Understand your garage door emergency release feature

A simple push on the remote button is all your need to open your garage door. And this simple convenience usually goes unnoticed until there is power outage,and the opener has no battery back-up.Or when there is some kind of garage door malfunctioning. Can you still open your garage door?

Take a deep breath and relax. You can easily disengage the door from the opener, but you should know how to do it right. Knowing how to safely and properly use the emergency release cord can literally safe your life in an emergency situation. Here are a few things you must know.

Every automated garage door openers come with an emergency release cord that hangs from the trolley. It is typically red in color so that you can easily spot it.

Steps to disengage the door from the opener:

1. Make sure the garage door is closed before you begin doing this exercise.
2. Pull the emergency cord down. This will disengage the door from the opener.
3. You can now open the garage door manually
4. Makes sure the door remains steady and in place before you take the car out of the garage.
5. Always close down the door once you are out.

Again, use extreme caution and ensure the door is in down position before you pull the cord down. But what if your door is already up and is now stuck? It can be very dangerous to do this by yourself as the door can come crashing down with brutal force, causing injury and damage. Also, once you have disengaged the door never ever leave it unattended. Doubly ensure that kids, pets and family members are out of the way.

We recommend you call garage door repair professionals to take care of it.

Steps to re-engage the door with the opener:

1. Shut down the garage door, right to the floor
2. Pull the cord towards the door
3. A clicking sound confirms that your door is now connected to the opener again.
4. Use remote control to make sure the door is re-engaged. Open and close the door a couple of times using a remote to make sure everything is normal. 

If you have actively reconnected the door but it still remains unresponsive to the opener, it is definitely time to call a professional garage door service company for help. Don’t fiddle with door too much at this stage as things might be unpredictable. Its best to wait for your local garage door technician arrives onsite.

It might seem a simple and doable exercise, but we suggest you call an expert for help. While power outage is a reasonable explanation, sometimes getting to the underlying problem can be tricky. Only a professional can get to the root cause of the problem and offer a safe and efficient solution. In addition, you may want to upgrade to a new model that come with battery-back up or built-in Wi-fi. But it is still better to understand what this red cord does and how can you use it in emergency situations. If you feel there is something not right with the emergency release cord, call your reliable garage door repair specialist at (254)848-6088 right away to get it fixed.