Anyone have a Nestera coop with automatic door opener/closer? Ours has been working well until the cold...

[Nashville Hen Mom]

Anyone have any issues with the freezing weather? Suddenly, the coop door won't go down. It looks like the machine is working, but that the door is possibly freezing in the open position. A simple tap and it closes (with much vigor), but we are not always home to give it the required encouragement to shut for the night. Tonight was the second time for this and today was sunny, so we had hoped not to have this problem.

 

[cavemanrich]

Check to see if the guides are clean, and ice free. I looked up Nestera coops, and seen what you may possibly have. Post a picture of your opener, so we can offer better advice upon viewing .
How old is your opener??? Nothing lasts for ever. How fresh are the batteries,,(if so equipped)


WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[Perris]

I have Nestera coops but not automatic openers. I've had one stick slightly in the cold here; as @cavemanrich says, check the guide is clear of ice and shavings; and maybe run a candle along the bottom edge of the door and runner? (the wax acts as a lubricant on wood; I haven't tried it with plastic)

 

[RojoMarz]

I have an Ador pop door. When it's extremely cold and the battery is weak, it tries to open/shut, but is very slow moving and doesn't quite finish opening or shutting. A new battery resolves the issue. Does your door run on batteries?

 

[Nashville Hen Mom]

Thank you for your suggestions! We have so far determined that the problem is the door getting stuck: something keeps freezing at the very top of the track. I ran some thin metal through the track and felt nothing. The batteries are good: I check everyday and these have lasted since we installed the opener on our new large Nestera coop in June (though they are definitely being drained as expected).

The door has opened every day like it is supposed to and once the track is cleared, goes up and down by pushing the buttons on the automatic opener, so it does not appear to be an issue with the mechanics of the opener. I must admit, I questioned whether this opener was going to work, as the string on which it depends doesn't look very sturdy, but it has been perfect. We had to adjust the darkness level to match our dawdling hens' habits in the evening, but having done that, we haven't had any problems at all for months.

We are concerned about the coming ice. However, for today, I am going to go out in the daylight and look for blockage/warped parts/etc. The lubricant idea sounds like it might work, so we are going to try that for sure.

 

[Pullet-Shut Chicken Doors]

The biggest weakness of sliding doors (vertical or horizontal) is the 2 ft of track on either side. Ice, feathers, dirt, poop, everything can get in there and jam it up. We designed the Pullet-Shut door to swing open, so the only moving parts rubbing together is about a 1/4 square inch at the bottom hinge. If you have freezing rain, that can lock the door to the frame, but a simple awning solves that problem.

But for any door, regular cleaning helps the most. Note that all motors get weaker over time (just wait until these electric car motors start getting 100's of thousands of miles!), and sometimes the motor needs to get replaced. Much cheaper than buying the whole door (we sell parts, not everyone does though). Hope this helps.

 

[Nashville Hen Mom]

UPDATE: Hey, everyone! It finally got warm and dry enough to thoroughly examine the system. I applied lubricant to the parts of the door in contact with the track and that improved movement somewhat. However, I ran a screwdriver down the length of the track and found a tight spot at the bottom. It turns out that the bottom screw on the track needed adjusted a bit to open it things up more at that spot. I am not sure why the cold would have made this an issue, but that was certainly a big part of the problem.

Everything is working perfectly again and the motor was only doing what it says it will do in the manual by reacting to encountered resistance. The E1 error message displayed and though it can mean various things, one problem that can cause it is when the system has unsuccessfully tried to clear the blockage issue three times, at which point, the door stops. That way, if your chicken is caught in the door while it is closing, the door will stop and not continue to try and close on the bird's body.

One important thing that I learned is that although there was probably enough battery to keep things going, once there was a problem, there was a need to test the door more than normal, causing the battery to drain faster. My recommendation would be to replace the batteries before any period of extended rain, snow or cold so that there is no worry of depleting the battery with extra use. Replacing batteries in the bitter cold or drenching rain is no fun and causes unnecessary worry. Also, of course, check the track thoroughly (with something as wide a a screwdriver) for any debris or parts that may have moved and become problematic.