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How does a garage door actually hold its own weight?

A garage door is not lifted by the opener — it is lifted by the spring, and the opener only guides it. A residential door weighs 85 to 400 pounds, and the counterbalance holds that weight so the motor only has to overcome friction. That is why springs and cables are professional work while sensors and remotes are not: one group holds the stored energy and the other does not.

Garage door safety covers the balance test and what an unbalanced door does to an opener.

Is the fault the remote, or the opener?

Press the wall button. That one press separates the two halves of the system: if the door runs from the wall control but not from the remote, the opener and the door are fine and the fault is in the remote or its pairing. If neither works, the problem is upstream — power, the logic board, or the door itself.

Assuming the wall button works, replace the remote battery before anything else. It is the most common cause and the cheapest to rule out. A remote that works within a few feet of the opener but not from the driveway is usually a weak battery rather than a failed transmitter.

If a fresh battery does not fix it, re-pair the remote. Modern openers use rolling codes, which change the transmitted code on every press, so a remote cannot simply be cloned from another and a lost pairing has to be re-established at the opener.

One case worth separating: if the remote works but only intermittently and only at certain times of day, suspect radio interference rather than the remote. LED bulbs in the opener head are a well-known culprit.

What is the one-minute test everyone should be doing?

The reversal test, monthly, with a 2x4 laid flat in the door's path: it must reverse on contact. If it does not, stop using the opener until it is adjusted, repaired or replaced. It matters because this system fails silently — a door whose reversal has stopped working looks and sounds exactly like one that still does. CPSC recommends inspecting the door and opener every 30 days.

Children, pets and the garage door covers why the standard exists.

At what point should I stop and call someone?

• The door is very heavy by hand with the opener disconnected. The counterbalance has failed.
• You can see a gap in the spring coil, or a cable that is frayed, slack, or off its drum.
• The door sits crooked, higher on one side, or has come off its track. It is still under full tension.
• The door does not reverse on the board test. The entrapment protection is not working.

None of those is calling too early, and the rule worth teaching at home comes from that same federal text: “NEVER GO UNDER A STOPPED PARTIALLY OPEN DOOR.”

Questions that come up next

Does a door that reverses mean something is broken?

No — the opposite. A door that stops and goes back up when it touches something is the entrapment protection doing exactly what 16 CFR 1211 requires. The fault worth investigating is a door that fails to reverse.

Can I disable the photo eyes to get the door closed?

No. That removes the external entrapment protection required since 1993, and it is the protection that exists because of the CPSC child fatality record. If a sensor is genuinely faulty, replace it — it is among the cheapest parts on the door.

Is it safe to use the emergency release with the door open?

The federally required manual text says to use it only when the door is closed wherever possible, because weak or broken springs may allow the door to fall rapidly. A great deal of DIY content advises the opposite.

Should I replace one spring or both?

If the door has two, quote both. The second is the same age and has taken the same number of cycles, so it is next. This is one of the few upsells in the trade that is genuinely honest.

How to do it

What you need: A fresh battery of the type printed inside the remote, A step ladder to reach the opener head

1. Test the wall button first. If the door does not run from the wall control either, stop — the fault is not the remote.
2. Replace the remote battery and try again from where you normally use it.
3. If it still fails, find the learn button on the back or side of the opener motor head, not on the wall control.
4. Press and release the learn button. The opener enters a short pairing window, usually about 30 seconds.
5. Within that window, press and hold the remote button until the opener lights blink or the unit clicks.
6. Test from the driveway, not from under the opener, so you are testing range as well as pairing.
7. If you have just moved in, hold the learn button for about six seconds first to erase every previously paired remote — whoever held one still has a key to your garage.

Common mistakes

• Programming from a generic video instead of your model manual. Learn sequences differ between brands and between model years of the same brand.
• Not erasing old remotes after buying a house. Whoever held a remote for that door still holds a key to your garage.
• Assuming a dead remote means a dead opener. Test the wall button first — it separates the remote from the opener in one press.