ideas to repair my genie garage door opener ?

[robb]

Equipment: I have genie g5050 1/2 hp screw drive opener (about 12 years old) and a

20 ft (1 piece) wooden door with 2 center mounted torsion springs and cable drums on the outer sides.

the GD repair company installed new springs and adjusted door about 1 year ago, door looks straight/level and lifts fairly easily about half way up it starts to go by itself a little and stops.

Problem: Door started kicking back up 1/2 way down about 3 weeks ago. this slowly got worse. Then door started to stall/stop about 1/2 way up. Now door will kick back after couple inches travel in either direction starting at any position you set the door.

if i disengage the door from opener and turn it on the screw will turn for about 4-5 seconds then stop. i thought it used to just keep going till you hit the button again ???

What i tried:

1- checked and tightened all hinges, 2- move door up/down to check for binding. 3- cleaned then adjusted the safety tension on the rear of opener

appreciate any more helpful ideas r

[jerry_maple]

Check the safety photocells for :

- alignment?

- dirt?

Jerry

[clifto]

I don't see any mention of anyone ever having lubricated the screw with the special lubricant Genie sells. I lubed the screw-type Genie for the guy next door and he thought I was a magician for making his door work so much better (and quieter).

[robb]

thanks for reply, The GD company did lube it when they repaired it a year ago

1 torsion spring broke and the door racked and bent the tracks and bent alot of hinges... the GD company replaced all the very bent stuff, 2 new springs and replaced torsion tube, they lubed and adjusted everything,

yes, just as you said it was smooth and quiet for months.

thanks aga> > Equipment:

[robb]

thanks for ideas,

i suppose i could **temporarily** short those somehow for the purpose of isolating the problem ???

robb

[dpb]

2 - Can't tell about binding by pulling/pushing on the door from the bottom -- have to push/pull from the top where the closer arm is attached (or at least near it) in order to tell what the opener is "seeing" for resistance. Particularly in the close mode, pulling and therefore, tension on the rollers/hinges/etc., is quite different than pushing as the opener has to do.

One thing that can occur that is a little hard to tell on binding is if there is a little bit of shift in the garage opening and the door track gets a little too close to the frame at some point (typically would be top/bottom depending on what moved). Happened here w/ similar symptoms and took me quite a long time to figure out the "where" and "why" of the same tendency to want to reverse..

As for the run time w/o the door connected, it should run until the traveler reaches the limit switches -- that's assuming they're arranged like the chain drives I've worked on so the traveler hits them even if not on the door. I suppose it would be possible to make it such that it would run continuously, but I'd check that the why of why it stops isn't the limit switches before assuming that's a problem. If it stops and they're not hitting the limit switches, that indicates there's another problem -- perhaps there's a gear bind that's tripping the tension switch rather than the door itself being the problem...

Just some random thoughts w/o having ever worked on a Genie or even owned one and also w/o seeing you're problem(s) in action...

[robb]

Sorry, i said (1 piece) door, it is a sectional with (5 sections) thus the hinges....

alot of hinges

[harlen]

My old genie screw type opener had a clutch. It sounds like the clutch is slipping causing the motor to stop. There is a double nut that is spring loaded and the nuts are located at the back of the screw shaft.

[SMS]

Argh, those one piece wooden doors are a PITA. I had one on a rental property that I own. It's a townhouse complex with 12 units. Over time, most of the owners have had to remove the one piece door and install a tracked door. Between the warpage of the door (that causes binding) and the weight of the door, the openers didn't last all that long. If you got 12 years on a 1/2 HP opener with a 20 foot one piece door then count yourself very lucky. I kept my one piece wooden door longer than most owners, but I was out there changing springs, and planing the door when the wood swelled and binded.

Replace the GDO with a 3/4 HP unit or replace the garage door with a tracked door and get a new 1/2 HP unit.

With no door attached, the opener should run longer than 4-5 seconds, depending on the settings of the limit switches.

[robb]

Yea, sorry i said wrong thing.... it is a sectional 5 piece with track i was thinking something else when i said one piece.

thats what i thought i remembered it doing once when i forgot to engage door to the GDO screw but i was not certain.

if this is expected behavior then there is definately something wrong in the GDO as it runs maybe 2-3 seconds when door is disengaged and i hit the remote button.

thanks for ideas and help robb

[robb]

I didn't know the technical name ... but i did try to adjust what you are talking about

if i loosened it too much the door openeing problem worsened but would not get any better if i tightened it.

the odd thing is it seem to make a difference in the resistance i had to provide for the kick back to occur when it was closing for the couple of inches that the GDO would move itbut it did not solve my problem

that is if i tried to hold / block door from closing with my hands when i loosened the clutch the door would kick back immediately (no travel) with little resistance, if i tightened it it would travel the 5 or so inches as before while i tried to muscle it to stop.

thanks for ideas and help robb