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When to change the garage door opener
The service life of the garage door mechanism depends on the intensity of use. Most mechanisms work until replaced for about 12 years. The more cycles (open + close) your gates make per day, the faster they wear out.
If you are approaching this deadline – especially if your garage door does not open and does not close smoothly – you should consider replacing the mechanism. And in some cases, it is worth thinking about the complete replacement of garage doors with more modern and safe ones.
Why change the mechanism of a garage door
If your garage is more than 10-15 years old, a good idea for your garage is to replace the gate or mechanism with a more modern and safe one. Below are 7 reasons to replace your garage door openers.
Better security
Outdated garage door openers may be subject to thieves. Since their remote controls are equipped with a fixed code, someone with a unique device may be able to sit outside your home and detect the code, allowing them to open the door.
New garage door openers have a “rolling code” attribute, which changes the code each time the device is used. Thieves cannot repeat the code and enter your garage without an invitation.
Auto U-Turn
Since 1993, the garage door must be equipped with a mechanism for protecting the door from colliding with any item caught under it. This attribute applies two detectors about six inches above ground level on each side of the doorway. As soon as an object, such as a child or a puppy, passes through a ray of light passing between these detectors, at the moment when the door is lowered, the door instantly stops and changes direction.
Silent operation
Does your garage door opener wake people up or ruin a family because it makes so much sound? In this case, the new knife will almost certainly be quieter.
The first type of garage door opened and closed using a chain drive. If you can see something that looks like a bicycle chain next to your opener’s engine block, consider replacing it with a belt-driven garage door opener. The chain drive of the newer version is likely to be simpler than the older version, however, the screw drives are noticeably smoother and the belt drives will be the quietest of all.
Keyboard input
The obsolete garage door openers did not have keypads that can be installed away from the garage. This useful feature allows you to enter a code into the keypad that will open the door. No keys needed. You may have the opportunity to purchase a keypad to insert it with your current garage door opener. Otherwise, however, this can be a fantastic reason to upgrade. Newer keyboard blocks eliminate the need to recall code. They work by touch, with fingerprint detection, to open the doorway.
Spare battery
If there is no electricity in your house, you will have to open the gate manually. How To Open A Garage Door Manually we already told. Garage door openers are now available with battery backup systems that can turn on automatically when you lose power.
Homelink Communication
New garage door openers allow you to control and program your garage doors using the Homelink feature built into many new cars. Remote control components are not necessary for all of these systems. The controllers built into your car can open or close the garage door if they are programmed to understand the garage door opener.
Wireless “Smart Home”
The latest serial garage door openers provide Wi-Fi and a mobile phone connection that allows you to lock or unlock the garage from a remote location or alert you if your garage door is accessible, wherever you are. A mobile phone, personal computer, or tablet equipped with the appropriate program can track and control the garage door. These garage door openers often come with electronic controls and readings that provide temperature and time displays, a motion sensor light controller, and programmed interlocking gaps for your garage door.
VIDEO: How long do garage door openers last
Mechanical problems
There are a small number of problems that can signal the breakdown of your opener. When there are dubious sounds or problems with moving parts, the nuts and bolts of your system can create real problems when they have served their time.
Vibrating
The opener, which tends to vibrate, may seem benign at first, but watch out for it. Aging motors with fittings that are worn outside, or shafts that are bent, can vibrate inside their housings.
If this happens, be careful. The vibrating knife can finally come off its mount and then fall to the floor or onto your car. When critical mechanical components such as these fail, it is time to have a new opener.
Start, then reverse
If your garage door does not open completely and begins to close, this may indicate a problem with the security sensors at the base of the garage door frame. Make sure that the detectors are aligned correctly, use the instructions for opening the garage door.
If this does not solve the sudden shutdown problem, wipe the ground around the threshold of the garage door to clean it of debris that could trip over the device.
Noises
Chain drives were not designed to keep sound at an acceptable level, and the older, the worse it will be that your loved ones will worry. Consider investing in a new belt-driven opening belt to improve performance.
If you have a new mechanism that suddenly becomes too noisy, this is a cause for concern. Ask a technician to inspect him to determine the source of the noise. Remember that many electric motors get louder as they get closer to their end, and maybe it’s time to replace them.