Our garages are one of the key foundations of our homes, the majority of us enter and exit our homes through the garage. Along with the garage being a place to enter and exit our homes, our garage plays a major part in storage, from cars to old boxes. We don’t typically appreciate the convenience of our garage until something prevents us from using it, for example, a power outage. We tend to forget that along with many other household items, garage doors run off electricity.
When a power outage occurs the garage door opener will cease to work properly, leaving you feeling trapped out of your own garage. First off, relax, power outages sometimes happen and even though they can be an inconvenience, there is usually always a solution to fix your problem.
Tips on Opening Your Garage When the Power Is Out
Safety First
So the power out and you can’t open your garage door. Before we go any further into the manual override option, we must talk about an important and potentially dangerous hazard about your garage door when the power is out. If your garage door is open during the power outage, contact us at Pacific Experts immediately before attempting to close your garage door. When a garage door is in the open position when the power is out, there can be a very unlucky chance of the coincidence of a spring failure.
No, a power outage does not cause a spring to fail, however, if by chance you have a broken spring when attempting to close your garage door manually, the door can come off the tracks at a rapid speed and come crashing down. This can cause extreme damage, not to the garage door but also any person who is in the garage can be subjected to a serious injury. Our team is properly trained and equipped with the right tools to adhere to this problem in a safe and secure manner.
The Manual Override
Many people are unaware that every garage is equipped with a manual override, so when the power is out, there is another way of getting in and out of your garage. The manual override feature of your garage is located inside of your garage, there is a red cord that hangs directly above the chain. The cord is connected to a latch when the cord is pulled the latch is released enabling the garage to be open and shut manually by pulling back or forward on the cord. The manual override feature can be used safely during the event of a power outage, so you are able to gain entry into your garage.
Connecting the Garage Back Following an Outage
Even though power outages are extremely frustrating and inconvenient, they typically don’t last too long. When your power is restored and you have been manually using your garage door, you need to connect the door back onto the latch so the door can be linked back to the motor. If you feel as though you can’t get the garage connected back to the latch, contact us at Pacific Experts and we will be more than happy to assist you.