On our house garage, we have a double light weight steel door and a
Craftsman door opener.

Every time the temperature falls much below about 40 degrees, we
have a problem that only occurs when closing the door.

The door goes part way down and reverses. It has done this for
years, and I can live with it because it seldom gets below 40
degrees here, but it would be nice to fix it, or at least know what
causes it.

I have lubricated the roller bushings, the door panel hinges, the
horizontal spring across the top, and the drive chain, using a can
of spray lube that says it is designed for garage doors (I know,
sucker). The door goes up and down easily by hand and is quiet in
operation.

Any thoughts?

Bob-tx

On Jan 28, 5:18*pm, "Bob-tx" wrote:
On our house garage, we have a double light weight steel door and a
Craftsman door opener.

Every time the temperature falls much below about 40 degrees, we
have a problem that only occurs when closing the door.

The door goes part way down and reverses. *It has done this for
years, and I can live with it because it seldom gets below 40
degrees here, but it would be nice to fix it, or at least know what
causes it.

I have lubricated the roller bushings, the door panel hinges, the
horizontal spring across the top, and the drive chain, using a can
of spray lube that says it is designed for garage doors (I know,
sucker). *The door goes up and down easily by hand and is quiet in
operation.

Any thoughts?

Bob-tx

Check the alignment light on your safety electric eyes at the bottom
of the track next time it happens.
Check them when it isn't happening for a baseline. Something could
move when the metal cools.

On our house garage, we have a double light
weight steel
door and a Craftsman door opener.

Every time the temperature falls much below
about 40
degrees, we have a problem that only occurs when
closing
the door.
The door goes part way down and reverses. It
has done
this for years, and I can live with it because
it seldom
gets below 40 degrees here, but it would be nice
to fix
it, or at least know what causes it.

I have lubricated the roller bushings, the door
panel
hinges, the horizontal spring across the top,
and the
drive chain, using a can of spray lube that says
it is
designed for garage doors (I know, sucker). The
door
goes up and down easily by hand and is quiet in
operation.

Any thoughts?

Bob-tx

My first guess would be the setting for how much
pressure before it reverses direction; can't think
of what it's called in the manuals. If it's too
sensitive, the door can reverse itself when it
shouldn't. Perhaps the cold changes something
somewhere that gives the door just a little more
friction, causing it to reverse on you.

Sometimes, when testing a door to see if/how it's
sticking, you have to push it down from the same
place the opener acts on it; where it attaches to
the opener in other words. Careful though, don't
just climb up on a ladder and give the door a
push; it can be dangerous and if the door sticks &
unsticks, it can unbalance you. I ran a rope thru
the place where the opener attaches to the door
and looped it over a handle I added to the wall
over the door. It worked and I found where it was
sticking. From that I discovered a slight
misalignment between the horizontal track and the
curved part, and a roller bracket was catching on
it. Adjusted the track a tad, and voila!
But you could move the door up & down all day
by its bottom and it'd never catch there. Someone
here mentioned to try the method I described and
it worked pretty well.
Like I said, beware just doing it from a
ladder; put somethign under you in case you fall &
have someone the help hold the ladder, at least.

HTH,

Twayne

"Twayne" ...
On our house garage, we have a double light weight steel
door and a Craftsman door opener.

Every time the temperature falls much below about 40
degrees, we have a problem that only occurs when closing
the door.
The door goes part way down and reverses. It has done
this for years, and I can live with it because it seldom
gets below 40 degrees here, but it would be nice to fix
it, or at least know what causes it.

I have lubricated the roller bushings, the door panel
hinges, the horizontal spring across the top, and the
drive chain, using a can of spray lube that says it is
designed for garage doors (I know, sucker). The door
goes up and down easily by hand and is quiet in operation.

Any thoughts?
Bob-tx

My first guess would be the setting for how much pressure before it
reverses direction; can't think of what it's called in the manuals. If
it's too sensitive, the door can reverse itself when it shouldn't.
Perhaps the cold changes something somewhere that gives the door just a
little more friction, causing it to reverse on you.


It is often called downward force adjustment and it is a screwdriver
adjustment on the side of the unit. You want more downward force so it gets
past what it considers to be a binding point.

I had this problem on my old doors and I made this adjustment and solved the
problem.
Tomes

In article , "Bob-tx" wrote:
On our house garage, we have a double light weight steel door and a
Craftsman door opener.

Every time the temperature falls much below about 40 degrees, we
have a problem that only occurs when closing the door.

Metal and cold temps -- think thermal expansion/contraction.

The door goes part way down and reverses. It has done this for
years, and I can live with it because it seldom gets below 40
degrees here, but it would be nice to fix it, or at least know what
causes it.

Something has contracted sufficiently that one or more of
the safety sensors is tripping and setting the opener into
reverse.

I have lubricated the roller bushings, the door panel hinges, the
horizontal spring across the top, and the drive chain, using a can
of spray lube that says it is designed for garage doors (I know,
sucker). The door goes up and down easily by hand and is quiet in
operation.

Have you checked the door manually when the temperature is
low? Try it early in the morning before sunrise on a cold
morning -- chances are high you'll find something binding
or catching.

If that fails, you can probably work around the problem
by adjusting the pressure/other sensor sensitivity by
a VERY SMALL AMOUNT. Obviously, it would be foolish to
adjust those controls by a large amount thereby disabling
the very worthwhile safety features that can prevent
serious damage and/or injury.

