Garage Door Openers?

[SweetErika]

Yes, I'm back for more home improvement advice.

One of our garage door openers broke yesterday, after being problematic for a while. Apparently, it's the screw-type drive, and there's something wrong with the screw (like it came apart, and we can't get it back together).

So, my question is, what should we replace the entire unit with? It only opens a single bay door, so I'm assuming even 1/2hp would be fine.It gets a ton of use, and my requirements are a unit that has:
-At least two remotes
-A keypad for outside
-A button for inside
-A light
-Is fairly quiet (the current one kind of slams the door down and is pretty loud, which is annoying)
-Under $250, including shipping if we get it online

Any advice on buying a new unit? Have you found some brands to be better than others?

I've been looking at this one on Costco.com, but I can't figure out what all of the doodads do, and I'm not sure we need something that fancy.

 

[NippleMuncher]

I've had good luck with the Chamberlain brand.

Some general info for you:

Screw type openers are quieter and cleaner than chain drives, and I believe that they have better lift qualities as well. I currently have a Overhead Door brand opener. It's quiet and has all the accessories you're asking for. I can't remember if Overhead Door absorbed Stanley or Genie openers, regardless, I've had this one for over 8 years now and it's still going strong.

Lift capacity will be determined by the type of door more than it's width. If you have a roll up, then a lower horsepower opener will do. If it's a wooden tilt up, then you're going to need a stout opener that can handle that kind of weight, even single car tilt ups are extremely heavy. The box/online info should tell you what the lift capacity is and/or what is recommended for your application.

 

[SweetErika]

Yeah, we have a roll-up wooden door.

Hubby just bought a Chamberlain at Home Depot that's similar to the one I linked to for $230 because he was already there looking. It has almost all of the same features as the Costco one. And they both have a battery for when the power goes out, which is a nice feature, even though we don't have a ton of outages here (but it really sucks when you come home and can't open the door due to an outage!).

It's a belt-drive, I think. Do you know anything about those? The screw and chain drives were a lot cheaper at the store, I think he said. And this one has a MUCh better warranty (lifetime motor, 10 years on other stuff and 5 years on parts, IIRC) than the screw and chain ones.

 

[Experiencedguy]

Hi Erika --

Damn -- you always come up with these off the wall topics that are so appealing. It has been to long since I have done anything except give you this bit of advice: Stay away from the screw and chain, no matter the cost differential. Why do you think they are so cheap?? Also, require more maintenance (which you must either do yourself, or pay for), break down much more frequently, and will end up costing you a lot more in the long run.

 

[NippleMuncher]

Yeah, we have a roll-up wooden door.

A wood roll-up is heavier than the typical metal roll-up, but the counterweight springs should be compensating for that pretty well and roller tracks are easier to open than tilt up mechanisms. Still, I'd recommend going to the higher horsepower model opener.

I'm not familiar with belt openers to comment. The last chamberlain I had was a chain, the current one I believe is a screw. After 8 years of it hanging from the garage ceiling, I've forgotten.

A tip when you take the old one down and install the new one. To take the old one down, start at the motor end and disconnect it from the wiring and then it's mounting brackets. Position your ladder so that you can rest the motor on the top of the ladder as you get down and in a position to handle the unit. Once you're on the ground, set the motor on the ground, then unhook the other end from the wall and door. When you install the new opener, reverse these steps. Start at the door and work to the ceiling mount. If you're lucky, you'll be able to reuse the existing mounts, or at least some of them.

 

[SweetErika]

OK, so we spent all night installing the new one, but boy is it perfection compared to the old one (when it worked, of course)! You know how you can barely hear Priuses when they're operating on batteries in parking lots or whatever? Well, this is the Prius of garage door openers! It's incredibly quiet, and the light even has a motion sensor!

I'm giving the Chamberlain 3/4HP belt-drive two thumbs up, for sure!

 

[Que]

I sincerely hope this WOULDN'T have helped. This happened to a neighbor of mine and I pointed out to him that the quick release mechanism on the carrier (that usually red knob on the end of a dangly bit of rope) had gotten snagged, I pulled the lever back to the locked position and voila it worked..hope yours really was broken since im too late to help!

 

[SweetErika]

I sincerely hope this WOULDN'T have helped. This happened to a neighbor of mine and I pointed out to him that the quick release mechanism on the carrier (that usually red knob on the end of a dangly bit of rope) had gotten snagged, I pulled the lever back to the locked position and voila it worked..hope yours really was broken since im too late to help!

No, it wasn't that. The screw mechanism that drove the door actually broke or popped apart, and we couldn't get it back together, in spite of a lot of pounding. The door had been iffy for a year or so now, but WD40 always fixed it before it finally broke. Plus, one of our openers quit working and the other was on the fritz, so it would have been a matter of replacing a bunch of parts, so we just sucked it up and replaced the whole thing.

