Whew!!!

This picture up above is how close I cam to shelling out $250 bucks and about 2 hours worth of labor today.

Yesterday I heard a tremendous thud coming from my garage.  I figured that the kids had knocked over some of my junk in the garage as they brought their bikes back in.   When I went upstairs to check it out - it was my wife who had come home and her garage door opening mechanism had malfunctioned.

The main spring which assists in lifting the door had broken.  After 13 years it had lived a good life.  I went to Lowes and purchased another one that same day, replacing it myself.  I felt good as she told me that the neighbor had recently experienced the same thing but her husband called out a repair man to do the job.  Though I still have some grease under my fingernails it was worth it to see how the components work together and then figure out how to replace the damaged part myself.  I am keeping my money to myself as much as I can today.

Since I bought two springs but only installed one as a replacement for the damaged unit it seems that the new spring is stronger than the other one and thus the door's balance is a little off.  This showed itself by the fact that the door fails to close 10% of the time.  I applied some lubrication (since this did the trick a few months ago).   The jury is still out on if it worked.

This morning after running through the open and close cycle about 8 times the garage door opener died on me.  The dome light went out as the most immediate sign.   I tried the other door and it worked fine.  I went to the circuit breaker box to flip the switch a few times.  Nope - still broken.

I took the plastic casing off of the head.  I vowed not to get shocked while performing my inspection.  Nothing but circuit boards and a motor.  Nothing I could do.   I plugged the unit into an extension cord to see if the electrical socket had went bad.  Still as dead as the collection of bugs that were in the plastic housing.

I went to the web site of Genie (the site sux), Home Depot and Lowes.   I had contented myself that after 13 years it was due for replacement.  I was going to get the more powerful motor in order to avoid the problems that I had faced with sticky bearings.

About one hour later as I went to my car to retrieve some items - I had forgotten all about the problems with the garage door opener.  I pressed the button as I normally do - and IT OPENED.  

Whew!!!

It just needed to cool down for a few after I had worked it during my testing.