Emergency repairs: 24 hour gate motor, garage door and fence help

Anything that leaves the property open, or leaves someone stuck, is urgent:

• a gate that won't close, or stopped part-way open
• a car locked in, or locked out, because the gate won't move
• a sliding gate that has come off its track or is leaning
• a garage door stuck open at night, or one that has dropped or jammed
• an electric fence alarm that keeps going off, or fence wires that are down
• a motor that smells of burning or keeps clicking without moving

For these, switch on "It's urgent" when you book, or phone us so we hear about it straight away. Same-day repairs are part of the normal week too, so a gate that is merely slow, a remote that has stopped working or a beam that needs aligning can be booked for the next free slot.

Every gate motor has a manual release that disconnects the gearbox so the gate slides freely. Use it only when the gate is standing still, with nobody in its path.

Centurion D5-Evo 1. Flip the camlock cover aside, put the key in and turn it 90° clockwise. 2. Holding the key, pull open the access door to reach the thumbwheel. 3. Turn the thumbwheel clockwise until the gearbox lets go and the gate moves by hand.

ET Drive 1. Unlock the release lever with its key. 2. Swing the lever upright. The gearbox is free.

Gemini sliders 1. Unlock the red release lever with the supplied key. 2. Move it to the released position.

Then walk the gate closed by hand. If it is stiff the whole way, or grinds in one spot, the fault is probably the gate rather than the motor: tell us when you book. Other makes and swing gates are covered in how to open a gate by hand.

A closed gate is only secure once the gearbox is engaged again, because the gears are what stop it being pushed open.

• Centurion D5-Evo: turn the thumbwheel anticlockwise until it feels loose, check the access door closes, then slide the gate until the gearbox engages.
• ET Drive: lower the lever and lock it, then nudge the gate until the gears drop into place.
• Gemini: with the gate partway along, close the red lever, then move the gate slowly by hand until it clicks into gear.

Push the gate firmly afterwards: an engaged gate doesn't budge. Never engage or release a motor while the gate is moving, and don't trigger the motor until it is engaged.

If the gearbox won't take up, or the motor has to stay on manual until we arrive, put a chain and padlock round the gate and its post. On a Centurion left on manual, Centurion also recommends locking the access door: it keeps the cover on, the parts inside safe and the weather out. Take the release key with you.

A sliding gate that has jumped its rail or lost a guide roller can topple. Keep people, children and pets well away from it, don't drive through the opening, and don't trigger the motor, which would only drag the gate further. Don't try to lift a steel gate back on alone.

Tell us it's off its track when you book, with a photo if you can take one from a safe distance, so we know what to bring.

First look at the springs, above the door or along its sides. A snapped spring often goes with a loud bang, shows as a gap in the coil, and leaves the door suddenly heavy or crooked.

With the springs intact and nobody under the door:

1. Pull the emergency release cord down, the short cord hanging from the motor's carriage.
2. Keep holding it while you lower the door by hand. Lift and lower by the door, never by pulling on the cord itself.
3. Let go of the cord, then move the door a little until the carriage locks back onto the motor's drive.

ET calls this locking the door back onto the drive: the door is held by the motor's drive again instead of hanging free. More on doors that refuse to close is in why a garage door won't close, and spring work is always ours: see garage door springs.

Silencing the siren doesn't fix the fence, but it buys quiet while you look. On a Nemtek energiser:

• Druid LCD: hold the Nemtek tab over the logo on the front. Keep it there past the first short beep until a second, longer beep: the siren stops, if it hasn't timed out already, and the strobe goes off.
• Merlin keypad: enter your PIN and press #.

On the Druid, the display then shows where the alarm came from. If the alarm symbol stays, the fault is still there; if only the alarm history shows, it has cleared and turning the energiser off and on again, or presenting the tab again, clears the memory.

From a distance, look along the fence for a branch across the wires or a broken strand. Never touch the wires, and never open the energiser: both are ours to deal with. See electric fencing for what we repair.

Most gate and garage motors carry a battery that runs them through a power cut, but a long cut, or several close together, can flatten a battery that hasn't had time to recharge. The motor then goes quiet or only manages a few clicks.

Use the manual release above and work the gate or door by hand. When the power comes back, give the battery time: ET asks for 8 to 10 hours of unbroken charging before judging it. A battery that still won't hold a charge after that is due for replacement, which we test and fit: see gate motor batteries, and for gates that misbehave after an outage, the load-shedding guide.

Tell us the address, what has happened and whether the property is open or someone is stuck. Photos on WhatsApp help the technician bring the right parts first time. If you're in a complex or estate, let the gatehouse know a technician is coming.

On site the technician finds the fault and gives you the price before any repair starts. Your exact price is set in a free quote before any work starts. No call-out fee when we do the work. If no work is done, a R650 call-out fee applies. Every repair comes with our six-month guarantee on our repairs.

We cover 21 areas across Johannesburg, the East Rand and Centurion. Find yours on the map, or see all our areas.