Garage door won't open in the cold?

Colorado temperature swings are hard on a garage door. A morning at zero after a week in the forties does several things at once. Grease in rollers and hinges stiffens. Rubber and vinyl seals harden and stick to the floor or the jamb. Metal contracts, the spring does not pull the same, and the door can feel heavier and bind. The opener, an electric motor with plastic parts, struggles with the extra load.

Many openers have force and travel settings that were adjusted in warmer weather. When the door gets stiffer, the opener reads the resistance as an obstruction and stops or reverses. That is the safety feature working, not a fault. If a door opens a few inches, then stops, check that it is not frozen at the bottom first.

Cold also exposes problems that were already present. A spring with some wear breaks more easily in a cold snap, a rusty cable cracks, and an opener with a weak capacitor or a tired gear fails when it has to work. A door that will not move at all, makes a loud bang, or sits crooked is a different problem than a door that is just slow.

A cold-weather stall is usually a repair or an adjustment. If a spring or cable has failed, the right spring repair or cable repair is needed, and the door should not be run until then.

A very old door with failing seals and a tired opener is a good time to compare a new opener or a better-insulated door, but only after we see what is actually wrong.