Garage Door Openers
Garage Door Openers – Know Your Options
Electric garage door openers aren’t as simple as they used to be. If you’re a first-timer looking to buy, install, or repair an electric garage door opener — or even if you’re just about to call a specialist to help you out — you’re going to want to know a bit about modern garage door openers before you get started. There are three major categories of electric opener have different needs in terms of tools and expertise as well as different positive attributes:
Chain Drive
A chain drive garage door opener is the most common system for most residential uses. Basically, a motor pulls a chain, which in turn pulls up the door. It’s fairly simple to install and cheap. On the downside, it’s noisy — so noisy that an attached home (or any rooms above the garage) are going to know every time the garage is opened or closed. Some models offer ‘hidden chains’ that reduce the noise slightly, but chain drive openers will always be louder than their more expensive counterparts.
Screw Drive
The screw drive essentially uses a long steel rod with a spiraling divot – essentially a long screw — which spins, lifting the door. With only one moving part, it requires much less maintenance than either of the other options and can be installed my most homeowners with remarkable ease. With plastic tracks in place, a screw drive model is much less noisy than a chain drive — but it has the decided disadvantage of being by far the slowest model. For kids and pets, that’s not a bad thing, but if you use your garage as a workspace (or have any other reason to frequently walk in and out through the garage door), it can be a real pain to wait for the door to get up high enough to walk under.
Belt Drive
Belt drives are by far the most expensive and hardest to install of the electric garage door openers, but they have a couple of advantages that make the effort and expense well worthwhile. First, they’re so quiet that even clanky sheet-metal doors can be opened in the middle of the night without disturbing someone sleeping above the garage. Second, they’re quick to raise and lower the door, which can be a lifesaver if you use your garage for anything other than storing your car.
Of course, there are many elements of electric garage door openers that go with any model you choose. Automatic reverse (with motion detectors, to keep kids and pets from getting pinned under the door), a lighting system so that your garage isn’t dark when you get out of your car, and a manual release for when the power goes out should all be standard options — if the model you’re thinking about doesn’t have them, get a different model. Less necessary but still wise is a keypad entry system, so if your remote runs out of batteries on the road, you can still get your car into the garage.
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