Opener Repairs for Chicago Homes and Garages

Nine times in ten this is the pair of photo eyes bolted a few inches off the slab either side of the opening. In a city garage they get clipped by bike handlebars, nudged by a snow shovel, buried behind bins, or blinded by low winter sun coming straight down the alley. A steady light on both eyes means they can see each other. A flickering or dead light means they cannot.

The other cause is the force setting. If the door reverses at the same point every time rather than at random, something physical is stopping it there, and winding the force up to push past it is how doors end up bent. We find the obstruction instead. Sensors never get bypassed or disabled, whatever the workaround being suggested online.

A stripped drive gear, a failed capacitor, a burnt travel limit, a dead receiver or a chewed wall-button wire are all repairs, and on an otherwise sound unit they are worth doing. What is usually not worth it is a failed logic board on an opener past twenty years, where parts are scarce and the rest of the machine is queued up behind it.

Age brings safety into it too. Openers made before the early nineties predate the photo-eye requirement, and a unit with no sensors down at the floor should be replaced whether or not it still runs. The technician tells you which category yours falls into, gives you the price in person, and you decide.