Reuben Saltzman

Don’t Get Locked Out Of Your Garage

Check out the photo below.  Can you guess what’s missing?  Here’s a hint: this garage doesn’t have a service door, but it does have an automatic garage door opener installed.

Garage Door

If you said “pizazz” you would be correct, and you might also make a good home stager, but that’s not what I’m talking about today. This door is missing an emergency release.

If the power went out, the GFCI outlet inside the garage tripped, or the garage door opener failed, the owner would be locked out of this garage. The fix for this is quite simple; install an emergency release kit.

Emergency Release Kit

These kits cost about $10, and they take about ten minutes to install if you take your sweet time. This is a very DIY project. The only tools you’ll need are a drill, drill bits, and a wrench. Check out my video above to see the process.

These emergency release kits are straightforward devices; they connect to the pull cord on the garage door opener, allowing you to disconnect your overhead door from the opener, as shown in the photos below.

Emergency release pulled out Emergency release connected to opener

6 responses to “Don’t Get Locked Out Of Your Garage”

  1. Ben Franske
    November 14, 2023, 11:26 am

    Interesting product. Note however that it prevents the emergency release from being able to be zip-tied/locked up in place which is important to defeat a well known burgler entry method. Garages without service doors are probably most likely to be seen in detached garages which are also more likely to be targeted by burglers. So pick your poison I guess. It would probably be best to figure out another emergency entry method (maybe a window you could break, some kind of screwed on hatch, or installing a service door (reinforced jamb please!).

  2. Reuben Saltzman
    November 14, 2023, 2:32 pm

    Hi Ben, you bring up a fair point.

  3. Dan F
    November 14, 2023, 12:34 pm

    For an attached garage you would have access from inside, but if the power went out and the doors were locked you would have no access. So what about a little UPS up next to the opener so it will still have power if the power to the house ever goes out?

  4. Reuben Saltzman
    November 14, 2023, 2:31 pm

    Hi Dan, for an attached garage, you could simply pull the emergency release cable to manually disconnect your opener from the overhead door.

    If you want to guard against power failure, the best option would be to install a garage door opener that comes with a battery backup.

  5. Terry
    November 14, 2023, 4:41 pm

    I would be concerned about break ins with this device, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSO_HTBHLFI&t=30s

  6. Reuben Saltzman
    November 14, 2023, 6:23 pm

    Hey Terry! That’s a legitimate concern.

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