Diagnose your gate
What is your gate doing?
Find the symptom below. Each page explains what usually causes it, what you can safely check yourself, and when it genuinely needs a technician. A fair number of these you will fix without us.
- Licensed & Insured
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- Residential & Commercial
If your gate is stuck open, call rather than read
An open gate means the property is not secured, and that is the one fault we treat as urgent whatever the cause turns out to be.
It will not move
Nothing happens, or the gate goes one way and not the other.
Automatic gate not working at all
A gate that does nothing at all is usually one of four things, and three of them you can identify yourself in ten minutes.
Blocks accessGate won’t open
A gate that closes normally but refuses to open has already proved its motor, its board and its power supply are fine.
Blocks accessGate won’t close
Four times out of five this is a safety sensor doing exactly what it was designed to do.
Security riskSwing gate stuck
There is one test that matters here, and it takes ten seconds: release the operator and try to swing the gate by hand.
Blocks access
It moves, but wrongly
It starts and stops, changes its mind, or does things nobody asked for.
Gate stops halfway
A gate that stops at the same point every time is not random, and that consistency is the most useful diagnostic information you have.
Blocks accessGate reverses when closing
Reversing is not a malfunction — it is the operator finding more resistance than it expects and backing off, exactly as it is built to.
Security riskGate opens by itself
A gate that opens unbidden has received an open command from somewhere, or believes it has.
Security riskSliding gate off track
A slide gate that has come off its track has almost always been telling you for months — grinding, stiffening, or catching at the same point.
Safety risk
Nothing responds
The gate is fine — it is the power, the remote or the keypad.
Gate opener has no power
A gate operator with no signs of life is usually not broken — it is disconnected from something.
Blocks accessGate remote not working
Most gate remote faults are resolved by the owner in under five minutes, and we would rather tell you how than charge you to do it.
Not urgentGate keypad not working
A keypad lives outdoors, is touched with wet hands, and is the part of your gate system most exposed to weather and wear.
Blocks accessGate battery keeps dying
Batteries do not usually fail at random.
Not urgentGate circuit board not working
The control board is the most expensive part people diagnose first and should diagnose last.
Blocks accessGate not working after a storm
Storms damage gates in three distinct ways, and they need different responses.
Safety risk
Something is worn or broken
A physical part of the gate has failed — usually with warning noises first.
Gate roller or wheel broken
Rollers are small, inexpensive and carry the entire weight of your gate.
Safety riskGate chain broken
Chain-driven slide gates fail at the chain, and the chain almost never fails on its own.
Security riskGate sagging or dragging
A swing gate that scrapes the driveway or no longer lines up with its latch has dropped.
Safety riskGate post leaning
A leaning post is the fault underneath several others on this site.
Safety riskPhoto eye / safety sensor not working
The photo-eye is the device that stops a gate closing on a car, a pet or a person, and it is also the most frequently misdiagnosed part on a gate.
Safety riskLoop detector not working
A loop detector is a wire loop cut into your driveway and a small board that senses metal above it.
Blocks access
Two things worth knowing before you start
Find your manual release first
Every gate operator has one — usually a key or lever on the housing — and it disconnects the motor so the gate can be moved by hand. Knowing where yours is turns being trapped into an inconvenience. Call us and we will talk you through it for your model.
Never bypass a safety sensor
Taping over or disconnecting a photo-eye to make a gate close removes the only thing stopping several hundred pounds of steel closing on a vehicle, a pet or a child. If a sensor is faulty it is inexpensive to fix — and we will not re-commission a gate without working protection.
Gate Not Working Right Now?
We answer the phone 24/7. If you are stuck, call and we will talk you through the manual release before anyone arrives. See what counts as a gate emergency.