In the event of a power failure, it’s important to be prepared. Do you know how to open your garage door in a power outage? Fortunately, there’s no need to panic if your power goes out while your car is still in the garage. All automatic garage doors come equipped with a bypass that allows you to manually open the door.

When Your Power Is Out

Here’s how to open your garage door in a power outage.

1) Disconnect the garage door opener.

Completely close the garage door, then disconnect your door opener. Don’t try to disengage your garage door while it’s open. Otherwise, the weight of the door could send it crashing down.

2) Pull the emergency cord.

Find the red emergency cord. It should be hanging down from the center of the garage door track. Pull the cord and slide it back. This will disable the trolley.

3) Open the door manually.

Locate your garage door’s lift handle. This is often found on the bottom panel. Lift the garage door until it’s fully opened. If your garage door is in good repair and is properly balanced, it should be fairly easy to lift. If you’re not able to lift the door manually, have it inspected by a repair technician as soon as you can. It’s possible that your door has a broken spring.

4) Reconnect the door.

Close your garage door and reconnect the door opener trolley.  Make sure that your garage door is unlocked when you reconnect it. You’ll hear a click as your trolley reconnects.

Following Restored Power

After your power comes back on, reconnect the garage door opener. Keep the door unlocked. Open and close the door to make sure it’s working properly.

For more tips on opening your garage door in a power outage or any other garage door inquiries, please contact Missouri Door and Dock.