Jeff Wisnia wrote:


nestork wrote:

Jeff:

I agree that it's a good idea to lubricate both the hinges and rollers
on your garage door.

But, I think you missed the mark again by suggesting people use OIL on
them. Airborne dust sticks to oil making the grime you see so often on
the underside of your car's engine. A better choice would have been DRY
GRAPHITE in an aerosol can. You can buy this stuff at any hardware
store. Locksmiths also might carry it, but locksmiths prefer to use
powdered graphite in a small blow gun because it's less messy. I prefer
the aerosol because it delivers more graphite and the graphite gets all
over everything inside the lock.

The reason they call it "DRY" graphite is because the propellant in the
can evaporates completely, leaving only the graphite behind.

Graphite is a natural lubricant because the carbon atoms in graphite are
arranged in a hexagonal pattern in "plates", and those plates slide over
each other easily. Airborne dust won't stick to graphite and graphite
is unaffected by temperature, so it's lubricating properties are just as
good at -40 deg. Celsius as they are at +40 deg. Celsius.

Also, if someone is reading this that doesn't know whether friction is
causing problems with their garage door or not, but are concerned that
lubricating the garage door may be a messy task with no reward, buy some
glycerine at any pharmacy for $3 a bottle. Apply glycerine to your
rollers and hinges. Glycerine is in fact a low volatility alcohol, but
it behaves very much like a light oil, like WD40 say. If you get a
noticable improvement in the operation of your garage door, then wait
for the glycerine to evaporate in a few days, and then apply graphite
from an aerosol can. If you don't see any difference, don't worry about
having added glycerine; it will evaporate completely without leaving any
residue.


Thanks for the useful tip nestork.

I do have a can of spray on graphite but I'm not sure it can wick its
way into tight and likely slightly corroded crevices like those on the
garage door hinges, so I prefer to use a moderate weight oil.

I did "clean house" after oiling the hinges by wiping any excess oil off
the exposed surfaces, though I don't think many folks would rub up
against the inside of my garage door and soil their clothing very often.


Jeff
Hi,
Graphite is not a good idea. You wnat black streaks all over aking it
dirty and messy looking? I use white Lithium grease spray or Teflon
spray sparingly once a year or so. When was last time you adjusted the
chain tension?