The weather has a big effect on your garage door opener. The weather can damage garage door openers, so you should know how yours will respond to different kinds of weather. As you’ll see in the next section, it all depends on where you live and what kind of weather you usually have there.
How the weather can affect your garage door opener
If the temperature is too low or too high, or if there is too much humidity in the air, your opener might not work right. If you live in a place where it rains and/or snows often, this can also make your opener act up.
Extreme Heat
When it’s very hot, these things can happen:
A garage door can get bent, which can make it hard to close.
Sagging springs will make your door opener work harder than usual because it will take more energy to lift the door.
Rollers wear out faster than usual. This is especially true if you have an older model with metal rollers instead of plastic ones (which are more durable).
Flooding
Rust and corrosion can be caused by flooding, which can hurt your garage door opener. Flooding can also hurt the garage door, which will need to be fixed or replaced. If you live in a place that floods often, you should keep an eye on your garage door opener so you know when it needs to be fixed.
If flooding happens near where your garage door opener is, there’s a chance that water will get into the motor housing unit of your device and ruin its inner workings, which would be expensive to fix.
Extreme Cold
If you live somewhere where it gets below freezing, your garage door opener might not work as well when it’s cold. In fact, the motor could freeze up if it was made for use in warm weather but is used in very cold weather, like subzero temperatures or blizzards.
This can happen because metal expands when it gets hot and contracts when it gets cold. This is also why metal objects rust easily when exposed to water over time (it expands). If you live in a place where the temperature often drops below freezing and your garage door has been constantly opening and closing all winter, you may have already done some damage.
Exposure to the sun
When the garage door gets too much sun, it can fade and crack. Even a steel garage door can bend in the heat of the sun.
The best way to stop this from happening is to protect your garage door from the sun’s damaging rays with a coating. Depending on how skilled you are, you can either hire someone to do this for you or do it yourself.
Humidity
When there is a lot of humidity, your garage door may swell, which could break the springs. This can be very dangerous because if you’re in the garage and it closes on you, you could get hurt or even die.
High humidity is also bad because it can cause metal parts like hinges and rollers to rust. Rust makes these parts weaker, so over time they are more likely to break.
Protect garage door opener in bad weather
Here are some things you can do to keep your garage door opener safe when it rains or snows:
- Keep the opener covered: If your opener is outside, you might want to buy a cover to keep rain, snow, and other things from getting into it.
- Lubricate moving parts: Keeping your opener’s moving parts oiled can help keep them from getting damaged by changes in humidity or temperature.
- Test the opener often: Make sure to test your opener often, especially when it’s raining, to make sure it’s still working.
- Keep the tracks clean: Make sure the tracks that the opener moves on are clean and free of anything that could get in the way. This will help the opener work better and keep snow, ice, or other debris from breaking it.
- Keep an eye on the weather report. If a severe storm is coming, it’s a good idea to close your garage door manually to protect your opener from damage.
- Replace worn parts: If you see worn parts on your opener, you should replace them as soon as possible to stop further damage.
- Get a pro to look at it: At least once a year, you should have a professional look at your opener. This is especially important if you live in an area with harsh weather.
By doing these things, you can help keep your garage door opener safe from bad weather and make sure it works well for many years to come.
