You missed your woken alarm, got up late and now you’re running late for work, so you’re rushing to work, go inside your car and press the button to open your garage door and nothing happens, no sound or any movement, the opener is not working and the door won’t budge.
It’s time if you haven’t heard about it so far, there’s a simple but super essential feature found on most garage doors and it is the emergency release cable.
A garage door emergency release is a pull cord that lets you disconnect the garage door opener during emergencies like a power outage or when the opener stops working for any reason.
In this guide we will explain precisely how to use the emergency release cord and how to keep it in good working condition.
Find The Garage Door Emergency Release Cord
Before doing anything you need to make sure your garage door is completely closed, never pull the emergency release cord while the door is open because it will crash down instantly, damage the door and might cause injury.
Once the door is safe and completely closed, look for the emergency release cord, typically it’s a red rope located at the center rail of the garage door opener track near the ceiling.
Pull down the Emergency Release Cord
After you’ve found the emergency release cord, pull it down gently and pay close attention, you should hear a click sound which means the opener has been disengaged, this action releases the part that connects the door to the opener and allows you to lift the garage door manually, after its release you can open or close the door by hand without the motor holding it back.
Opening The Garage Door By Hand
Once the opener is disconnected you can need to keep in mind that without the motor’s help the door may feel a little heavy, more than usual.
In order to lift the door manually grab the handle near the bottom center of the door and slowly yet steadily lift it up, it is always a good idea to have someone to assist you, especially if you have a larger heavy duty door, once the door is wide open, hold it in place or use something sturdy like a 2×4 to brace it and prevent it from accidentally shutting sown.
Reengage The System
Now when the garage door is held open, either with a secure brace or by hand, you need to find the trolley, which is the part connected to the door and moves along the track and gently guide it back along the track until you hear the same click sound of the release, which means that the latch has reconnected to the opener, now you can lower the door and test the opener, if the door opens and closes smoothly then everything is working properly.
