What Phoenix Heat Does to Your Garage Door

In most of the country people worry about their garage door in winter. But in the Valley, it’s just the reverse. While Phoenix is over 100 degrees more than 100 days a year, on a 115-degree afternoon a closed garage, facing west, can get hotter inside than the air out there. This heat affects every part of the door, including the springs above and the rubber seal at the floor.

Most heat damage has warning signs before it causes a breakdown that leaves you stranded in the garage in July. Here is what to look for.

Metal Grows in the Heat

Steel and aluminum expand with temperature. This means a 16′ steel door can grow by as much as 1/16″ between a cool morning and a hot afternoon. Even more if it is in full sun all day. The tolerances of the tracks, hinges and rollers are cut to close limits. A door that is slightly out of square in April could start to rub or even stick by August.

Typically the symptom of a sticky door is a door that opens easily in the morning but is ‘slow’ or ‘stuck’ in the late day hours. Some openers interpret the additional resistance as an obstacle and reverse direction. If a door only seems to stick in the hottest hours of the day, heat could be the cause, and a technician can check the track alignment and the balance of the door.

The dark steel color on west walls gets the worst of it, soaking up sun, running hot and often fading or even bowing. A lighter color with an insulated core is best for garage doors on these walls. They will age better and keep your garage cooler.

Springs Work Harder Than You Think

The springs on your door carry the most weight of the door. The opener just guides it. Heat is not usually what breaks a spring. It dries out the lubricant on the spring, which then wears slightly with each use. A household that opens and closes a garage door 5 to 6 times a day can expect a spring to wear quite fast.

Listen for loud squealing or grinding noises as the door is operated. A door that feels heavier, or closes faster than normal, is another warning sign. A gap in the coil above the door is also an indicator of a broken spring.

Once a spring is broken, do not run the opener. Leave the door where it is and call a technician. Spring and cable work belongs to a trained technician, never a homeowner. The springs hold enough tension to cause serious injury when they are wound or unwound.

Openers Hate a Hot Box

An opener typically consists of a motor and a small circuit board mounted near the ceiling of the garage. This location is typically the hottest part of the garage, and summer heat there is hard on electronics. Over the years it shortens the life of the circuit board and of the backup battery on openers that have one.

Many openers have thermal cutoffs that shut down the motor when it overheats. This can cause a door that opens once or twice and then refuses to move until it cools down.

Batteries for remote controls and keypads drain faster when a car is parked in hot sun or when a keypad is installed on a sunny wall. If a remote only seems to work when it is held up close to the opener, try fresh batteries before assuming the opener has failed.

The Sun Can Blind the Safety Sensors

The two small sensors at the bottom of the tracks cast an invisible beam across the opening. If this beam gets broken, the door will reverse. When the sun is low in the morning or evening, the direct light can shine into the sensor and confuse it, and the door goes back up for no reason you can see.

Check where the sun is on the door at the times of day when it reverses. Try to wipe both lenses clean and check that both sensor lights glow steadily. Never tape over or disable a sensor as they are the main safety feature on a door.

Seals Shrink, Crack and Let the Desert In

The rubber or vinyl seal at the bottom of the door gets direct sun and hot concrete all year round. It can harden, shrink and crack within a few years. When it does crack, monsoon dust fills the gap, the cool air in the garage escapes and scorpions can easily find their way in.

Check the bottom seal every spring. If light shows through the closed door or the seal feels stiff and brittle, it is time to replace it. Sides and top wear in the same way.

Monsoon Season Brings Dust and Wind

In Arizona, monsoon season runs from June to September and brings short intense periods of wind, dust and rain. As the dust falls on the tracks and rollers it can become embedded in the surfaces. The grit on a roller is as bad as sandpaper. A quick visual check of the tracks after a large dust storm is worth a minute or so. Wipe packed dirt out of the tracks with a dry cloth. Grease in the tracks just traps more dust, so clean is better than oily.

Wind can also catch a door that is partly open, so during a storm keep it fully open or fully closed.

A Short Summer Checklist

Watch the door open and close once a week, and listen for new squeals, grinding or a jerky start.

Look at the springs above the door for a gap in the coil. If you see one, stop using the opener and call.

Look for daylight under the closed door and feel the bottom seal for cracks.

Book a tune-up in spring, before the worst of the heat. A technician can lubricate, balance and adjust the door while it is still mild out.

The simplest way to ensure your doors aren’t going to get stuck in July is to have them serviced as part of a spring tune-up. The doors we check in April are the ones that get through August quietly. That holds on Scottsdale garage door service calls and across the Phoenix area, where Century Garage Door Repair Service works on doors every summer.

Quick Answers

Can heat break a garage door spring?

Heat does not normally break springs. It dries out the lubricant and speeds up wear, so a spring that is already worn is more likely to break under the extra strain.

Why does my garage door reverse on sunny afternoons?

Sunlight shining into the safety sensor can confuse it. Try to clean the lenses and check the sensor lights. If this problem persists it might be wise to check the alignment of the safety sensor or place a sun shield over it.

How often does the bottom seal need replacing in Arizona?

There is no set schedule. Check it each spring and replace it when it is cracked, stiff, or leaves a gap you can see light through.

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