Genie Silentmax 1000 Summer Fun

We've had the GSM1000 opener now for 5+ years, and each year around this time (Wisconsin, summer) we seem to have the same problem where the door will not close (opening is fine). On the opener the round red light is flashing, yet the signal beams are fine with solid red and green lights on each side of the door. I disengage the door, roll it up/down a few times, and then it seems to work for a little while longer...sometimes for a day, sometimes less. We replaced the beams last year...thought maybe it was shadows or some kind of interference...and that doesn't seem to make a difference. The only consistent matter is that it's around July/August each year...the hottest time of the year for us, but clearly Wisconsin summers are far from extreme. I've adjusted the force settings (max for both up and down), and I've lubricated the wheels on the door to make sure that they are moving freely. Anything else we can try before we pitch the unit in the garbage?

 

Welcome to the forums.

With most door openers..... if it's a blockage sensor issue...... the lights will start blinking as the door goes down and it will come right back up. You should be able to hold the wall button in and it will close.

If the lights don't blink..... then it is an opener or door binding problem.
With the door disconnected from the opener..... it should open and close fairly easily.

 

Thanks Pete. No blinking on the sensors, so I don't think it's a blockage issue. And, yes, if I disconnect from the opener I can manually lift the door up/down...which is what we've been doing when we can't get the opener to work. But, I kind of want the opener to work . Can you explain more about "an opener or door binding problem"?

 

Basically you've eliminated the blockage sensors as the cause of the problem.

You've disconnected the door from the opener, opened the door all the way and then tried closing it.
Was it hard to start moving ?
As you lowered it..... did you feel any resistance ?
Typically where the rollers touch the rails is not lubricated. Just the roller bearings.

I'm not real familiar with that unit but if the door feels normal when closing..... that leaves the opener at fault. I would not recommend using the opener with the force down set to maximum. If it hits something.... it could cause damage or harm.

Genie manual (pdf)

 

Door moves just fine...but as I've been reading more online, I should try moving the door from the pull-cord or where it would normally get pushed down from the belt, vs pulling it down from the bottom of the door...as that might make it easier to see if/where there's resistance. Unusual that I only see the issue in July/August (Wisconsin), and it's been on annual repeat for the last 3-4 years at least...which makes me wonder if it's heat/humidity causing expansion of something (roller wheels?), and thus more resistance than usual. Ever heard of such a thing?

Last year we changed the door-down speed to a slower setting and that seemed to help a lot...but, here we are again with our annual puzzle to solve.

Agree on the force setting...I would really like to get that set back to something in the mid-range. Just wanted to rule out that setting in my post, as I don't have any further that I can adjust it to push through any resistance.