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Every sectional and tilt door with an opener can be opened without the motor. A release built into the trolley covers a blackout, a dead motor or a lost remote. Done properly it takes thirty seconds; done on a door with a broken spring it can put you in hospital, so check the weight before you lift.
What the red cord actually does
Look up at the rail running from the motor to the wall above the door. Riding along it is the trolley, a small carriage the door arm bolts to, and hanging from that is a cord, almost always red, with a plastic handle. The motor drives a chain or belt inside the rail, and the trolley grips it with a latch. Pulling the cord lifts the latch, so the door is connected to nothing but its springs. It unlocks nothing, so a bolted door stays shut. Many units reconnect on their own when the motor next runs.
Opening the door by hand, step by step
Manual release, safely
- Check the door is fully closed. If it is stuck part-way, clamp locking pliers on the track under the bottom roller before you release, so it cannot fall.
- Make sure nothing is under the door: children, pets, the car's bumper, the bin. Unplug the opener if you can reach the power point.
- Pull the red cord firmly straight down until the trolley latch clicks free. On some units you then pull it back towards the door to hold it released.
- Grip the door by the bottom edge with both hands, never a panel joint, and lift straight up. A door with healthy springs feels no heavier than a small suitcase.
- Raise it until it stops and hold it while someone drives out. Prop it with timber or the pliers on the track if you must leave it; nothing else holds it up.
If the door is heavy, a spring has gone
The springs carry almost all of the door's weight, and a sectional door can weigh as much as a fridge. If it takes real effort to lift, drops when you let go, or you can see a gap in the coil spring above the door, stop. Lifting a door with a broken spring is how fingers, feet and backs get hurt. Leave it down and book the spring repair.
Opening a garage door without power
A blackout does not lock the door; it leaves the motor holding it shut, and the release cord is the answer. First check the power really is out; a tripped safety switch looks identical and is a quicker fix. Once the car is out, close the door by hand and lock it with the slide bolt or key lock if it has one, because a released door can be lifted from outside by anyone. If the garage is your main way in, a battery backup can be fitted to many current openers; our garage door opener battery backup guide explains which models take one.
Opening it from outside with no other way in
If the garage has a side door or an internal door from the house, use it and pull the cord from inside. If the garage door is the only way in, look for an emergency key release: a small round lock in the top panel or the frame beside it, often fitted where a garage has no other entry. Turning the key pulls a cable that trips the trolley latch so the door can be lifted. Plenty of Perth garages never had one. Locked out with no key release and no side door, call a technician rather than reach for a pry bar; the frame, top panel and seal all lose that fight.
Getting the door out of manual mode
Once power is back, reconnect the door or the motor will run along the rail without it. Close the door by hand first. Pull the release cord back towards the door, or straight down again on the models that toggle, until the latch drops. Press the wall button: the trolley travels until it meets the door arm, clicks in, and the door comes with it. If it passes the arm without engaging, pull the cord the other way and try again. Then run one full cycle and watch both ends; a door reconnected in a different spot can stop short of the floor, which the opener reset guide shows how to correct.
When you should not open it by hand
- A broken spring, whether you can see the gap or feel the weight. The door is now held by cables never meant to take the load, and it can drop the moment it is released.
- A cable off its drum or snapped. One side lifts and the other does not, and the door twists and jams in the tracks.
- A door already off its track or leaning out of the opening. A sectional door out of its tracks can fold and fall once released.
- A door stuck open with something under it. Releasing the motor removes the one thing holding it up.
In any of those cases the door is safest where it is. Keep people and cars clear and ring 0422 828 800. Our emergency garage door repair service attends jammed, dropped and stuck-open doors across Perth, 24/7. If the door will not move and you cannot tell why, the checks on our garage door won't open page narrow it down in a few minutes. We charge no call-out fee, and the job is priced before we start.
Roller doors: the manual override
A roller door has no rail across the ceiling, so there is no cord in the middle of the garage. The opener is mounted on the axle at one end of the drum, and the release is on the opener itself: a lever, a short cord, or a key in a slot on the housing, depending on the make. Operating it disengages the motor, and the curtain can then be lifted by the bottom rail. Most domestic roller openers release only from inside, and commercial roller doors usually have a hand chain beside the door. Lock the door with its bolts before you leave it.
Where the release sits on your particular opener is shown in its manual; the Merlin support centre and B&D's manual library both have diagrams of the release cord and lever.