Army can interrupt garage door opener signals but Ingleside residents don’t have to worry

Lack of proper garage door maintenance is a far-more likely cause if you have problems

A story in a Savannah, GA, newspaper, from a few years ago, discussed a local problem for residents of the Ardsley Park area. Apparently, US Army radio signals were interfering with the operation of garage door openers for area residents.

The military installation to blame was the Hunter Army Airfield. They had upgraded equipment on a radio tower to produce a stronger signal. By chance, the signal transmits on the same frequency as garage door openers.

When the Army turned the transmitters on they started to receive calls from residents in Ardsley Park and as far north as Godonston and as far south as Bryan County. This means that the transmitter was making itself ‘heard,’ so to speak, for miles around. Of course, Hunter Army Airfield is 964 miles from Chicago. Once again, there’s nothing to worry about in Ingleside where your garage door opener will stop working because of the Army’s transmitter.

While military interference isn’t a real concern unless Great Lakes Naval Base adds a new and more powerful transmitter. Still, Great Lakes Naval Base is 20 miles away from Ingleside. But, there are other things that could interfere with the operation of your garage door opener.

You could kick a photosensor for your garage door opener out of position and cause a problem. Or, you could fail to properly maintain your garage door opener, and garage door, and you’ll have trouble.

In reality, it’s far more likely that a lack of maintenance will cause a problem with your Ingleside garage door opener than the US Army. But, you have far more control of avoiding a problem with your garage door opener in the prior case. If you do a good job of maintaining your garage door opener, it should work and keep working. And, if it doesn’t, you won’t be able to blame the U.S. military.

Hinges keep your garage door going up and down

Lubrication keeps your garage door hinges happy

Hinges play an important but almost invisible role in our lives. We don’t think about it but hinges are everywhere. You’ll almost never open a door to walk through a doorway without using several hinges. When you get in and out of the car, you’re using hinges. And, when you open or close your paneled garage door, you’re using as many as 15 hinges or more.

When you open a cabinet in the kitchen, you use hinges. When you open the door to the refrigerator, the washer, dryer or dishwasher, you’re using hinges. There are even hinges on many beer tappers – not all, but many.

Hinges help things pivot. They allow cabinets and doors to swing open. With beer tappers, well, they allow the beer to flow. With a garage door, hinges help the panels of your garage door to roll up and over the turn in the tracks on either side of the door, or down around the bend.

The thing with hinges is that most of them are made of metal and metal can rust. You don’t worry about your kitchen cabinet hinges rusting. They’re indoors and safely protected from the elements of the weather. But, garage door hinges, even though they’re on the inside of the garage door, are not insulated as completely from the elements.

Over time, garage door hinges will gain the brown patina of rust. Rust on the outside of a hinge isn’t such a big problem but there’s no guarantee that the rust won’t work its way inside the hinge. Inside the hinge, it’s metal against metal. A metal pin rotates inside of clasps on either side of the hinge. Rust buildup inside the hinge impedes that movement.

With enough rust, a hinge will cease to rotate. Your hinge will freeze up – lock up – stop working. At a certain point, the hinge is behind hope. Rust has won the battle and the only solution is to replace the hinge. Caught early enough, you can save a hinge by applying a liberal amount of an appropriate lubricant. That lubricant, however, isn’t just for repair of a rusty hinge; it also helps to protect a hinge before rust has a chance to take hold.

Have you ever opened a door with rusty hinges? What was it like? You had to apply substantial additional force to get the door to move, didn’t you? The same is true with a garage door; if the hinges are rusty your garage door opener has to work like the Dickens to get your garage door to open. It puts a lot of strain on the garage door opener and all its components.

With rusty hinges, you can expect your garage door opener to wear out sooner. You can expect parts of your garage door opener system to break. The solution is lubrication. Lubrication is an extremely cost-effective way to extend the life of your garage door and garage door opener. Lubrication is the elixir of life for your garage door hinges.