Back in the day. When a homeowner wanted to put their car inside the garage. Someone had to get out and manually open up the garage door for them to proceed. Then close it once the car was parked.
Thankfully those dreadful days are long gone and over with. Today most homeowners use garage door openers to automatically open up and close the door as they proceed to park their cars inside.
Today’s garage door openers have way more advancements and safety features then the much older versions did. As time moves forward and technology becomes more advance. Garage door openers get better and more efficient.
With the door openers of today you have motors with different types of speeds, obstacle sensors, and with just a touch of a button they have the ability to change direction. Homeowners have plenty of styles and features to choose from when selecting garage doors and openers.
So when making your choice. Here’s a few things you can look at.
Drives
The oldest and most common garage door opener that’s use is the chain drive. It works like a bicycle chain and can be very noisy. They are great for lifting heavy garage doors, but if you’re looking for a drive that’s more quiet. You may want to get a screw drive opener.
There’s very few moving parts used for the screw drive opener so it makes less noise. This makes the screw driven opener very easy to install with minimal maintenance.
If you’re looking to spend a little bit more money you could get the belt drive opener which is the most quiet out of all the openers. It uses a belt to raise and lower the garage door. This opener is almost maintenance free with very little needed for it to stay in good shape.
Recently a new type of opener called the Jackshaft opener has started to be use by homeowners. These type of openers are mounted on the wall where the overhead door is. So there’s no need for a drive system or overhead track.
You will definitely need a professional for installation if you decide to get a Jackshaft drive opener.
Motors
All the original garage doors use AC power motors, but nowadays a lot them use DC powered motors. The DC motors have better speed control and a variety of features. They still need a conversion from AC power, but use a lot less power than AC powered motors.
The manufacturers did install a battery backup just in case of a power outage.
Security
You can get a garage door opener that uses a code in order for it to raise or lower the door. It’s called a rolling code and it sends the code to the receiver anytime the transmitter is operated. This is great for more security and protecting your family