Help! My garage door has become electrified. Touching the door is just
like touching a live wire. I have no idea how this is even possible,
especially considering the opener still works. The garage door opener
plugs into an outlet on the cieling of the garage. I have tried
replacing the outlet but the problem persists. As soon as I turn the
breaker on and plug the opener into the outlet, the whole door
immediately becomes hot, just like a live wire.

I'm at a complete loss here and would appreciate anybody that can
suggest fixes or how this is even possible. Obviously I will call an
electrician if it comes to that, but I am a bit of a handy man and
would like to fix it myself if possible. I've just never encountered
anything as seemingly impossible as this.

Thanks.

"Ralph Mowery" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
...
Help! My garage door has become electrified. Touching the door is just
like touching a live wire. I have no idea how this is even possible,
especially considering the opener still works. The garage door opener
plugs into an outlet on the cieling of the garage. I have tried
replacing the outlet but the problem persists. As soon as I turn the
breaker on and plug the opener into the outlet, the whole door
immediately becomes hot, just like a live wire.

I'm at a complete loss here and would appreciate anybody that can
suggest fixes or how this is even possible. Obviously I will call an
electrician if it comes to that, but I am a bit of a handy man and
would like to fix it myself if possible. I've just never encountered
anything as seemingly impossible as this.

Thanks.

Is the outlet ground wire really grounded and does the opener have a 3
wire plug ?

I would suspect the opener has a short to the case and the AC ground has
opened somewhere or maybe not even connected.

It is probably not a job for an electrician, but just change out the
opener. The opener could probably be fixed but it would probably cost
more than you could replace it for.
If you open the case of the door opener you may find a capacitor or surge
supressor from the AC wire to the case of the opener has shorted out.


Ralph has some good suggestions. If the problem goes away when the opener
is unplugged I think you have it narrowed down. Check to see if the garage
door opener electrical receptacle is really grounded. You may need to open
the receptacle and all others on that circuit to check the wiring.

It is possible if the electrical receptacle is not grounded and the garage
door develops an internal short to the metal housing. This could happen as
the cord enters the housing or due to a failure of an internal component.
If the grounding was good the circuit breaker should trip. Is the ground
pin still on the plug to the garage door opener?

Of course if the short was to the neutral it would not trip the circuit
breaker, but the metal case could still be carrying current.

wrote in message
...
Help! My garage door has become electrified. Touching the door is just
like touching a live wire. I have no idea how this is even possible,
especially considering the opener still works. The garage door opener
plugs into an outlet on the cieling of the garage. I have tried
replacing the outlet but the problem persists. As soon as I turn the
breaker on and plug the opener into the outlet, the whole door
immediately becomes hot, just like a live wire.

I'm at a complete loss here and would appreciate anybody that can
suggest fixes or how this is even possible. Obviously I will call an
electrician if it comes to that, but I am a bit of a handy man and
would like to fix it myself if possible. I've just never encountered
anything as seemingly impossible as this.

Thanks.

Is the outlet ground wire really grounded and does the opener have a 3 wire
plug ?

I would suspect the opener has a short to the case and the AC ground has
opened somewhere or maybe not even connected.

It is probably not a job for an electrician, but just change out the opener.
The opener could probably be fixed but it would probably cost more than you
could replace it for.
If you open the case of the door opener you may find a capacitor or surge
supressor from the AC wire to the case of the opener has shorted out.

On Jul 13, 10:08*pm, "John Grabowski" wrote:
"Ralph Mowery" wrote in message

...







wrote in message
...
Help! My garage door has become electrified. Touching the door is just
like touching a live wire. I have no idea how this is even possible,
especially considering the opener still works. The garage door opener
plugs into an outlet on the cieling of the garage. I have tried
replacing the outlet but the problem persists. As soon as I turn the
breaker on and plug the opener into the outlet, the whole door
immediately becomes hot, just like a live wire.

I'm at a complete loss here and would appreciate anybody that can
suggest fixes or how this is even possible. Obviously I will call an
electrician if it comes to that, but I am a bit of a handy man and
would like to fix it myself if possible. I've just never encountered
anything as seemingly impossible as this.

