On Sunday, February 8, 2015 at 1:23:03 PM UTC-7, Dottie wrote:
I have a Genie Silentmax 1000 Model 3042 Garage door opener.
I bought it 3-21-2012 at Home Depot so it is mostly out of
warranty by now. Back in Nov. I started having problems. I
would press the opener and the door would go up about two
feet - or a little less - and stop. I couldn't get it to work.
My neighbor unplugged it in the ceiling and when he plugged it
up again, it started working. I called the company that
installed it and a man came out and checked it. He could
find nothing wrong. I still paid for his service call. Less
than 30 days later the samee thing happened. A different man
checked it. He found nothing. He suggested I get a surge
protector.
1. As far as I know it was not disconnected from the door to
see if it was hanging up or overloading the motor.
I have cleaned it - every where that I can see dirt -- and I
have sprayed it with WD40 in the places I had been told to use it.
Download the factory manual here, and especially read chapter 13,
which is about adjustments:
http://www.geniecompany.com/data/pro...manual_eng.pdf
The repair company seems to be staffed by clueless hacks because
a surge protector is never a solution here, and you don't want to
hang something heavy like that from a ceiling AC outlet or let it
sit loose on top of an opener, where motor vibration can make it
move around and, in the case of belt or chain drive openers, possibly
jam in the mechanism (hardly likely with a screw drive opener like
yours). At the very least, the company should have increased the
force adjustment because in a lot of cases that ends problems like
yours. Also the door mechanism should have been checked carefully
for binding and balance, both when the opener was installed and when
the repair company visited. You already paid for a proper diagnosis
and repair but didn't get either in 2 visits, so the company owes you.
Maybe you should file complaints with the registrar of contractors,
any consumer protection agency, and BBB.org.
When the door stopped opening just 2 feet from the ground, did the
light of the overhead unit blink? Sometimes it blinks a certain way
to indicate an error code, sort of like Morse code. Blinking would
indicate a mechanical overload. On the other hand lack of blinking
could indicate a really bad mechanical overload that made the opener
disconnect the power to protect itself. Normally with older style
openers that use AC motors, that's done with a thermostat inside
the motor that pops open when it overheats, so you have to wait
1-10 minutes for it to cool down enough to close, until you can
use it again, but you have an electronically driven DC motor, so
maybe the protection is handled differently, to protect not only
the motor but also the electronics.
Check the manual, which any legitimate installation company would have
left with you. If you don't have it, look here, especially in the
chapter about maintenance & adjustments, starting around page 19:
http://www.geniecompany.com/data/pro...manual_eng.pdf
Maybe all you need to do is increase the force adjustment, which can
be done by pressing buttons a certain way on the remote control. But
you really should disconnect the electrical power to the opener and
then disconnect the opener from the door (pull on the overhead rope)
to verify that the door opens and closes smoothly and evenly on both
sides and is balanced properly (should sit still when raised about 4
feet from the ground). With multi-section doors that
run on tracks, see that the pulleys are in good shape (plastic ones
crack or chip, and both metal and plastic ones can develop worn shaft
bushings), the cables and springs are about evenly tensioned, and
that all the track rollers are in good shape. Rollers and pivot points
should be oiled with about #20 machine oil, not anything like WD-40,
which is mineral spirits), but never oil the track. The screw drive
for the
opener requires a special light grease that won't bind up in the
cold, so don't use NLGI #2 or NLGI #1-#2 axle grease on it. I'm not
sure if even NLGI #1 is light enough for this. Again, don't work on
the opener except with the electrical power disconnected. And if you
work on the door while it's open, place a step ladder under it so
the door can't fall. Also don't adjust springs, especialy torsion
springs (mounted horizontally overhead, in the middle of the door
opening).