For some reason, my sectional garage door will only open a small gap
the first time I try. Once I put something in the way of the
electronic eye beam, it will lift it all the way. I used silicon
lubricant on the wheels and hinges but it still happens. Any
suggestions?

Disconnect the door opener mechanism
and lift it by hand to see if it sticks.
Look for loose wire at the eyebeam,
staple thru or chaffing on the wires to the
eyebeam. Door movement shaking the
eyebeam sensors? Do sensors have lights
on them if so do they blink or act weird?

(John) wrote in message . com...
For some reason, my sectional garage door will only open a small gap
the first time I try. Once I put something in the way of the
electronic eye beam, it will lift it all the way. I used silicon
lubricant on the wheels and hinges but it still happens. Any
suggestions?

What happens the second time you try to open it without anything in
front of the photo-cells? The photo-cells are not supposed to effect
the door from opening at all (even if they are disconnected.

As the other poster suggested use the door by hand to determine if the
door is causing the problem (as in sticking or too heavy) or if it is
probably in the opener.

Doordoc
www.DoorsAndOpeners.com

On 13 Oct 2004 07:36:02 -0700 "John"
used 5 lines of text to write in newsgroup: alt.home.repair

For some reason, my sectional garage door will only open a small gap
the first time I try. Once I put something in the way of the
electronic eye beam, it will lift it all the way. I used silicon
lubricant on the wheels and hinges but it still happens. Any
suggestions?

Might need to adjust the sensitivity on the opener.


-Graham

Remove the 'snails' from my email

(Doordoc) wrote in message . com...
(John) wrote in message . com...
For some reason, my sectional garage door will only open a small gap
the first time I try. Once I put something in the way of the
electronic eye beam, it will lift it all the way. I used silicon
lubricant on the wheels and hinges but it still happens. Any
suggestions?

What happens the second time you try to open it without anything in
front of the photo-cells? The photo-cells are not supposed to effect
the door from opening at all (even if they are disconnected.

As the other poster suggested use the door by hand to determine if the
door is causing the problem (as in sticking or too heavy) or if it is
probably in the opener.

Doordoc
www.DoorsAndOpeners.com

OOPS....wasn't clear. See, when I push the button, the door open only
about one section...when I push again, it starts to close, so putting
something in the way makes it automatically open.

(ROBMURR) wrote in message ...
Disconnect the door opener mechanism
and lift it by hand to see if it sticks.
Look for loose wire at the eyebeam,
staple thru or chaffing on the wires to the
eyebeam. Door movement shaking the
eyebeam sensors? Do sensors have lights
on them if so do they blink or act weird?

I will try to lift it by hand tonight.

OOPS....wasn't clear. See, when I push the button, the door open only
about one section...when I push again, it starts to close, so putting
something in the way makes it automatically open.

Ok, so the eyes work just as they are supposed to. As an educated
guess I would suspect that you have a 3-piece rail on your opener & it
stops when the carriage (part on rail that attaches to the door
arm)gets to the 1st splice. If it is a screw drive check to see if the
screw splice collar isn't broken or dislodged or if it is a chain
drive bend the tabs on the corners of the carriage slightly upwards
(check to make sure the carriage will still release properly) so they
will clear the splice smoothly.

Doordoc

(John) wrote in message . com...
(ROBMURR) wrote in message ...
Disconnect the door opener mechanism
and lift it by hand to see if it sticks.
Look for loose wire at the eyebeam,
staple thru or chaffing on the wires to the
eyebeam. Door movement shaking the
eyebeam sensors? Do sensors have lights
on them if so do they blink or act weird?

I will try to lift it by hand tonight.

K, tried lifing it and it does seem heavy for the first 2 feet or so,
then much lighter. What am I suppose to do about that?

"John" wrote
K, tried lifing it and it does seem heavy for the first 2 feet or so,
then much lighter. What am I suppose to do about that?

I missed your original post. Not sure what your problem was, however if the
door seems heavy at the bottom, and very light at the top, almost flying up
on it's own then your springs are wrong. If the door just seems difficult
to open for the first couple feet of lift, it's either binding on the tracks
or frame & either the tracks or the strapping will need to be adjusted, or
your springs need a tension adjustment.

Based on the other reply you received about the sensors...it sounds like you
could have asked why you door reverses on the way down with the opener.
This could be a number of things. Rope hanging from door, support strut
etc. breaks the beam on the way down. Tracks need adjustment, or the door
is causing the tracks to move so that the sensors fall out of alignment.
Sensitivity setting on your opener's close force set too low. Just a couple
of things for you to check.

Good luck