How to Close Garage Door Manually

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A lot of people ask me when they call about their garage door. The opener is not working. I can't close the door and we can't get there right away. They're worried about leaving the door open. They ask how to close the garage door manually and is it something they can do.
And the short answer is yes. But I always like to give a little disclaimer because without visually inspecting it, we don't exactly know why the door isn't closing. A lot of times it could be something like a broken spring. And if you try closing it manually when it's open with a broken spring and pull that release cord, the door could come crashing down. That could be very dangerous if someone's in the way. Plus, it could damage the door, then you have more of an issue than just a simple service call. Now your door is damaged and might need a section or more.
The short answer is yes, you can close the door manually, but the longer answer is you're gonna want to do a few things before you try just to make sure it's safe to do so.
So here's the scenario. We're in the garage and the door is up and doesn't want to close. Before we give the emergency disconnect a pull we just want to check for any broken cables, springs, anything like that, or anything hanging. After a good visual inspection if nothing looks out of place then you should be able to safely pull the red disconnect rope to allow the door to be operated by hand.
The first step is to pull down on the red rope to release the door from the operator. Modern openers will pop right of, some older models may need you to use your other hand to push the door away from the carriage to begin manual operation. Most units will lock back into the opener once you operate the electric opener all on their own assuming it is fixed. You may have to help guide the inner and outer trolley carriages to get them to click back in.
When the door is in manual mode you will notice a spring on the trolly carriage. If you pull down and back on the release rope you see that spring is all stretched out there. Now, the door can pass back and forth from the opener trolly without re-engaging. Pull straight down in the red rope you will see the carriage spring compress again. Now you can have it meet the trolley on the rail to re-engage with the opener.
Another thing you can do is if the door is disconnected and you don't want anyone to be able to lift it up because it's in manual mode, you can get a pair of vice grips or locking pliers and attach them above one of the rollers. Now that door will not open until you remove them. That way you can lock the door until someone can get there to investigate.
So there you have it. That's basically how you would go about seeing if the door can be safely operated manually and you can close it in an emergency until we can get there for you.
If you're ever not sure we're always happy to take a phone call and walk you through it on the phone, or we've even faced time people before to help visually inspect that the door is safe to operate manually and close until we can get there to take care of it.

[@MyrtisTyler-Perry]

Thank you

[@jbean1740]

I appericate you making this video! It was easy to understand. The power just went out in my gargage while my door was still open and resetting the breaker did nothing unfortunately. My husband is still at work and I just got a severe thunderstorm notification/it's getting dark. Now I don't have to worry about leaving it open for strangers or the incoming bad weather.

[@doortodoordesign1055]

Glad it helped

[@xHadesStamps]

Our old garage door had to be closed manually quite often. Turns out it was also a terrible door.

[@vanessacamp4732]

I'm outside of garage how to get in

[@DAVOY2]

Thank you man

[@medicalcorp6629]

what is the inner trolly connected to? i only see the belt on one side of the rail in the video..how is that thing moving back and forth?

[@vanessacamp4732]

No power interest a manual switch

[@dldennis5]

See below. Can't open, after getting closed manually.

[@doortodoordesign1055]

Could have a broken spring as well?

[@vanessacamp4732]

Can't get in from outside

[@doortodoordesign1055]

This will only work from inside the garage. If you can not get inside from any other way hopefully who ever installed the door put a Emergency Key Cable Release on the outside. If you don't have one you will need to look for an open window or find something to pop the release chord from the outside like a coat hanger or something similar.

[@gemrie969]

THANK UUU

[@ultimatesmemeadventures3847]

What if their is no electricity

[@doortodoordesign1055]

You can use the red release chord to operate the door by hand until power comes back.

[@dldennis5]

@@doortodoordesign1055 I don't have a red cord. Was able to get down manually, but now can't open. Help!

[@vanessacamp4732]

Poer otagepowe

[@terrimorton1029]

Could you just tell me how to fucking shut garage door, maybe to save my LIFE! NO clearly not.

[@doortodoordesign1055]

Pull the chord and lower the door haha