Thanks.

Is the outlet ground wire really grounded and does the opener have a 3
wire plug ?

I would suspect the opener has a short to the case and the AC ground has
opened somewhere or maybe not even connected.

It is probably not a job for an electrician, but just change out the
opener. The opener could probably be fixed but it would probably cost
more than you could replace it for.
If you open the case of the door opener you may find a capacitor or surge
supressor from the AC wire to the case of the opener has shorted out.

Ralph has some good suggestions. *If the problem goes away when the opener
is unplugged I think you have it narrowed down. *Check to see if the garage
door opener electrical receptacle is really grounded. *You may need to open
the receptacle and all others on that circuit to check the wiring.

It is possible if the electrical receptacle is not grounded and the garage
door develops an internal short to the metal housing. *This could happen as
the cord enters the housing or due to a failure of an internal component.
If the grounding was good the circuit breaker should trip. *Is the ground
pin still on the plug to the garage door opener?

Of course if the short was to the neutral it would not trip the circuit
breaker, but the metal case could still be carrying current.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks for the suggestions so far guys. The ground wire is connected
in the outlet and I have an outlet tester. When I plug the tester in
the response code says it is wired correctly, so I am assuming my
tester is correct. However, if the ground is not correct in the
outlet, is there a way to ground the outlet, after all, it is in the
ceiling and there are not many metal thigns to ground to in the
ceiling.
Also, I'm pretty sure it isn't the opener because I used a (really
long) extension cord to plug it into an outlet in the kitchen. When I
do that the opener works fine and the door is not hot. The door only
gets hot when the opener is plugged into the outlet in the cieling or
one other outlet in the garage, which is on the same circuit.
If the whole circuit has a bad ground, how can I go about fixing that?

Thanks again.

On Jul 13, 10:00*pm, wrote:
On Sun, 13 Jul 2008 22:08:09 -0400, "John Grabowski"





wrote:

"Ralph Mowery" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
...
Help! My garage door has become electrified. Touching the door is just
like touching a live wire. I have no idea how this is even possible,
especially considering the opener still works. The garage door opener
plugs into an outlet on the cieling of the garage. I have tried
replacing the outlet but the problem persists. As soon as I turn the
breaker on and plug the opener into the outlet, the whole door
immediately becomes hot, just like a live wire.

I'm at a complete loss here and would appreciate anybody that can
suggest fixes or how this is even possible. Obviously I will call an
electrician if it comes to that, but I am a bit of a handy man and
would like to fix it myself if possible. I've just never encountered
anything as seemingly impossible as this.

Thanks.

Is the outlet ground wire really grounded and does the opener have a 3
wire plug ?

I would suspect the opener has a short to the case and the AC ground has
opened somewhere or maybe not even connected.

It is probably not a job for an electrician, but just change out the
opener. The opener could probably be fixed but it would probably cost
more than you could replace it for.
If you open the case of the door opener you may find a capacitor or surge
supressor from the AC wire to the case of the opener has shorted out.

Ralph has some good suggestions. *If the problem goes away when the opener
is unplugged I think you have it narrowed down. *Check to see if the garage
door opener electrical receptacle is really grounded. *You may need to open
the receptacle and all others on that circuit to check the wiring.

It is possible if the electrical receptacle is not grounded and the garage
door develops an internal short to the metal housing. *This could happen as
the cord enters the housing or due to a failure of an internal component..
If the grounding was good the circuit breaker should trip. *Is the ground
pin still on the plug to the garage door opener?

Of course if the short was to the neutral it would not trip the circuit
breaker, but the metal case could still be carrying current.

Yep, definately a short in the opener. *Probably a bad motor, but it
could be anything. *It SHOULD trip the breaker though. *Try to run a
GROUNDED extension cord to an outlet that you KNOW is grounded. *Plug
the door opener into that. *See what happens. *If the breaker blows,
you know that garage outlet in not grounded properly and needs to be
fixed. *Of course you still have a defective door opener, which you
need to inspect and possibly replace or at least replace the motor.
But check for other OBVIOUS shorts inside the control box first.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Connect a good ground to the door when it is electrified. That should
really cause something to spark or burn open or generate some kind of
fireworks, but at least you 'll have an idea where the trouble is.

