Garage Door Sticking Down

[Matt M PA]

Well, this is a strange one. I have three doors on my detached garage. Two have Sommer openers that are working fine.

The door that isn't used as often has started sticking when in the down position. Meaning, the opener tries to pull it up....feels the resistance and stops. If I close and open again...it works.

Nothing has been moved or adjusted and I just assumed that it sticks after sitting due to dirt, etc on the door seal or floor seal. (Like a Tsunami seal)

Today, I cleaned the seals well. It still sticks when down after a short time. I was thinking I may need to adjust something, but it worked fine for years.

I'd sure be thankful for anyone's thoughts before I started taking things apart to find a problem. Thus far, I've found nothing that appeared amiss.

Could it be something as simple as lubrication? I usually do that in the Spring, but the more often used door is working fine.

 

[Dustball]

Disconnect the opener from the door so you can manually lift the door up and down. This will let you inspect the operation by feel and maybe with another pair of eyes.

 

[nadogail]

Disconnect the opener from the door so you can manually lift the door up and down. This will let you inspect the operation by feel and maybe with another pair of eyes.

What he said

 

[larry4406]

Did your painter paint the rubber seals that are mounted on the jamb? I have instances where the paint on the rubber sticks to the face of the door along the length of the seal. Literally locks the door in place. Have had to gently pull the seal off the door. Doors with full sun exposure can make this worse.

 

[Matt M PA]

An update.

Disconnected the operator and checked door operation. It does seem to stick at the bottom. Well, perhaps I should say that it requires some effort to get it moving.

I checked the track adjustments...none have moved. I oiled the rollers and tracks.

Then, I noticed that if I slightly pull back on the center of the for while lifting, it moved easier. I found some sticky substance on the weatherstrip, but only on one side. I cleaned it off and the door seems to work better. (I had to stop as I have out-laws, I mean...in-laws coming over)

The door operator works much better and I'm thinking of putting some 303 or similar on the weatherstrips.

 

[mmb617]

I also have three doors in my garage, and they all have the same openers. One of them does exactly what you describe. It will start trying to raise, there will be an audible bang noise and it will stop. If I hit the button again it goes right up. It's been that way for some time and I've never been able to isolate the cause. I just live with it.

 

[CraigStu]

Realizing this isn't the cause, but it's worth a try, you could crank up the force adjustment. All the ones I have worked w/ had a small knob and an obvious range min to max. I wouldn't right away go to max but a tick or two more force may help.

 

[Pster]

Rub Vaseline on the vinyl surround. It works.

 

[TMcCay]

Rub Vaseline on the vinyl surround. It works.

I agree!