Why a garage door won't close

Where an opener has photoelectric safety sensors near the floor, a closing door reverses when the beam between them is broken. Chamberlain says that if the sending sensor glows steadily while the receiving sensor is off or flickering, that typically points to a misaligned or obstructed sensor, and that a short or broken wire can also be a cause. Chamberlain also states that if the door makes contact with an obstruction while closing it reverses, and that binding or a sticking door can produce the same result. Aligning, rewiring, or replacing sensors is work for a technician; this guide does not cover doing it yourself.

When the sensors are clear, Chamberlain lists other possible causes of a door that will not travel fully: the opener's force settings are no longer correct, the opener thinks the door has hit resistance, the opener cannot tell how far the door has moved, or the door is out of balance. Genie adds that a door reversing before it closes can be a limit-setting problem. Each of these is a possible cause; setting an opener's force or limits, or rebalancing a door, is a technician's job.

Clopay says that when a door still will not move, the problem may lie with the spring system or the opener motor, and recommends consulting a professional garage door technician. For a garage door that will not close in West Orlando, Experts Garage Door provides garage door repair.

For more guides like this one, see the garage door repair blog.