--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Jan 28, 6:48*pm, (Malcolm Hoar) wrote:
In article , "Bob-tx" wrote:
On our house garage, we have a double light weight steel door and a
Craftsman door opener.

Every time the temperature falls much below about 40 degrees, we
have a problem that only occurs when closing the door.

Metal and cold temps -- think thermal expansion/contraction.

The door goes part way down and reverses. *It has done this for
years, and I can live with it because it seldom gets below 40
degrees here, but it would be nice to fix it, or at least know what
causes it.

Something has contracted sufficiently that one or more of
the safety sensors is tripping and setting the opener into
reverse.

I have lubricated the roller bushings, the door panel hinges, the
horizontal spring across the top, and the drive chain, using a can
of spray lube that says it is designed for garage doors (I know,
sucker). *The door goes up and down easily by hand and is quiet in
operation.

Have you checked the door manually when the temperature is
low? Try it early in the morning before sunrise on a cold
morning -- chances are high you'll find something binding
or catching.

If that fails, you can probably work around the problem
by adjusting the pressure/other sensor sensitivity by
a VERY SMALL AMOUNT. Obviously, it would be foolish to
adjust those controls by a large amount thereby disabling
the very worthwhile safety features that can prevent
serious damage and/or injury.

--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar * * * * * "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Gary Player. |
|http://www.malch.com/* * * * * * * Shpx gur PQN. * * * * * * * *|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you put to much down pressure on it , it will it the ground and
bounce up.

On Wed, 28 Jan 2009 17:18:51 -0600, Bob-tx wrote:
On our house garage, we have a double light weight steel door and a
Craftsman door opener.

Every time the temperature falls much below about 40 degrees, we
have a problem that only occurs when closing the door.

The door goes part way down and reverses. It has done this for
years, and I can live with it because it seldom gets below 40
degrees here, but it would be nice to fix it, or at least know what
causes it.

There should be an adjustment for the maximum current draw before it
reverses. Try turning it up a bit. See if sears.com has online
manuals if you've lost yours.

"AZ Nomad" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 28 Jan 2009 17:18:51 -0600, Bob-tx
wrote:
On our house garage, we have a double light weight steel door and
a
Craftsman door opener.

Every time the temperature falls much below about 40 degrees, we
have a problem that only occurs when closing the door.

The door goes part way down and reverses. It has done this for
years, and I can live with it because it seldom gets below 40
degrees here, but it would be nice to fix it, or at least know
what
causes it.

There should be an adjustment for the maximum current draw before
it
reverses. Try turning it up a bit. See if sears.com has online
manuals if you've lost yours.

Thanks for all the replys. I have adjusted the down-force pot,
just a little bit at a time, until it is full max, but it didn't
change anything.

No, it isn't the alignment of the safety sensors. I checked this
several times over the years.

I think that the idea to try the door motion by manually pushing
from the top (the way the opener does) is a good idea, and a logical
next step.

Thanks, Bob-tx

On Thu, 29 Jan 2009 04:59:56 -0600, Bob-tx wrote:

"AZ Nomad" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 28 Jan 2009 17:18:51 -0600, Bob-tx
wrote:
On our house garage, we have a double light weight steel door and
a
Craftsman door opener.

Every time the temperature falls much below about 40 degrees, we
have a problem that only occurs when closing the door.

The door goes part way down and reverses. It has done this for
years, and I can live with it because it seldom gets below 40
degrees here, but it would be nice to fix it, or at least know
what
causes it.

There should be an adjustment for the maximum current draw before
it
reverses. Try turning it up a bit. See if sears.com has online
manuals if you've lost yours.

Thanks for all the replys. I have adjusted the down-force pot,
just a little bit at a time, until it is full max, but it didn't
change anything.

No, it isn't the alignment of the safety sensors. I checked this
several times over the years.

I think that the idea to try the door motion by manually pushing
from the top (the way the opener does) is a good idea, and a logical
next step.

You had said that "The door goes up and down easily by hand'.

Maybe something in the drive system is binding? What kind of mechanism
is it? A chain drive? Perhaps there's a bad link that binds when it goes
"around the bend"? A bent spot in the carriage that only causes a bind
when the drive is engaged?

"AZ Nomad" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 29 Jan 2009 04:59:56 -0600, Bob-tx
wrote:

"AZ Nomad" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 28 Jan 2009 17:18:51 -0600, Bob-tx
wrote:
On our house garage, we have a double light weight steel door
and
a
Craftsman door opener.

Every time the temperature falls much below about 40 degrees, we
have a problem that only occurs when closing the door.

The door goes part way down and reverses. It has done this for
years, and I can live with it because it seldom gets below 40
degrees here, but it would be nice to fix it, or at least know
what
causes it.

There should be an adjustment for the maximum current draw
before
it
reverses. Try turning it up a bit. See if sears.com has online
manuals if you've lost yours.

Thanks for all the replys. I have adjusted the down-force pot,
just a little bit at a time, until it is full max, but it didn't
change anything.

No, it isn't the alignment of the safety sensors. I checked this
several times over the years.

I think that the idea to try the door motion by manually pushing
from the top (the way the opener does) is a good idea, and a
logical
next step.

You had said that "The door goes up and down easily by hand'.

Maybe something in the drive system is binding? What kind of
mechanism
is it? A chain drive? Perhaps there's a bad link that binds when
it goes
"around the bend"? A bent spot in the carriage that only causes
a bind
when the drive is engaged?

I can't see where this would cause a problem only in cold weather.
Also, about three years ago, I replaced the unit because of another
problem with it, and they both do the same thing.
Bob-tx