Automatic or powered door not working

If the door has stopped in a position that leaves the building open, deal with that first. Where there is a manual door on the same route, use it and sign the powered one out of service. Where there is not, the opening needs supervising until it is secured.

Do not prop it and walk away, and never prop a rated assembly at all.

Check the obvious three

Power and the mode switch. Most operators have a control switch with off, hold-open and automatic positions, and it gets knocked. Check the switch before assuming a fault, and check whether the unit has simply lost power.

The sensors and the mat. Activation sensors above the door and safety sensors on the leaves both fail from dirt, spider webs, direct sunlight at certain hours, and a floor mat that has moved. A door that does not open at all frequently has a covered activation sensor.

Obstruction in the track. On sliding doors, grit in the bottom track stops the leaf. It is the most common cause of a slider that starts and stops.

What the symptoms usually mean

Nothing at all. Power, the mode switch, or the operator itself.

Opens and will not close. Almost always a safety sensor holding it, believing something is in the way. Sunlight and a dirty lens are the usual culprits.

Closes too fast or too hard. A speed or force setting, and it matters, because a powered door closing hard on somebody is exactly what the safety devices exist to prevent.

Works intermittently. Usually a sensor on the edge of failing or a loose connection, and it is the hardest to catch because it behaves on the visit.

The thing not to do

Safety devices get restored, not bypassed. A photo eye or safety beam disconnected because it was nuisance-tripping and holding up the door is a serious exposure on equipment that heavy, and the nuisance tripping almost always had a fixable cause such as alignment, contamination or a damaged sensor.

We diagnose why it tripped, fix that, and put the device back rather than leaving it defeated and noted on a job sheet.

Deciding whether it waits

Call immediately if the door has stopped in a position that leaves the building open, if it is closing hard enough to be a hazard, or if a safety sensor has been bypassed to keep it running. That last one is the most common and the least reported.

It is also urgent if the powered operator is what makes an entrance usable on an accessible route and there is no other compliant entrance. Where there is another one, use it and sign it clearly while the repair is arranged.

It can usually wait if the door has failed safely in a closed and secure position, a manual door on the same route is available, and nothing about the failure is creating a hazard. Say which of those applies and we will scope it honestly rather than treating every powered door as an emergency.

Note what the door did in the days before it stopped. Powered operators rarely fail without warning: a door that had started opening slowly, hesitating partway, or reversing for no obvious reason had been telling you something, and that history shortens the diagnosis considerably.

Worth knowing too is whether the building has more than one powered entrance and whether they sit on the same circuit. Where two operators stop within a few days of each other the cause is usually upstream of both, and that is electrical work through a licensed contractor regardless of how small the fault turns out to be.

Which half is which

This trade splits, and knowing where it splits saves a wasted visit. The door hardware is ours: hinges, pivots, locks, thresholds, seals, alignment, and getting the leaf itself hanging and moving correctly. None of that requires a Florida contractor license.

The operator is powered equipment involving wiring and controls, which is electrical work under Florida law at any job size with no exception for small jobs. A licensed electrician carries that out. We scope the fault, verify the license and insurance, arrange the access and file the record, and where the fault turns out to be the door rather than the operator we fix it ourselves on the same visit.