I happen to live in what might be classified as “the boonies”. It is seriously out in the midst of the forest. And when in the middle of a forest, if a tree falls down and nobody hears it – chances are it is going to clip a power line and leave me without electricity!

We use our overhead doors a lot. On both of our detached garage pole type buildings, there is an entry door within several feet of the overhead doors – yet we are far more prone to use the big doors to get in and out. When the ‘current bush’ is out of berries, it creates some challenges for us – and we have to reach up and grab the rope attached to the overhead door emergency release in order to open (or close if the door was up when power went out) the overhead door.

Luckily, we have not had the experience this client had:

“So it is with some embarrassment, that I must admit I broke my arm this week attempting to manually pull down the garage door by the little rope attached to the release.  I pulled so hard that the rope broke and I landed on the concrete driveway unconsciously catching myself with my left hand.  I knew I had broken something, having done this a few times in my life. Bruised and battered, I drove myself to urgent care single-handedly (pun intended) and was told my self-diagnosis was correct.  Not a serious break, just six weeks of being annoyed by my poorly applied use of force.” 

There is a solution which will probably avoid some of those unexpected trips to Doc-In-The-Box – a garage door accessory known as an “emergency release kit”. The kit can be used with almost any rear mounted garage door opener. A lock mechanism is installed into a hole cut in the garage door. A cable is then attached to the overhead door emergency release lever on the overhead door opener’s trolley (where the rope now dangles down).

Photo Courtesy of Genie Openers

When the key of the lock mechanism is turned, the body of the lock can be pulled through the door, bringing the cable with it. A sharp tug on the cable will release the trolley from the opener’s drive chain or belt, allowing the door to be lifted manually!

For easier installation, the emergency release cable can be hooked onto the emergency release rope.

The toughest part of the installation? Drilling a hole through the door