Bob Hofmann

On Sun, 13 Jul 2008 19:55:59 -0700 (PDT), wrote:


Thanks for the suggestions so far guys. The ground wire is connected
in the outlet and I have an outlet tester. When I plug the tester in
the response code says it is wired correctly, so I am assuming my
tester is correct. However, if the ground is not correct in the
outlet, is there a way to ground the outlet, after all, it is in the
ceiling and there are not many metal thigns to ground to in the
ceiling.

I thought those 3 led things worked pretty well, but I would test the
ground with an ohmeter, a volt-ohmmeter or multi-meter, from the screw
holding on the cover plate, with a long wire to screw in the cover
plate on that outlet in the kitchen. After I tested that and got
low resistance (although there might be 5 or 10 ohms while pressing
the probles firmly against the metal) I would then stick the probe in
the round hole in the receptacle, the third prong hole, and measure
that resistance to the center screw of teh same receptacle. The
resistance should be low, close to zero.

It's always a good idea to measure for voltage before measuring for
resistance, because if by some mistake of the wiring or your touching
things, there is voltage, you may burn out part of your meter.

Maybe your whole garage isn't grounded? Do you have any other
electic things in the garage, a circuit breaker box, a light that's
not part of the door opener.

Also, I'm pretty sure it isn't the opener because I used a (really
long) extension cord to plug it into an outlet in the kitchen. When I
do that the opener works fine and the door is not hot. The door only
gets hot when the opener is plugged into the outlet in the cieling or
one other outlet in the garage, which is on the same circuit.
If the whole circuit has a bad ground, how can I go about fixing that?

Thanks again.

wrote in message
...
On Jul 13, 10:08 pm, "John Grabowski" wrote:
"Ralph Mowery" wrote in message

...







wrote in message
...
Help! My garage door has become electrified. Touching the door is just
like touching a live wire. I have no idea how this is even possible,
especially considering the opener still works. The garage door opener
plugs into an outlet on the cieling of the garage. I have tried
replacing the outlet but the problem persists. As soon as I turn the
breaker on and plug the opener into the outlet, the whole door
immediately becomes hot, just like a live wire.

I'm at a complete loss here and would appreciate anybody that can
suggest fixes or how this is even possible. Obviously I will call an
electrician if it comes to that, but I am a bit of a handy man and
would like to fix it myself if possible. I've just never encountered
anything as seemingly impossible as this.

Thanks.

Is the outlet ground wire really grounded and does the opener have a 3
wire plug ?

I would suspect the opener has a short to the case and the AC ground has
opened somewhere or maybe not even connected.

It is probably not a job for an electrician, but just change out the
opener. The opener could probably be fixed but it would probably cost
more than you could replace it for.
If you open the case of the door opener you may find a capacitor or
surge
supressor from the AC wire to the case of the opener has shorted out.

Ralph has some good suggestions. If the problem goes away when the opener
is unplugged I think you have it narrowed down. Check to see if the garage
door opener electrical receptacle is really grounded. You may need to open
the receptacle and all others on that circuit to check the wiring.

It is possible if the electrical receptacle is not grounded and the garage
door develops an internal short to the metal housing. This could happen as
the cord enters the housing or due to a failure of an internal component.
If the grounding was good the circuit breaker should trip. Is the ground
pin still on the plug to the garage door opener?

Of course if the short was to the neutral it would not trip the circuit
breaker, but the metal case could still be carrying current.- Hide quoted
text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks for the suggestions so far guys. The ground wire is connected
in the outlet and I have an outlet tester. When I plug the tester in
the response code says it is wired correctly, so I am assuming my
tester is correct. However, if the ground is not correct in the
outlet, is there a way to ground the outlet, after all, it is in the
ceiling and there are not many metal thigns to ground to in the
ceiling.
Also, I'm pretty sure it isn't the opener because I used a (really
long) extension cord to plug it into an outlet in the kitchen. When I
do that the opener works fine and the door is not hot. The door only
gets hot when the opener is plugged into the outlet in the cieling or
one other outlet in the garage, which is on the same circuit.
If the whole circuit has a bad ground, how can I go about fixing that?