We're much happier with the quietness of the belt drive and many features of this one, so it was a good purchase even if we could have gotten by with the old one for a little longer.

 

[Kot_Carson]

First of all, I think someone ought to write a story entitled "Garage Door Openers". That could be either the best story ever written or (more realistically) the worst one.

Maybe your garage didn't break altogether. Maybe it just forgot the codes your openers send out when you push the buttons.

Anyway, my wife and I bought our house recently and had to program our own garage remotes for the first time. Beforehand, we had apartments where the landlords did it all for us.

Generally, if you open the compartment with the lights there's a little button. Don't open the other side... that side usually houses the circuitboards (or the brains) of the garage door.

Open up the light side, it should be easy enough. If it's not held together by pressure alone from two little plastic tabs (sort of how your TV remote's battery cover) it will be held in place by a few loosely tightened screws.

Unlatch it, and you'll see the lights. There's probably also a little button in there as well as a LED. Press the button once until the LED flashes... usually a couple flashes per second. Once it's flashing press your garage opener once. The garage itself should learn the opener's code. If that does not work, try holding down the opener's button until the LED flashes a lot or stops flashing. That should also help it learn the code.

If that fails, try holding down the button in the garage's light place. Then try holding down your opener's at the same time. Hopefully that'll help them learn about each other.

If all that fails... then you should call over the neighbor's 12-25 year old son. Surely he'll be able to get it to work.

If that didn't help your question, sending good vibes your way! Good luck with it all!

 

[SweetErika]

First of all, I think someone ought to write a story entitled "Garage Door Openers". That could be either the best story ever written or (more realistically) the worst one.

Hmm...Maybe a peep show involving a garage door?

I'm sure someone in the Story Ideas forum could come up with something.

Maybe your garage didn't break altogether. Maybe it just forgot the codes your openers send out when you push the buttons.

No, it definitely broke. As I said (twice ), the screw mechanism that drives the door came apart or broke, so while the motor was still working fine, the door wouldn't open.

The openers were on the fritz, too. One stopped working a couple of months ago (and, no, it wasn't a battery issue), and the other didn't work sometimes due to corrosion on the battery contacts and the circuitry starting to go.

Anyway, my wife and I bought our house recently and had to program our own garage remotes for the first time. Beforehand, we had apartments where the landlords did it all for us.

Generally, if you open the compartment with the lights there's a little button. Don't open the other side... that side usually houses the circuitboards (or the brains) of the garage door.

Open up the light side, it should be easy enough. If it's not held together by pressure alone from two little plastic tabs (sort of how your TV remote's battery cover) it will be held in place by a few loosely tightened screws.

Unlatch it, and you'll see the lights. There's probably also a little button in there as well as a LED. Press the button once until the LED flashes... usually a couple flashes per second. Once it's flashing press your garage opener once. The garage itself should learn the opener's code. If that does not work, try holding down the opener's button until the LED flashes a lot or stops flashing. That should also help it learn the code.

If that fails, try holding down the button in the garage's light place. Then try holding down your opener's at the same time. Hopefully that'll help them learn about each other.

If all that fails... then you should call over the neighbor's 12-25 year old son. Surely he'll be able to get it to work.

If that didn't help your question, sending good vibes your way! Good luck with it all!

Good info for someone who needs to reprogram their openers. Fortunately, we now have the manual with this new one, and that info is also usually readily available online, so we shouldn't have an issue with it. It also came with an outdoor keypad, so once we get that installed, we should never need to rely on the handheld openers. Our old one had a keypad, but the previous owners never gave us the code, plus there was something wrong with the wiring in it, so we never bothered to try to reprogram it.

 

[phillyinjun]

Just replaced both my openers and wish I had thought to ask here first! The chains are noisy, darn it.

Did not think of looking for a battery back up either, so I am getting an Uninteruptible Power Supply.

Ah, well.

 

[Wetdl]

Getting a bit dated, but still important.
Glad your going again, but one thing you need to check is the spring tension. This may have caused your original problem, or would result in the new opener wearing out quicker.

With the door closed, use the manual release to disconnect the door from the opener. Open the door by hand. This should be easy. Open the door to a position say 4 feet off the ground, see if it stays when you let go.

Both of these tests check that the springs are properly adjusted. If its close, OK, nothings perfect. If you have a hard time opening the door, or if it wants to fall quickly, you need to tighten the springs.

This part is safe IF you are mechanically inclined. This part is suicide if your not, call someone. The springs are under enough pressure to really hurt you if you screw up.

 

[Lynn731]

Garage Door Openers

We have two Genie openers. One is a belt drive, one is a screw drive. The belt drive opens a single garage door. The screw drive opens a double garage door. Both garage doors are steel with insulation inside. Both have worked fine for many years, but I would take the screw drive over the belt drive, as I have heard the belt drive does not last as long. No remotes to fool with, The gate, and both garage doors are programmed into both of our vehicles.