For many people who live in a house, the automatic garage door is one of the many features that have added to modern living’s conveniences.   when the power goes out, the automatic garage door becomes useless…untill you pull the red rope so that you can open it manually.

If a storm full of lightning and thunder or a toppled tree takes out a power line, all is not lost.  Even without electricity, the manual opening of an automatic garage door will make sure that you are not stuck inside.

How To Open Your Automatic Garage Door Manually

Automatic Garage Doors with a Screw Drive Carriage

How To disconnect the carriage and use the garage door manually:

Pull down on the red cord and ball  handle tied to the  traveler carriage, releasing the door from the locking carriage.  This enables the manual opening and closing of the door.

To reconnect the carriage:

Pull the emergency release cord  towards the motor, keeping the cord as parallel to the rail of the garage door opener as possible.  Give the cord a slight yank to reconnect.  this will re-engage the automatic garage door opener so that you can use the button on the wall again to operate the door automatically .

Automatic Garage Doors with a Chain Glide Carriage (GENIE)

To disconnect the carriage and use the garage door manually:

Pull down on the red rope  releasing the door from the locking system.  This enables the manual  opening and closing of the door.

To reconnect the carriage:

Pull the emergency release cord  towards the motor, manually lifting at the same time towards the carriage locks into place.  You should now be able to use the automatic garage door by pushine the button again.

Automatic Garage Doors with a Chain Drive Carriage

To disconnect the carriage and use the garage door manually:

Pull down on the red cord and rounded handle of the travel towards either the motor or door, locking the release bar down and disconnecting the carriage.  This enables the manual lifting and opening and closing of the door.

To reconnect the carriage:

Pull the emergency release cord at the same time pulling towards the motor , or  manually lifting or closing the door until the carriage locks into place.  You should now be able to use the automatic garage door.