Thanks for the additional input. I would start by opening up every outlet
and switch on the circuit and checking polarity at each point. I would also
look at that circuit as it starts from the circuit breaker panel. Look
inside the panel and make sure the connections are where they are suppose to
be and are tight.

Is the other affected outlet in the garage a GFI receptacle?

On Sun, 13 Jul 2008 18:31:10 -0700, wmcritter wrote:

Help! My garage door has become electrified. Touching the door is just
like touching a live wire. I have no idea how this is even possible,
especially considering the opener still works. The garage door opener
plugs into an outlet on the cieling of the garage. I have tried
replacing the outlet but the problem persists. As soon as I turn the
breaker on and plug the opener into the outlet, the whole door
immediately becomes hot, just like a live wire.

I'm at a complete loss here and would appreciate anybody that can
suggest fixes or how this is even possible. Obviously I will call an
electrician if it comes to that, but I am a bit of a handy man and would
like to fix it myself if possible. I've just never encountered anything
as seemingly impossible as this.

Thanks.

And you're a handyman?



--

=================================================
Franz Fripplfrappl

On Jul 14, 6:50*am, "John Grabowski" wrote:
wrote in message

...
On Jul 13, 10:08 pm, "John Grabowski" wrote:





"Ralph Mowery" wrote in message

...

wrote in message
....
Help! My garage door has become electrified. Touching the door is just
like touching a live wire. I have no idea how this is even possible,
especially considering the opener still works. The garage door opener
plugs into an outlet on the cieling of the garage. I have tried
replacing the outlet but the problem persists. As soon as I turn the
breaker on and plug the opener into the outlet, the whole door
immediately becomes hot, just like a live wire.

I'm at a complete loss here and would appreciate anybody that can
suggest fixes or how this is even possible. Obviously I will call an
electrician if it comes to that, but I am a bit of a handy man and
would like to fix it myself if possible. I've just never encountered
anything as seemingly impossible as this.

Thanks.

Is the outlet ground wire really grounded and does the opener have a 3
wire plug ?

I would suspect the opener has a short to the case and the AC ground has
opened somewhere or maybe not even connected.

It is probably not a job for an electrician, but just change out the
opener. The opener could probably be fixed but it would probably cost
more than you could replace it for.
If you open the case of the door opener you may find a capacitor or
surge
supressor from the AC wire to the case of the opener has shorted out.

Ralph has some good suggestions. If the problem goes away when the opener
is unplugged I think you have it narrowed down. Check to see if the garage
door opener electrical receptacle is really grounded. You may need to open
the receptacle and all others on that circuit to check the wiring.

It is possible if the electrical receptacle is not grounded and the garage
door develops an internal short to the metal housing. This could happen as
the cord enters the housing or due to a failure of an internal component.

THIS is what electrical codes are for! Also having electrical work inspected
by an electrical inspector. As I recall, a small child died from a similar
situation...


wrote in message
Help! My garage door has become electrified. Touching the door is just
like touching a live wire. I have no idea how this is even possible,
especially considering the opener still works. The garage door opener
plugs into an outlet on the cieling of the garage. I have tried
replacing the outlet but the problem persists. As soon as I turn the
breaker on and plug the opener into the outlet, the whole door
immediately becomes hot, just like a live wire.

I'm at a complete loss here and would appreciate anybody that can
suggest fixes or how this is even possible. Obviously I will call an
electrician if it comes to that, but I am a bit of a handy man and
would like to fix it myself if possible. I've just never encountered
anything as seemingly impossible as this.

Thanks.

Sounds to me like the installer put a lag up through the ceiling to
back hang the door or the opener & right through the electrical wiring
(goes right between the wires in the romex that is stapled to the
rafters/trusses). Turn off the breaker for the garage & go up in the
attic & look if that's possible. (Yes I have seen installers do this
before & no it does not always trip the breaker.)

