TC29D, Block Heater, Garage Door

A week or so ago I ad to park my TC29D outside. I grabbed a couple of cords so I could plug my block heater in. Plugged one end into the wall outlet in the garage and went out to the tractor and plugged the heater in. My garage door started going down. Quick thinking I ran into the garage or I would have locked myself out of the house. I looked around to see if anyone was playing any tricks on me. No one was home. I tried to duplicate the incident but no luck. I tried unplugging at the wall and back in with no luck to get the garage door to move. A few days later a storm was coming so I went out and plugged it in again and sure enough the garage door started going down.

I can only make it work if I have the door up, and plug the heater end in hot.

So today my wife was at Mendards and I told her to pick me up a new single heavier duty cord. The new cord is worse. Now no matter what end I plug in last or what position the door is it will either open or close the door and not right away but like three minutes later.

Has anyone else ran into this??


Oh and yes, Hi to all. Kind of missed you all as it has been a while since I have been here.

Welcome back!! never heard of that. That's strange

OhioTC18 said:

Welcome back!! never heard of that. That's strange

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Hey Jerry hope all is well with you? It is sure strange. There has to some thing hitting the freq as the heater is warming up. I suppose I could change the freq settings on the opener and see if I get around it. Funning thing though my door openers have the dual freq thingy though. Weird.

Hey Murph, good to hear from you.

With the tractor in the same location, what happens if you plug your tractor in using a different plug at the house (one that definitely isn't on the same circuit as the garage door opener).

Wondering if it's something on the circuit or with the tractor itself.

bczoom said:

Hey Murph, good to hear from you.

With the tractor in the same location, what happens if you plug your tractor in using a different plug at the house (one that definitely isn't on the same circuit as the garage door opener).

Wondering if it's something on the circuit or with the tractor itself.

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Hey Brian thanks much. I will try another outlet tonight when I get home. If I do get home. It is a newer garage with the EFI's so even if I not on the same circuits all outlets will go off if the EFI is tripped. Except the Freezer I will try that one. Thanks for the idea. Will get back to ya!

thcri said:

My garage door started going down. Quick thinking I ran into the garage or I would have locked myself out of the house.

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May I also suggest you stash a key outside or install a lockbox with a key so you can get in if there's electrical issues. Mrs. Zoom never carried a house key so whenever there was a power outage, she had to wait for me to get home as I always carry a key. We then put a lock-box outside so the kids could get in after school if there was an issue.

bczoom said:

May I also suggest you stash a key outside or install a lockbox with a key so you can get in if there's electrical issues. Mrs. Zoom never carried a house key so whenever there was a power outage, she had to wait for me to get home as I always carry a key. We then put a lock-box outside so the kids could get in after school if there was an issue.

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Well this morning I went out to the garage to leave for work. Garage door is open. Tractor is not plugged in so something else caused it. And it was not open for long because the garage was fairly warm yet. The only thing I can think of was my wife was starting and stoping the dryer about 20 minutes before I left.

So tonight I tried to get it to happen again and could not. :sad tried the original outlet, a new one that is not on the same circuit and the dryer. Could not get it to work. So I am at a loss. Will call the door opener company and tractor dealer tomorrow.

Brian, as for the key. We have one outside and one at the neighbors. However when my kids use it there is times they don't put it back.

That is an odd situation. What brand and how old is it? A google search is showing older Stanley's doing this and it's a bad circuit board.

Have you done anything in the garage that may have tweaked a wire? It could be a short in the wiring going to the wall switch. I'd also inspect the wall switch itself for anything sticking or a loose wire in there.

Hey there Murph. Great to see you post again. We missed you man.
And no surprise, you sure came back with a doozie. I've never heard of anything like this.
How have you been? Still riding when weather permits?
Sadly we've lost Cowboy, Big Al and Muleman over the past few years. But the rest of us are still chugin along.

bczoom said:

That is an odd situation. What brand and how old is it? A google search is showing older Stanley's doing this and it's a bad circuit board.

Have you done anything in the garage that may have tweaked a wire? It could be a short in the wiring going to the wall switch. I'd also inspect the wall switch itself for anything sticking or a loose wire in there.

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Brian,

I thought I had it narrowed down to the block heater ot door opener but having it going open with the Block heater not plugged in has tossed some wrenches in the my gears.

Being that my garage was not too cold yet the other day told me that it went open not to long before I went out. My heat is in floor so the temperature would have dropped pretty fast. The only thing I can think of was 30 minutes before I went out my wife was taking shirts out of the dryer. She would take one shirt out at a time and restart the dryer in between each shirt to keep them from wrinkling. That is the only thing I can relate to possibly opening the door.

