The class is now in session….

There are many types of garage door openers, so which one is right for you? The first thing to keep in mind is that garage door openers are not a one-size-fits-all app. Garage door openers are made to work best if they are on the correct door type, most of our repairs are done on machines that are incorrectly installed or if the opener is on the wrong door type, and in many cases, just a quality opener bass.

So far I have used the words “opener” and “machine”, they both have the same meaning, they refer to the entire mechanized operation, so when I say “opener” I am not referring to the handheld device in your car. .that’s called “remote control” or just “remote”. Having said that, there are several types of garage door openers on the market… there are screw drives, chain drives, belt drives, and last but not least, direct drives commonly known as “Jackshafts”. But let’s take them one at a time and start with…

screw drives

These machines have been popular (not necessarily good) on all types of doors for the better part of 45 years, but… due to their design, they require regular maintenance. In the late 1960’s, 1970’s and early 1980’s, Genie used a very durable steel in the “cart” or “cart” and the machines were tough! Even with no grease on the bolt they would run for what seemed like forever then they switched to a lighter grade steel and that was all downhill the openers would still last as long as any as long as you greased the bolt regularly but what? who does that? !! So the average life of the Genie screw drive carriage was about 4-5 years and that’s generous, Liftmaster, Chamberlain or Craftsman all made by the same manufacturer… (Chamberlain) also has a screw drive and has Same problem to counter they use a plastic inner carriage and a self-lubricating casing around the screw to keep heat and wear in, but the self-lubricating casing really only lasts about a year…or the equivalent of your warranty, then Back to the same ol, same ol, “fat-fat-fat.” My official take on screwdrivers is… stay away from them, they’re old technology with a new look.

chain drives

This type of machine has been around for as long as screwdrivers 5 years or so and they have come a long way. Chain drives have always been very durable machines but they got a bit of a bad rap when Sears started selling a Chamberlain DIY model called the Craftsman, now this machine although called a “chain drive” was driven by a chain in one side and a wire on the other and there seemed to be nothing you could do to silence this thing because the wire was stretching until it broke at the loop. So from that point on, chain drives started to get a bad rap as a “coffee grinder” or noisy machine, even though it wasn’t a true chain drive.

The Liftmaster 1300 series of chain drives… dollar for dollar is the best machine around, they are versatile as they can handle any type of door from heavy wood to light steel, one piece or sectional and are powerful and economical and Relatively speaking…low maintenance, but to get to this point they’ve had a lot of nice upgrades along the way. Chamberlain added a chain spacer that prevents the chain from hitting the rail, changed the front sprocket to a pulley to drastically reduce chain noise, changed the steel worm gear to a nylon worm gear inside the case to reduce Heat on the worm gear and removed the two inner carriage tension springs to reduce door bounce and it’s a solid one piece track with full wrap around chain.

The components on this machine can handle what the motor puts out, so in most cases you don’t need 1/2 hp to lift the gate, and as far as routine maintenance goes… there’s virtually none, just have the two nylon ones. the gears inside the motor case get lubed every 7 years and that’s it, in the rare case you have a beach house and only use the opener in the summer then you can spray the chain with a good silicone to keep the links of the chain free. My two favorite models that have been true workhorses for us for the past two decades are currently called #1346=1/3 hp and #1356=1/2 hp.

belt drives

Several manufacturers make belt drives these days but I like to stick with the most reliable brand which for me is Liftmaster we have the most brands but we prefer to deal with the brand with the fewest problems so let’s focus on Liftmaster belt drives for now. Please note that belt drive openers are a VERY door specific machine, they DO NOT work very well on 1 piece doors or for long periods of time and should NOT be installed on a 1 piece door. For simplicity, there are two types of belt drives…AC and DC.

The Belt Drive Model AC, known as Formula I, is one of the earliest belt drive model designs and is essentially a chain drive motor that drives a belt instead of a chain. It’s minutely quieter than a chain drive minus the power and to me…it’s not a good machine, but it’s an easy sell because it’s cheaper than a DC model and the general public just doesn’t know the difference You know Belt drives are supposed to be top of the line and this is a belt drive so they don’t know the gimmicks dealers can buy these types of machines much cheaper than their DC motor counterparts and sell them for the belt. unit price (premium). What makes a “DC motor” belt drive quiet is the motor! Otherwise why would they offer it in CC? Also, the other benefit is being able to have a backup battery attached so it will work even with the power off.

In its simplest form, a DC motor generates more torque than an AC motor, and power for DC is rated in “Newtons” rather than HP, but DC motors also have a “slow start/slow stop” feature. ” which helps maintain full operation. don’t worry. When an AC motor machine is activated, it goes to O-60 or it should say “O full speed” in one go… the moment you press the button, but the door on the other hand is not on the same page and wants to resist the sudden force and that’s where a lot of the noise is coming from…basically it’s the jolt of the door resisting the opener while the slow starting of the DC machines acts as one more motivator smooth for the door to open. It goes without all the jolt, and does the same thing when stopped, so for the first two inches and the last two inches it slows down, which greatly reduces the noise of the entire operation.

DC machines also electronically calibrate the pressure needed to operate a door based on its resistance and weight,

which leaves little room for installer error, in other words the installer can’t set the machine to smash the hood of your car or your jack, AC motors are at the mercy of the installer, if you set the force setting too much high, squash, if he set it too low, the door will bounce back on a cold or wet morning as you happily drive to work not knowing that your garage door will be open all day and that new Craftsman toolbox you just of receiving for his birthday is about to be sold for a fraction of the price it’s worth at the local swap meet… all because he thought he had a belt drive garage door opener at a bargain price! Final Thoughts… AC Motor Belt Drives = Not Good (better with a chain drive) DC Motor Belt Drives = Very good, very quiet, but very door specific. (Only works on a sectional door)

secondary tree (Direct management)

This section is simple because there is literally only one available and that is a Liftmaster #3800, and it will only work on sectional doors. So for those of you looking for a machine that doesn’t mount to the roof like a traditional machine does, the Liftmaster #3800 might be just what you’re looking for, it’s quiet, has (800 Newtons) or the equivalent of 3/ 4 hp and mounts to either end of the torque tube as long as you have at least 10 inches of side clearance, so the idea behind this opener is that if you have a room above the garage, it completely eliminates… the vibration of a typical opener hanging from the ceiling, or if you have a low beam in the garage supporting the second story of your home or have installed a loft or storage shelving where a typical opener would mount, you could still automate your gate using this type of machine.

It can also be used in applications where you simply don’t want an opener dangling in the middle of your garage. Over the years I have found that the #3800 likes heavier sectional doors compared to the lightweight models without insulation, another benefit to this type of machine is that it will lift a sectional door up to 13 feet tall without modifications. , while a normal machine only lifts doors up to 7’4″ with a normal machine with tracks, you would need to get a longer track to accommodate the added height of, say, an 8′–9′ opening or 10 feet of height that is becoming more common in newer homes.The Liftmaster #3800 has been a very reliable choice for us since 2004.

Everyone loves choice, but given the fact that when it comes to garage door openers there are so many options it also makes it very easy to make the wrong choice for your particular garage door, which could result in Lots of service calls and repairs to come, so hopefully this can clear some things up for you when it comes to choosing the right machine and you’ll have a lot of “good” ups and downs with the right system.