What to look for when replacing your garage door opener

It’s time to replace your garage door opener.

Maybe your latest opener served you well or you are just tired of having to replace parts on it, or maybe you are replacing your garage door and figure its best to do the whole smash while you’re at it. Whatever the case choosing the right garage door opener is important, let’s have a look at a few items the best garage door openers will have.

Garage Door Safety

The first item you should consider when selecting a garage door opener is safety. Your garage door is one of the heaviest objects, if not the heaviest object that you automate in your home, so care should be taken when purchasing the opener that operates it. Most, if not all garage door openers in the United States should have been tested and bear the mark of a reputable testing laboratory. These laboratories test the strength and reliability of an opener against a set of standards and must pass these tests in order to be certified as safe-for-use. The most reliable operators employ a design that reduces stress on those parts that are most critical to operating your garage door, those parts make up the drive mechanism.

Types of Garage Door Openers

So, no surprise the second item you will want to look at is the type of drive mechanism the garage door opener has. There are four basic types: chain drive, belt drive, screw drive, and direct drive. The quietest garage door opener will be the direct drive because of its design. Direct drive garage door openers utilize a stationary chain, and the motor actually moves. In chain, belt, or screw driven openers, the motor stays in place and the chain, belt, or screw must turn to lift the door. This movement in the chain, belt, or screw, causes vibration as it bounces along, it can also damage other parts of the opener not covered under warranty, such as plastic gears or drive shafts.

Garage Door Opener Warranties

Finally, the third thing you will want to think about is the warranty that accompanies your purchase. Some openers offer a middle level 10 or 15 year warranty on the motor and the drive mechanism (such as the chain, belt, or screw). Other opener brands will go a step further and offer a lifetime warranty on those motor and drive parts, while the best garage door openers will offer a lifetime warranty on the whole assembly. The reason why this is important is because the items often not covered under a motor warranty are such things as the drive pin, drive shaft, the sprocket, or the circuit board that controls the operator. All too often these parts are made of plastic or nylon, which are susceptible to stripping or breaking because of the stressful function they perform, as mentioned above in the section discussing drive mechanisms.