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I was about to go to a hardware store to buy a replacement 12" water heater connector. I'd opened the garage door, then thought to first check online what aisle the pipe connectors would be in.
Come to find out, neither Lowes nor Home Depot had a connector with the same specs (3/4" inlet and 7/8" outlet) as the one I wanted to replace! The closest I could find after a lot of searching was an 18" one which would have to be ordered. No point in going to the store.
So I pushed the button to close the garage door. It wouldn't close. It did the "move down a few inches, then back up, blinking the light several times" thing, which usually means something is blocking line of sight between the sensors at the bottom of the door.
I cleaned away some cobwebs; that didn't help. I noticed the sensor on the right side was a bit loose, so I tried angling it a few different ways. The door kept blinking when I tried to close it. I looked up how to align the sensors. Do I have a laser pointer? Hmm... Yes... I found it, but the batteries in it had gone bad and leaked, and it no longer worked. So I tied a line of string between the sensors to figure out how to point them. That didn't help.
I noticed the right sensor's green LED light was on, but the left one was off. The manual indicated the left one's LED should be green when it senses the signal sent from the right one. I wondered if the left one was even getting power. I chatted with Mistral; it indicated a TV remote control which emits infrared could work for testing the sensor; that it should make the LED flicker. It didn't flicker.
I finally was able to close the garage door, bypassing the sensors, by pressing and holding the button on the wall panel.
Maybe the sensor units are not working right due to the cold weather.
So now in addition to the problem with the water heater (and my tooth)(and the nation ffs), I have a problem with the garage door. But Lowes may have the connector I need after all. I think the old one was labeled with an outer diameter size instead of the inner diameter. Maybe tomorrow I can start all over again. I don't want to. Maybe I'll just press and hold the button from now on, if warmer temps don't fix it. Sigh.
..
Update, Jan 19:
Today in the daytime, the receiving sensor's LED was dim but visible. Using a TV remote to send infrared signals at it did make it flicker. Looking at the sending unit with my phone camera, I could see a purplish red spot, which seemed to confirm that its signal was working. The garage door opened okay from a normal button press.
I then cleaned/roughened up the ends of the wires from the sensors at the ceiling unit terminals in case they weren't making good contact during colder temps. It didn't make the receiver's LED any brighter. Actually, by the time I finished, it was getting cooler outside, and the LED was completely dark again. I don't see any issues with the wire which goes from the sensor to the ceiling unit, and it is not loose at the sensor end. Whatever the problem is, it does seem to be affected by the weather.
Come to find out, neither Lowes nor Home Depot had a connector with the same specs (3/4" inlet and 7/8" outlet) as the one I wanted to replace! The closest I could find after a lot of searching was an 18" one which would have to be ordered. No point in going to the store.
So I pushed the button to close the garage door. It wouldn't close. It did the "move down a few inches, then back up, blinking the light several times" thing, which usually means something is blocking line of sight between the sensors at the bottom of the door.
I cleaned away some cobwebs; that didn't help. I noticed the sensor on the right side was a bit loose, so I tried angling it a few different ways. The door kept blinking when I tried to close it. I looked up how to align the sensors. Do I have a laser pointer? Hmm... Yes... I found it, but the batteries in it had gone bad and leaked, and it no longer worked. So I tied a line of string between the sensors to figure out how to point them. That didn't help.
I noticed the right sensor's green LED light was on, but the left one was off. The manual indicated the left one's LED should be green when it senses the signal sent from the right one. I wondered if the left one was even getting power. I chatted with Mistral; it indicated a TV remote control which emits infrared could work for testing the sensor; that it should make the LED flicker. It didn't flicker.
I finally was able to close the garage door, bypassing the sensors, by pressing and holding the button on the wall panel.
Maybe the sensor units are not working right due to the cold weather.
So now in addition to the problem with the water heater (and my tooth)(and the nation ffs), I have a problem with the garage door. But Lowes may have the connector I need after all. I think the old one was labeled with an outer diameter size instead of the inner diameter. Maybe tomorrow I can start all over again. I don't want to. Maybe I'll just press and hold the button from now on, if warmer temps don't fix it. Sigh.
..
Update, Jan 19:
Today in the daytime, the receiving sensor's LED was dim but visible. Using a TV remote to send infrared signals at it did make it flicker. Looking at the sending unit with my phone camera, I could see a purplish red spot, which seemed to confirm that its signal was working. The garage door opened okay from a normal button press.
I then cleaned/roughened up the ends of the wires from the sensors at the ceiling unit terminals in case they weren't making good contact during colder temps. It didn't make the receiver's LED any brighter. Actually, by the time I finished, it was getting cooler outside, and the LED was completely dark again. I don't see any issues with the wire which goes from the sensor to the ceiling unit, and it is not loose at the sensor end. Whatever the problem is, it does seem to be affected by the weather.