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Old 06-13-2020, 04:53 PM   #1
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Calling for garage door knowledge!

Realizing I may have an opener clashing with AC problem with a 17b. The right side of the wooden shelf in the first picture is 15.5 feet into the garage, beginning of opener is 12.5 feet in. So back of 17b has to be about 2-2.5 feet in past the wood shelf. That bar for the garage door opener would hit the solar panel. It hangs down to just about 8 feet high.

I have no issue with just removing the opener and opening the door manually (which I assume is possible) but want the hive mind to consider whether there are any other options. Can the opener with its black track be moved off to the side? The door is 8 feet wide and 8 feet tall. It would then be pulling from one side of the door (more than it is now; it was offset because originally there were two openers, one on the front door.
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Old 06-13-2020, 04:57 PM   #2
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I imagine that door is pretty heavy at 8' tall and wood with windows. How hard is it to lift manually and can you do it from one side? It would seem if not centered it would pull on one side and cause problems. That black bar can be made shorter to eliminate the overhang if that is the issue....
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Old 06-13-2020, 04:59 PM   #3
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Not wood- some kind of synthetic material and insulation probably also aluminum frame, and no handle or rope so I don't know how hard it is to open manually. I'll look up the opener installation and see if it mentions where to locate it. I'd have to have someone do it anyway- I could move the bar but not rehang the motor.
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Old 06-13-2020, 05:52 PM   #4
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Tried raising the door 1 foot and then disconnecting from the opener and it comes crashing down pretty hard- so heavier than I thought, I guess. How on earth are you supposed to open it manually in a power outage if that's the case and it isn't balanced? I think if the opener turns out to be okay with the AC I'll omit solar instead and just make it ready for external solar if I find a need.
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Old 06-13-2020, 05:54 PM   #5
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Tried raising the door 1 foot and then disconnecting from the opener and it comes crashing down pretty hard- so heavier than I thought, I guess. How on earth are you supposed to open it manually in a power outage if that's the case and it isn't balanced? I think if the opener turns out to be okay with the AC I'll omit solar instead and just make it ready for external solar if I find a need.
Mine has a handle hanging from the opener, I pull that and it disengages the opener and I can lift the door by hand.
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Old 06-13-2020, 06:00 PM   #6
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Mine has a handle hanging from the opener, I pull that and it disengages the opener and I can lift the door by hand.
I can disengage but there is no handle on the door to lift it up with. And since it fell heavily when disengaged, I'd be a bit worried about doing it manually (opening or closing). I had a lighter double aluminum door in Fresno, no problem with that, and it had a rope attached, but I guess to do this I need to put something on it first. Handle or rope. No idea where to attach a rope, though.

Who knew garages or lack thereof could be such a pain??
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Old 06-13-2020, 06:05 PM   #7
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You should have counterweight springs that help lift the door, otherwise you would need a heavy duty opener. I'd get a garage door company there and get the springs installed, a release and a shorter bar and count it in the middle to help the opener maintain control.
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Old 06-13-2020, 06:07 PM   #8
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Wait I see the springs over the door, those are your counter weight. You need to remount the opened in the wood between the windows and by lowering the attachment point you should eliminate the excess on the black bar.
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Old 06-13-2020, 06:19 PM   #9
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Wait I see the springs over the door, those are your counter weight. You need to remount the opened in the wood between the windows and by lowering the attachment point you should eliminate the excess on the black bar.
I'm confused. The excess is when it is open- wouldn't mounting it lower make for more excess? But it has to be mounted on that stabilizer bar according to the installation instructions.

It has springs- but currently no handle. (Something I did not notice until the first power failure when I actually needed to open the door but there is access through another door.). So I tried it by leaving it just a foot up and then it was definitely not balanced coming down.

I think my build sheet is getting delayed until I figure this out- I'll ask the garage door company if they can move the opener or adjust for manual, and Karl is getting the height of the solar panel and location of the AC for me. If I can leave the opener with AC but not with solar, I'll probably drop solar; if I can't with either I'll convert the door to manual.
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Old 06-13-2020, 06:56 PM   #10
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I can disengage but there is no handle on the door to lift it up with. And since it fell heavily when disengaged, I'd be a bit worried about doing it manually (opening or closing). I had a lighter double aluminum door in Fresno, no problem with that, and it had a rope attached, but I guess to do this I need to put something on it first. Handle or rope. No idea where to attach a rope, though.

Who knew garages or lack thereof could be such a pain??
One of my wood garage door openers developed a small problem and I used it for years as a manual door because it was in front of a car that only sees light seasonal use. Your situation isn't much different in that your total in-outs for the trailer isn't going to be a huge number.

Adjusting the spring for almost a neutral weight isn't difficult. It does require some care as it involves winding up the spring another turn or two and if you let go of the winding bar it could do some damage. But it is a simple process and any homeowner can do it.

I had my door so that it required only a fairly light lift to start and when closing didn't suddenly get heavy and slam down.

