Construction Equipment Preparation: Things You Should Know

A garage door opener has a motor that supplies the power required to open and close the door. The motor can overheat when exposed to high temperatures and frequent operation. Modern garage door openers come with a thermal overload feature that shuts down the opener when the motor gets too hot, allowing it to cool down. Unfortunately, overheating isn't a normal phenomenon. Therefore, if it occurs, look out for these accompanying signs of trouble and get your door checked immediately.

Smoke Coming From the Door Opener

Is smoke coming out of your garage door opener? If so, you're not just dealing with an overheated motor—some of the opener's components have suffered damage too. High temperatures can blow the starting capacitor, causing it to smoke. The starting capacitor is the component that stores energy to power the motor when you operate the door opener. Once the capacitor is damaged, your garage door opener will stop working.

Unusual Noises During Operation

The motor supplies power to the opener and allows it to operate the door in an upward and downward movement. Unusual noises from the door opener indicate wear and tear on the motor. Poor maintenance and lack of lubrication cause metal parts inside the opener to grind against each other, causing screeching or squealing noises. As the metals rub against each other, the resultant friction generates heat and causes the motor to overheat. You can solve this problem by lubricating your motor and other components. However, if the components are already worn, you should replace them.

Intermittent Door Movement

When a modern garage door motor overheats, the opener stops working until the motor cools off. As a result, the door may stall mid-operation. However, the opener should restart and work properly once the motor cools down. If your door continues to experience intermittent movement, your motor is failing. Sluggish movement shows that the motor isn't supplying enough electrical power to the opener to allow smooth operation. If you don't fix the motor, it can fail entirely, causing the garage door opener to stop working.

Failure to Open or Close

If your garage door doesn't open or close due to overheating, give the motor time to cool off. After a few minutes, the door opener should turn on again, allowing you to open and close your door. If this doesn't happen, you probably have a dead motor. If the motor overheats and fails, your garage door opener will stop working. In this case, you can use the manual override to operate the door manually as you wait to replace the faulty motor.

The above signs indicate your overheating garage door motor requires immediate attention. Hire a professional contractor to diagnose your garage door opener and repair the faulty motor. For more information, contact a company like Plano Overhead Garage Door.