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Electrified Garage door

Help! My garage door has become electrified. Touching the door is just like touching a live wire. I have no idea how this is even possible, especially considering the opener still works. The garage door opener plugs into an outlet on the cieling of the garage. I have tried replacing the outlet but the problem persists. As soon as I turn the breaker on and plug the opener into the outlet, the whole door immediately becomes hot, just like a live wire.

I'm at a complete loss here and would appreciate anybody that can suggest fixes or how this is even possible. Obviously I will call an electrician if it comes to that, but I am a bit of a handy man and would like to fix it myself if possible. I've just never encountered anything as seemingly impossible as this.

Thanks.

Reply to
wmcritter
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Ralph has some good suggestions. If the problem goes away when the opener is unplugged I think you have it narrowed down. Check to see if the garage door opener electrical receptacle is really grounded. You may need to open the receptacle and all others on that circuit to check the wiring.

It is possible if the electrical receptacle is not grounded and the garage door develops an internal short to the metal housing. This could happen as the cord enters the housing or due to a failure of an internal component. If the grounding was good the circuit breaker should trip. Is the ground pin still on the plug to the garage door opener?

Of course if the short was to the neutral it would not trip the circuit breaker, but the metal case could still be carrying current.

Reply to
John Grabowski

Is the outlet ground wire really grounded and does the opener have a 3 wire plug ?

I would suspect the opener has a short to the case and the AC ground has opened somewhere or maybe not even connected.

It is probably not a job for an electrician, but just change out the opener. The opener could probably be fixed but it would probably cost more than you could replace it for. If you open the case of the door opener you may find a capacitor or surge supressor from the AC wire to the case of the opener has shorted out.

Reply to
Ralph Mowery

Thanks for the suggestions so far guys. The ground wire is connected in the outlet and I have an outlet tester. When I plug the tester in the response code says it is wired correctly, so I am assuming my tester is correct. However, if the ground is not correct in the outlet, is there a way to ground the outlet, after all, it is in the ceiling and there are not many metal thigns to ground to in the ceiling. Also, I'm pretty sure it isn't the opener because I used a (really long) extension cord to plug it into an outlet in the kitchen. When I do that the opener works fine and the door is not hot. The door only gets hot when the opener is plugged into the outlet in the cieling or one other outlet in the garage, which is on the same circuit. If the whole circuit has a bad ground, how can I go about fixing that?

Thanks again.

Reply to
wmcritter

Connect a good ground to the door when it is electrified. That should really cause something to spark or burn open or generate some kind of fireworks, but at least you 'll have an idea where the trouble is.

Bob Hofmann

Reply to
hrhofmann

I thought those 3 led things worked pretty well, but I would test the ground with an ohmeter, a volt-ohmmeter or multi-meter, from the screw holding on the cover plate, with a long wire to screw in the cover plate on that outlet in the kitchen. After I tested that and got low resistance (although there might be 5 or 10 ohms while pressing the probles firmly against the metal) I would then stick the probe in the round hole in the receptacle, the third prong hole, and measure that resistance to the center screw of teh same receptacle. The resistance should be low, close to zero.

It's always a good idea to measure for voltage before measuring for resistance, because if by some mistake of the wiring or your touching things, there is voltage, you may burn out part of your meter.

Maybe your whole garage isn't grounded? Do you have any other electic things in the garage, a circuit breaker box, a light that's not part of the door opener.

Reply to
mm

Thanks for the suggestions so far guys. The ground wire is connected in the outlet and I have an outlet tester. When I plug the tester in the response code says it is wired correctly, so I am assuming my tester is correct. However, if the ground is not correct in the outlet, is there a way to ground the outlet, after all, it is in the ceiling and there are not many metal thigns to ground to in the ceiling. Also, I'm pretty sure it isn't the opener because I used a (really long) extension cord to plug it into an outlet in the kitchen. When I do that the opener works fine and the door is not hot. The door only gets hot when the opener is plugged into the outlet in the cieling or one other outlet in the garage, which is on the same circuit. If the whole circuit has a bad ground, how can I go about fixing that?

Thanks for the additional input. I would start by opening up every outlet and switch on the circuit and checking polarity at each point. I would also look at that circuit as it starts from the circuit breaker panel. Look inside the panel and make sure the connections are where they are suppose to be and are tight.

Is the other affected outlet in the garage a GFI receptacle?

Reply to
John Grabowski

And you're a handyman?

Reply to
franz fripplfrappl

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I would think if its shorting its the opener and you are loosing electricity =3D Money to ground. You could verify money lost, and mearure it, by testing the ground wire with a good clamp on amp meter. I know someone who lost 50$ a month for years from some defective wiring or apliance.

Reply to
ransley

THIS is what electrical codes are for! Also having electrical work inspected by an electrical inspector. As I recall, a small child died from a similar situation...

Reply to
Bill

Sounds to me like the installer put a lag up through the ceiling to back hang the door or the opener & right through the electrical wiring (goes right between the wires in the romex that is stapled to the rafters/trusses). Turn off the breaker for the garage & go up in the attic & look if that's possible. (Yes I have seen installers do this before & no it does not always trip the breaker.)

DoorDoc

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Reply to
doordoc

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sounds like you have both a disconnected ground in the circuit as well as a short to ground. time to start troubleshooting.

nate

Reply to
N8N

Is it a tingle or a full 110 volts.

Have you ever had a full 110 volts?

It won't usually kill you or come close, but it's a lot more than a tingle, like we had when our radio with metal chassis with nothing underneath it, and a chip out of the side of the cabinet, if it slid partway off the metal table would electrify the whole table, but only at tingle level.

I've been assuming yours is a tingle.

That could still be a short to ground in your opener, but one that went through a resistor or something that lowered the maximum current.

Reply to
mm

It could be a big short costing alot of money, the current would have already dissipated through the wheels to the track to ground.

Reply to
ransley

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