DoorDoc
www.DoorsAndOpeners.com
www.ActionDoor.com


On Jul 13, 9:31*pm, wrote:
Help! Mygaragedoorhas become electrified. Touching thedooris just
like touching a live wire. I have no idea how this is even possible,
especially considering theopenerstill works. Thegaragedooropener
plugs into an outlet on the cieling of thegarage. I have tried
replacing the outlet but the problem persists. As soon as I turn the
breaker on and plug theopenerinto the outlet, the wholedoor
immediately becomes hot, just like a live wire.

I'm at a complete loss here and would appreciate anybody that can
suggest fixes or how this is even possible. Obviously I will call an
electrician if it comes to that, but I am a bit of a handy man and
would like to fix it myself if possible. I've just never encountered
anything as seemingly impossible as this.

Thanks.

On Jul 14, 7:50*am, "John Grabowski" wrote:
wrote in message

...
On Jul 13, 10:08 pm, "John Grabowski" wrote:





"Ralph Mowery" wrote in message

...

wrote in message
....
Help! My garage door has become electrified. Touching the door is just
like touching a live wire. I have no idea how this is even possible,
especially considering the opener still works. The garage door opener
plugs into an outlet on the cieling of the garage. I have tried
replacing the outlet but the problem persists. As soon as I turn the
breaker on and plug the opener into the outlet, the whole door
immediately becomes hot, just like a live wire.

I'm at a complete loss here and would appreciate anybody that can
suggest fixes or how this is even possible. Obviously I will call an
electrician if it comes to that, but I am a bit of a handy man and
would like to fix it myself if possible. I've just never encountered
anything as seemingly impossible as this.

Thanks.

Is the outlet ground wire really grounded and does the opener have a 3
wire plug ?

I would suspect the opener has a short to the case and the AC ground has
opened somewhere or maybe not even connected.

It is probably not a job for an electrician, but just change out the
opener. The opener could probably be fixed but it would probably cost
more than you could replace it for.
If you open the case of the door opener you may find a capacitor or
surge
supressor from the AC wire to the case of the opener has shorted out.

Ralph has some good suggestions. If the problem goes away when the opener
is unplugged I think you have it narrowed down. Check to see if the garage
door opener electrical receptacle is really grounded. You may need to open
the receptacle and all others on that circuit to check the wiring.

It is possible if the electrical receptacle is not grounded and the garage
door develops an internal short to the metal housing. This could happen as
the cord enters the housing or due to a failure of an internal component.

On Sun, 13 Jul 2008 19:55:59 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

On Jul 13, 10:08*pm, "John Grabowski" wrote:
"Ralph Mowery" wrote in message

...

btw, YOu've never said how hot the door is.

Is it a tingle or a full 110 volts.

Have you ever had a full 110 volts?

It won't usually kill you or come close, but it's a lot more than a
tingle, like we had when our radio with metal chassis with nothing
underneath it, and a chip out of the side of the cabinet, if it slid
partway off the metal table would electrify the whole table, but only
at tingle level.

I've been assuming yours is a tingle.

That could still be a short to ground in your opener, but one that
went through a resistor or something that lowered the maximum current.

On Jul 14, 11:18*am, mm wrote:
On Sun, 13 Jul 2008 19:55:59 -0700 (PDT), wrote:
On Jul 13, 10:08*pm, "John Grabowski" wrote:
"Ralph Mowery" wrote in message

...

btw, YOu've never said how hot the door is.

Is it a tingle or a full 110 volts.

Have you ever had a full 110 volts?

It won't usually kill you or come close, but it's a lot more than a
tingle, like we had when our radio with metal chassis with nothing
underneath it, and a chip out of the side of the cabinet, if it slid
partway off the metal table would electrify the whole table, but only
at tingle level.

I've been assuming yours is a tingle.

That could still be a short to ground in your opener, but one that
went through a resistor or something that lowered the maximum current.

It could be a big short costing alot of money, the current would have
already dissipated through the wheels to the track to ground.