener. |
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When you open this release, the garage door will open and close freely without the opener motor and chain moving. It's a good idea to try this from time to time to assure that it is working properly, and even to assure that you can find the key. |
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| If you find that the garage door seems extremely heavy, maybe even dangerously so, then it is time to call a specialized garage door company to come repair or adjust the counterweight spring. | ||