If you get it adjusted for a nice light weight you can use the hinges as a lift point or tie a rope loop to them.

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Old 06-13-2020, 06:59 PM   #11
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Originally Posted by Bobbie54 View Post
Realizing I may have an opener clashing with AC problem with a 17b. The right side of the wooden shelf in the first picture is 15.5 feet into the garage, beginning of opener is 12.5 feet in. So back of 17b has to be about 2-2.5 feet in past the wood shelf. That bar for the garage door opener would hit the solar panel. It hangs down to just about 8 feet high.

I have no issue with just removing the opener and opening the door manually (which I assume is possible) but want the hive mind to consider whether there are any other options. Can the opener with its black track be moved off to the side? The door is 8 feet wide and 8 feet tall. It would then be pulling from one side of the door (more than it is now; it was offset because originally there were two openers, one on the front door.
The Escape site shows the 17B as being 8 feet 2 inches high. I think that would be with out AC or solar. Is that going to fit in your door even without AC and solar?
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Old 06-13-2020, 06:59 PM   #12
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One of my wood garage door openers developed a small problem and I used it for years as a manual door because it was in front of a car that only sees light seasonal use. Your situation isn't much different in that your total in-outs for the trailer isn't going to be a huge number.

Adjusting the spring for almost a neutral weight isn't difficult. It does require some care as it involves winding up the spring another turn or two and if you let go of the winding bar it could do some damage. But it is a simple process and any homeowner can do it.

I had my door so that it required only a fairly light lift to start and when closing didn't suddenly get heavy and slam down.

If you get it adjusted for a nice light weight you can use the hinges as a lift point or tie a rope loop to them.

Ron
It's the back door- only used for accessing the storage in the back of the garage most of the time or for air when working in the garage (no trailer). So being manual would be no issue but I'm not going to try adjusting the spring myself. Too bad I didn't discover it when the installer would have had to come fix it though. As long as I know it can be done I've got months to get it done.

Just don't want to be like my dad and keep the garage door up with a post stuck between the bottom of the door and the floor!
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Old 06-13-2020, 07:02 PM   #13
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The Escape site shows the 17B as being 8 feet 2 inches high. I think that would be with out AC or solar. Is that going to fit in your door even without AC and solar?
Front door is 9 foot carriage doors. It only has to go through the front. It's 104 with AC according to Karl. But I do want to be able to use the back of the garage for storage of things like mower, boat stuff, etc.

Darn opener is at 102.5 roughly... It MAY work with the opener and not solar depending on how far back the back of the AC unit is from the end measurement of a 17.
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Old 06-13-2020, 07:06 PM   #14
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I'd recommend looking into a wall mount opener. They're way quieter, can be installed fairly easily (by definition, since I managed to do it), and they totally eliminate any middle of the garage ceiling space impediments. The link below is to what I have.



https://www.liftmaster.com/garage-do...openers&text=#
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Old 06-13-2020, 07:35 PM   #15
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I'd recommend looking into a wall mount opener. They're way quieter, can be installed fairly easily (by definition, since I managed to do it), and they totally eliminate any middle of the garage ceiling space impediments. The link below is to what I have.



https://www.liftmaster.com/garage-do...openers&text=#
Thanks, that's a possibility. Although depends how it works since I just built shelves along the wall!
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Old 06-13-2020, 07:58 PM   #16
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Front door is 9 foot carriage doors. It only has to go through the front. It's 104 with AC according to Karl. But I do want to be able to use the back of the garage for storage of things like mower, boat stuff, etc.

Darn opener is at 102.5 roughly... It MAY work with the opener and not solar depending on how far back the back of the AC unit is from the end measurement of a 17.
That's close. Good luck with that, hope it works out. I wish I could keep our 21 at home instead of in storage but it doesn't work out where we are.
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Old 06-13-2020, 09:01 PM   #17
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They sell a range of spring tensions.
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Old 06-13-2020, 09:30 PM   #18
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Thanks, that's a possibility. Although depends how it works since I just built shelves along the wall!

The way the wall mount work is by driving the counterweight springs on the top of the door. So the opener mounts to the front wall of the garage next to the door. Worst case with this scenario is you might have to adjust that top adjustable shelf on the left in your middle picture.

https://embed.widencdn.net/pdf/plus/...7.pdf?u=mcyivk
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Old 06-13-2020, 09:39 PM   #19
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Cool. But I looked at prices and that isn't going to happen for a door that I open on average once or twice a month. (Lately more as I was building out there but most of the time just to store something in there.) But they are pretty cool.
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Old 06-13-2020, 10:47 PM   #20
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Tried raising the door 1 foot and then disconnecting from the opener and it comes crashing down pretty hard- so heavier than I thought, I guess. How on earth are you supposed to open it manually in a power outage if that's the case and it isn't balanced?
My newer Chamberlain opener has a battery backup. It charges while the opener is under normal power and is supposed to provide 1 to 2 days of normal use if power is lost. I used it once so far on battery and it worked well...just slower (by design).
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