Garage door opener?

[Anonymous Poster]

What kind of life span are you guys getting out of your garage door openers? I bought a Craftsman 1/2 hp opener about 5 years ago and it is already cooked. Any thoughts or comments about a little more durable unit? I wonder if Genie is a better brand?

 

[Muhammad]

What's wrong with it? In my last house, we had two early-80's Stanley openers, that in the 5 years I lived there, both of the remotes stopped working (couldn't replace them due to age). But, the openers were still working fine from the wall buttons. That would be about 15-20 years of life out of the Stanley openers.

I put one new Genie in since I needed the remote... can't say much about long-term reliability after only a couple years, though! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[TimSullivan]

I installed two Craftsmnn openers in a family member's house 24 yrs ago and I have just replaced the light bulbs and adjusted the pressure twice on each.

The house I just sold had two similar units that were fourteen years old with no problems. Needless to say I just installed two Craftsman in my new home.

What went wrong with your units?

 

[shade2u2]

I'm also in the market for a unit for an oversized 2 car door. Any opinions on chain vs. screw vs. belt type? From what I read, Liftmaster makes Craftsman & a few of the others...

 

[chim]

I installed a screw-drive (Genie I think) at the other house in 1976. It was on a 16' wooden door. While installing it, I noticed the cheap-looking gadget that engaged with the screw threads and assumed it wouldn't last very long. We moved out of that one in 1989 and is never gave us a lick of trouble except for the remote control. It acted like the batteries were getting weaker and weaker. It needed to be closer to the door to get it to operate. Fresh batteries didn't help. I looked at the innards, and saw there was a coil with a slug inside that had a recess for an allen wrench. Figured there wasn't much to lose, so I took a wrench and turned the slug a bit at a time. I was able to tune the opener and get it to work from the end of the property. Better than new.

The current house has a pair of Stanley chain drive openers. The doors are only single car and light weight. They are noisier and one of them took a dump after about 7 years. It leaked some goo onto Wifey's wagon and the clutch went south. Shortly afterward the clutch went...................chim

 

[gws]

Longevity of a garage door opener is more of how "correctly" it was installed over brand. Proper sizing and bracing are key to keeping an opener working. I had a 25 year old unit that worked up until I sold the house.

 

[MDNY]

Our builder is putting in Chamberlain Liftmaster series for our two doors. We went with a 16ft Wide and 9ft wide (was supposed to be for a tactor). When they install the doors, they will install the openers as well.

Unfortunately I should have made my garage 22x36 not 22x32 so I am working plans for a new 20x30 or 30x40 shed that will include a section for a small stall area (wife wants goats).

Chamberlain is supposed to be very good.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Actually, I don't know that it is fried. It might be a simple adjustment; I haven't had time to call anyone or try to inspect it myself. The crazy thing refuses to lift the door more than 6 to 12 inches off the floor. It stops at a different height each time, but never more than 1 foot off the floor. It seems very much like the opener doesn't have enough strength to lift it. At first I thought it may need more tension on the torsion spring. I applied more tension to the spring, so it was effortless to lift the door. I obviously went overboard though, because with the door in the up position the opener no longer had the strength to push the door down. I adjusted some more and found the sweet spot where the opener could neither pull the door up or push it down. It tries on both accounts, but it just seems too weak to get the job done. I guess I'll call a Sears repair guy before I run out and buy a new one.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I am not going to rule out improper installation in my case. That is because I did it myself. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif I don't know if I have it sized appropriately or not. It is a 1/2 hp motor, and the door is a double car size. I do remember adjusting the torsion spring when I installed the opener. I remember setting the spring to require minimal effort to lift the door. I also remember adjusting the points where the door stops on both ends. I can't recall any other adjustments, however.

 

[fishman]

A couple of years ago I had a garage door opener die on me and assumed that was it, since it was about 20 years old. The repairman said "no way" and replaced a circuit board. Seems a power surge (lightening?) fried it. Good as new for about $50. The guy said it was quite common.

Needless to say, when I bought my new house I had the same guy install my garage door opener. Honesty is always the best policy.

 

[Kodiak]

Sounds likea surge protector might some good insurance there.

 

[Joeinindy]

Hope I can help you, part of my business is installing GDO's for Lowes and Sears. Chamberlin makes Sears and quite afew others. Genie is also marketed as Dalton and other names. The chamberlin units are better built and seem to outlive most of the Genie products. The problem you are having sounds like you just need to adjust the pressure knobs on the side of the head. If you look on the side or back, depending on the model, there are two small adjusting knobs, one for down pressure and one for the lift. If these are set to sensitive the door will stop or return. The only real advantage in belts and screw drives is noise level, although the screw drive never needs adjustment of the chain due use over the years.

 

[RanchMan]

I put in a Genie screw-drive type about 5 yrs. back. It has not given me any problems - actually, a short story that I think shows they are built pretty tough....

The torsion springs my double-door uses wound up breaking earlier this year. (bad. /w3tcompact/icons/sad.gif) How long were they broken? I can only guess - but I believe it was probably for a fair amount of time - maybe a month or 2. Anyway, the door opener kept working so well, I didn't notice it until I was in the garage one day with the door closed and happened to look up. Needless to say, once I discovered it, I didn't use the door opener until I repaired it.

(BTW it is almost impossible to find someone to sell you those torsion springs as everyone claims they "can't" due to liability reasons - While yes, there is a certain amount of danger involved in tightening such a heavy-duty spring, I think it's more of a "racket" the door companies have set up as there are FAR more dangerous things out there. <power tools, chainsaws, etc. anyone?> Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure there are plenty of folks who have hurt themselves when installing such springs, but there are plenty of folks who have cut off body parts with a circular saw or died while felling a tree with a chainsaw too.)

Anywho, I felt bad that "Genie" was abused, but am happy it held up well. Other brands? Can't comment from first hand experience, but I haven't heard anyone complain about them either.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

You are absolutely correct. I had a company send a repair person out and he adjusted those switches. He also adjusted the chain tension, and expanded the torsion springs a little bit to prevent coil bind. He didn't even charge me anything. I felt pretty rotten that I didn't buy the opener from his company, and then he didn't even charge me. I offered to dyno his motorcycle for him for free, and he got very excited about that. So, all's well that ends well.