What should I tell a gate repair technician?
Tell us whether the gate is completely dead, opens but will not close, or stops partway. Note any error code, unusual noise, or recent power outage. Keep people clear of the gate and do not bypass safety sensors.
See our driveway gate repair service or send Scott the symptoms.
Gates are half our work and they get a fraction of the attention online, so here is the practical version. When a driveway gate quits, the cause is almost always in one of four buckets. Working them in order saves you money whether you end up calling us or not.
1. Power, and the battery nobody thinks about
Most swing and slide operators run off a low voltage battery that a transformer or a solar panel keeps charged. The operator runs on the battery. That detail matters, because a gate can work fine for weeks on a dying charging circuit and then quit suddenly when the battery finally gives up.
If the gate is completely dead, check for a tripped breaker at the house, then look for a charger light at the operator box. On a solar setup, look at the panel itself. Ours in North Texas collect a remarkable amount of dust and pollen, and a dirty panel is a slow charge.
Batteries in this climate typically want replacing every couple of years. Heat is harder on them than cold.
2. Safety loops and photo eyes
If the gate opens but will not close, this is where to look first. Gate systems have safety devices whose whole job is to refuse to close on a car or a person, and when one of them is confused, refusing to close is exactly what it is supposed to do.
Photo eyes are the visible ones, a pair of small units facing each other across the driveway. They get knocked out of alignment by a bumper, a lawn mower, or a landscaper's trailer. They also get blinded by direct low sun, which is why some gates only misbehave at a certain hour.
Wipe both lenses and check that they are pointed at each other. Most have indicator lights that tell you when they are aligned.
Loop detectors are the buried ones, a wire loop cut into the driveway that senses a vehicle. Those fail from ground movement or a cut during other work, and they usually take a meter to diagnose.
3. The gate itself, before the operator
This is the step people skip, and it is the one that causes the most wasted money. If the gate is hard to move, the operator will strain, run hot, and eventually fail. Replacing the operator does not fix a gate that binds.
Check your operator manual before using its release. Only release a stationary gate, keep everyone clear of its travel, and follow the manufacturer's instructions. If the gate is damaged, unstable, or hard to control, leave it alone and call a gate technician.
- Swing gates: it should swing smoothly without dragging. Dragging means sagging hinges or a post that has moved.
- Slide gates: it should roll without binding. Binding at the same point every time means debris in the track, a flat-spotted wheel, or a section of track that has settled.
North Texas clay moves. It moves enough that gate posts shift seasonally, and a gate that worked fine in March can bind in August because the post is no longer plumb. That is a real thing here and it is why we always check the gate before we quote an operator.
4. The operator
If power is good, the safeties are clear, and the gate moves freely by hand, then it is the operator. Common failures are the control board, the motor itself, and on chain drives a stretched chain skipping the sprocket.
We work on LiftMaster, DoorKing, Apollo, and US Automatic, which covers most of what went in around here.
The thing we will not do
We are not going to sell you an operator for a gate problem. If your gate binds because the post moved, a new operator will fail the same way the old one did, just more expensively. Selling somebody a motor for a hinge problem is the kind of thing that gets a company talked about on Nextdoor, and not in a good way.
Quick triage
Dead with no lights means power. Opens but will not close means safeties. Strains, groans, or stops partway means the gate. Everything checks out but nothing happens means the operator.
If you want somebody to look at it, call (817) 789-7039 or send us a message. We handle driveway, sliding, swing, and electric gates across North Richland Hills and the mid-cities.