This Q&A about opening an apartment garage door during a power outage or state of emergency has been answered by Nigel Wraight, Forte Asset Services.
Question: Due to a storm, there is a power outage in our building. How do I manually open the garage door to basement parking so I can remove my car and collect a child from daycare? Our Strata Manager will not assist.
What does the regulation state in regards to being able to remove your car from the garage of an apartment complex when the power is out?
My car is parked in an underground basement parking and because of the electricity being out for the whole area due to a storm, there is no way to open the garage door and use my car. I need to collect a child from daycare.
What does the regulation say in regards to this? My strata company is saying they are unable to provide assistance. Surely there should be some way for them to manually open the garage?
Answer: Most Garage Doors Can be opened manually.
Most Garage Doors Can be opened manually. I am surprised you were not supported given the parameters of the situation. That said, it wasn’t life-threatening and I imagine there was quite a bit of chaos at the time.
Several Car parks we have worked with have installed a UPS (uninterruptable power supply) which has a battery back-up. This should get the door open in such a situation.
A fail safe can also be employed, with the UPS. When mains power is lost, the battery backup power supply is used and opens the door via a fail safe relay (loose power, relay switch to close, UPS Power on & door opens).
Depending on the garage door motor, the size of the door and the physical situation, this kind of thing can be installed for around $2000 – $5000. The price variance is due to the size and type of UPS. A typical Computer UPS is not applicable. The UPS has to be selected to handle the “load” of the garage door.
Best Practice would be to have a manual facility for opening the door or gate such as a clutch on the gearbox to disengage the drive.
Nigel Wraight Forte Asset Services E: nigel@forteas.com.au P: 1800 351 078
This post appears in Strata News #305.
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