Overhead door falls back down after opening

Overhead Legacy:

When the door opens it sometimes falls back down part way. It hits "top" then bounces back down rather than stopping in fully open position.

I have had it serviced twice (spring tension and limits adjusted) by local Overhead dealer but problem persists.

Any ideas?

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Reply to
MichaelCaditz
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Find someone local who knows how to diagnose door problems. It's not something that can be handled here especially when a malfunction can lead to injury or worse.

Reply to
Jeff The Drunk

First, does this door have an automatic opener? The limit adjustment part suggests that it may. Second, is it the linear extension spring type or wound springs?

Reply to
trader4

I've replaced 3 sectional doors in my lifetime. Everything down to the tracks. One was a double wide with wound springs the other two linear. So i know enough to troubleshoot the workings. I've installed 2 chain overhead openers. All have been working well for several years and i go over them once a year to make sure bolts are tight, lube etc...

But I wouldn't attempt to guide someone with a problem of this nature via a news group. It's just too difficult and potentially dangerous to diagnose without seeing, hearing, feeling. And it's a "sometimes it happens" deal too. Even more difficult to give help to intermittent problems without being there and observing the operation and listening to the sounds it makes. My point isn't to discourage help offers. It's to be realistic in what can be expected in the way of help with all the unknown factors.

Reply to
Jeff The Drunk

Sounds like something that is going to kill somebody if you don't watch it. I would close it, lock it, shut it off and put an 'out of order' sign on it until somebody can fix it. If you need access, lock it in the up position securely.

Reply to
LSMFT

Hi, One and maybe only thing you can try is disengage opener and try to close/raise the door. Is the spring tension in balance? IF not, there is possibility the door can hurt you or door/track coming down or up to hard/fast.

Reply to
Tony Hwang

So says you. But people have offered advice many, many times on overhead doors here. And many people have used that advice and reported the door being fixed. The same objections could be raised on many home or auto repairs. You can just as easily kill yourself putting up a Dish antenna on the roof. Or you could kill yourself doing the brakes on your car, when the car falls on you, if you don't know what you're doing. Or you could cut off a hand with a circular saw while cutting plywood or get electrocuted working on a breaker. Yet, somehow millions of people do those tasks, remarkably few have bad results, and I see people giving advice here all the time.

And we didn't even get enough info to know whether there is something simple and safe they could try or if it involves something more complex that requires more skill.

Reply to
trader4

...

How does it "hit" top and bounce for starters, and/or what does that mean, specifically????

I gather this is not on an opener or it wouldn't/couldn't have free travel so...

Start w/ what type of door, spring arrangement, etc., etc., ...

Unless it's a leightweight door and you're giving it a heave when opening it, I'm having hard time figuring out how it would "hit" top instead of just going to the open position.

In general, the spring tension is obviously not matched w/ the weight of the door and/or there's some other malfunction in play here. Insufficient data to diagnose, specifically, though...

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Reply to
dpb

Try lifting the door like a normal, sane, responsible human being instead of flinging it open like a caveman that just took a hit of acid.

Reply to
mkirsch1

That is EXACTLY what is going on.

If he guided the door up like he's SUPPOSED to, it wouldn't bounce or fall partway back down.

Reply to
mkirsch1

responding to

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MichaelCaditz wrote: The door is automatic, with wound springs.

The tech cam out a three times, each time tightening the springs more. Apparently they loosened over time.

It was also explained to me that the builder of the house installed a heavy metal decorative plate on the outside of the garage door AFTER the door was weighed for the purpose of selecting the correct springs. So the springs are not properly matched to the door WITH the plate.

Reply to
MichaelCaditz

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The door is automatic, with wound springs.

So how does the door go anywhere w/o the opener following????

What sort of metal plate--dimensions, thickness??? It should be simple enough to estimate that weight. If it really is terribly heavy, then the door company is simply incompetent in not replacing a too light spring w/ the proper one (or your too cheap to fix it correctly???)

I'm still mostl puzzled by the first question, though...I don't see how this is possible w/o tearing up an opener or the door becoming disengaged from the travel mechanism or somesuch...

Reply to
dpb

Particularly since there is little force on the springs when the door is in the up position, anyway (springs offer little resistance, too, but...). There's still something missing here.

Reply to
keith

=3D

What is missing is "competence"...that's all. =3D=3D

Reply to
Roy

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