The 4 Most Common Types of Garage Door Openers

Imagine driving home from a long day at the office and badly seeking the comfort of a warm bath, dinner and your favourite show on Netflix.

Only to pull into your driveway to find out your garage opener is stubbornly standing between you and your happiness.

It’s remote isn’t working, and now you have to find a new garage door opener. One that won’t put a hole in your pocket or need that much maintenance.

Well, if you read further, you’ll find out which garage door opener is right for you and your home.

Chain-drive Garage Door Opener

With this type of garage door opener, a chain is used to drive a trolley that controls the opening and closing of the garage door. It is quite common in many American homes because of their low price.

However, a small price for such a garage door opener comes with high costs in the form of maintenance fees. These prices are as a result of the many moving parts in the machine.

Living in a house where the rooms or living space is right above the garage can be a problem since the chain driven garage door openers are quite loud. Homes with detached garages tend to be a better fit for the noisy chain driver.

Belt-drive Garage Door Opener

Not much differs between the chain drive and the belt drive. The mechanisms are the same as the belt replacing the chain. However, this type of garage door opener cancels the disadvantages of the chain driver when it comes maintenance and noise.

The belt doesn’t have that many moving parts like the chain and so doesn’t get to break down every so often. With the whole mechanism working quietly and more efficiently, the belt tends to be a better option for those who have garages below their living quarters.

However, you might want to reconsider buying a belt driven garage door opener because what makes up in efficiency and convenience, it sacrifices in price. However, then again, you may want to bite the bullet with this one knowing you won’t be worrying about spending more money in recurring maintenance fees.

Screw-drive Garage Door Opener

This type of garage door opener works when a rotating rod drives the trolley which in turn lifts or lowers the garage door. Just like the belt drive, the rod has less moving parts and won’t break down often. It is also quiet when going about its affair opening and closing your garage. It is smaller and more compact than its counterparts, and that’s a result of its well-thought design.

It’s the only disadvantage is the price. It is more expensive than the two garage door openers mentioned above. So you make the decision. If you have the money and convenience is a big deal for you, then go for it.

Direct-driven garage door opener

The directly driven garage door opener is the quietest and efficient machine of the four mentioned in this article. The direct drive comes with just one moving part with its motor doing the heavy lifting of the garage door by walking along the trolley.

Now, because of its design and the removal of all moving parts except one, you won’t have to worry about maintenance at all. It hardly ever breaks down. So if you’re out shopping for the full package, then the direct drive is your best choice.

Wrapping Things Up

Apart from the different types of garage door openers, you have to figure the amount of horsepower that’ll be okay for your garage door. The kind of garage door you have will determine the strength best suited for it. The steel garage door is typical here in America, although some older houses may still have wooden ones. Also, you have to consider if you have the single, double or triple layer doors.

With single layer garage doors, you won’t need much horsepower (½HP) to lift it. Although if you use a much higher strength, you’ll get to raise and lower your garage door a lot faster. Another benefit to a higher horsepower is that you get less wear and tear in the mechanism of the garage door opener.

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