How to Open Your Garage Door Safely During a Power Failure

Have you ever been stuck inside a closed garage during a power failure? What about an open garage door that won’t close? You and the family are ready to start your vacation, but how can you safely leave with the door open? Actually, it is safer if the garage door is closed when the outage occurs.  

Tripping the Garage Door Trigger

If your garage door is open and you release the bypass switch, the door will likely come crashing down. What’s worse, since the power is out, anything or anyone under the door will get damaged or hurt. The electric eye that would have detected someone or something and reversed the door does not work without power.

The manufacturers of automatic door openers foresaw moments when the door would get stuck opened or closed. They added a handle for manual release. Before activating this release when the door is open, prop the door up with 2x4s, or some other type of bracing, to prevent the door’s freefall.  

Now that you know it won’t come crashing down, find the red rope and pull it toward the back of the automatic garage door opener and the back of the garage. This motion will prevent the rope from getting tangled in the door’s tracks, and you can safely lower the garage door.  

You can now safely open and close your garage door until the power gets restored. If the reason it won’t open and close is something other than a power failure, call a repair person immediately.

The Garage Door Doctor Does Emergency Repairs and Installs

The Garage Door Doctor has many locations to serve you in Houston and the surrounding area. Give us a call to get a garage door opener installed or serviced. We are the tune-up specialists. Just one call will get us out to your home for an emergency repair, (281) 855-9300 or (281) 578-7659. Email your questions to 1garagedoordoctor@att.net.

“Honest, Quality Work – At a Fair Price.”