The door openers are Lift Masters and are 14 years old. The line voltage are hard wired no switches. Tonight I disconnected the low voltage at the opener so that should eliminate any shorts there.

I have been traveling with people so I haven't been able to get a hold of the door people or my tractor dealership. I will keep trying.

We have done nothing in the garage. The furnaces in our house 25 years ago had an issue when the thermostat closed would either close or open a garage door but that was fixed 24 years ago as a call back and then became part of the assembly line fix and I have never heard of it since.

Doc said:

Hey there Murph. Great to see you post again. We missed you man.
And no surprise, you sure came back with a doozie. I've never heard of anything like this.
How have you been? Still riding when weather permits?
Sadly we've lost Cowboy, Big Al and Muleman over the past few years. But the rest of us are still chugin along.

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Thank you Doc for your nice reply. The bike is parked for the most part. Health has not allowed me to ride. I am embarrassed as hell but maybe this summer I will hit it. I did set my bike up on the trainer and hopefully I can start a bit now and then. But it is dam boring when you pedal and the scenery never goes any place.

Cowboy's wife did write me and tell me about Bob. Someone wrote me and told me about Muleman and Big Al. Some big posters you lost there. Great guys, all way to young to go.

Yes sir, all great guys. And all to young for sure. One never knows so we live every day the best we can.
I sure know what you mean about boring inside. I'm trying to hit the treadmill during the cold, rainy / snow season but it's so boring. Good luck to you getting back at it.

Talked to my dealer this morning and he says he has never heard of it. So I gave the Garage door company a call and he says he has never heard of a tractor or block heater doing it but many things can cause it. First thing to do is clear out the Learning History. Evidently this Learning History thingy stores stuff and once it gets full it can do funny things. I wish I had that problem because I already forgot how to clear out the Learning HIstory things Well it should be in the manual. This may also be why I can't program my pickup in the other door opener so I will clear out both openers and start from scratch.

I have Genie, and on mine all it is is a reset button on the Opener itself. A red button. Push it and then hit the button on the remote you want to sync up with it (within 30 seconds, while the red light is blinking). I think that clears it. And it should work for a regular remote or the button built into your truck for garage door opener. Good luck.

I sure do not understand how a block heater could open a garage door. Is it a smart or programable block heater? Can you control it remotely?

Doc said:

I have Genie, and on mine all it is is a reset button on the Opener itself. A red button. Push it and then hit the button on the remote you want to sync up with it (within 30 seconds, while the red light is blinking). I think that clears it. And it should work for a regular remote or the button built into your truck for garage door opener. Good luck.

I sure do not understand how a block heater could open a garage door. Is it a smart or programable block heater? Can you control it remotely?

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No the block heater is just a standard plug in. Plug in and it is on. Unplug and it is off.

My Learn button is different from the program button on my garage door opener. The misses just told me I have a grandson birthday tonight. Then I have a 5 and half hour drive and will be gone for a few days. So will have to check when I get back. It is -14 F today so won't be using the tractor anyways for a while.

My opener is a Lift Master.

Welcome back Murph!

A reset usually takes care of many problems. Try that first. I've also had a control board in a Genie go bad.

Jim

It's back. I cleared out the history last fall and only programmed my pickup to it. The issue continued so I went out and bought a new heavy duty cord and that had seemed to fix the issue. Last Wednesday night because we had a storm coming I plugged the tractor in. Woke up the next morning and my garage door was open.

I didn't freeze anything in the garage that I know of but the residual heat in the floor of the garage had plenty in it as it warmed way up after garage was closed.

I guess I either put the tractor in the garage or be around and awake when plugged in.

Very strange. No ideas at this point. But I would like to wish a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you.

Doc said:

Very strange. No ideas at this point. But I would like to wish a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you.

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Same to you Doc!! All is well for the most part. Family is all good.


Hope the same for you! I heard through the grapevine you are planning retirement. You do know you get busier.

thcri said:

Same to you Doc!! All is well for the most part. Family is all good.


Hope the same for you! I heard through the grapevine you are planning retirement. You do know you get busier.

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That's what I hear. I do look forward to it. Helping the kids as I can and looking into starting a business with plans to hand it off to my son. I'm excited, a bit nervous about the unknown but ready to take the step.
Glad to hear all is good with you and yours ..and thanks for the good wishes.