You should never let anyone influence your decision when you are trying to select a new garage door opener for you. What’s best for others is not necessarily best for you. Such decisions must be shaped by the door’s size and weight, your personal preferences, and your family’s expectations.
Which questions to ask yourself before choosing garage door openers
- Want quiet garage door operation?
- Interested in blue tooth enabled openers?
- Do you have enough space on the ceiling?
- Do you want an opener with a backup battery?
- What’s your garage door’s weight?
Why are such garage door opener related questions essential?
When you know how much your garage doors weigh, you are able to choose a motor with the right horsepower. When you decide about specifics, like internet connectivity and backup batteries, you start shaping your decision. Some openers integrate a large number of technologically advanced features but they will only operate on specific motors. So choosing the right garage door motor should be your first priority.
How to find the right garage door motor
The features you need to search when looking for garage door motors have to do with the motor’s power, technology, and drive type.
- AC vs DC motors. You want DC powered garage door openers if you want
high tech features. These might include timer-to-closer and soft-start-stop systems. Since the DC motors occupy less space than AC motors, the opener box is either smaller or hosts more components, like the backup battery. So if you want an opener to support special features, get DC motors. - It’s important to get motors with the right horsepower. It depends on door weight. Average residential garage doors won’t need more than ½ HP. But if the door is heavier, the motor should be more powerful.
Pay attention here. Although AC motors are translated in motor hp, DC motors don’t. So if you choose the latter, you will need to find a motor with power equivalent to the AC motor hp. What you will see is an abbreviation, like HPC or HPS which stand as horsepower comparable or similar. Let’s say you want ¾ hp but a DC motor, you want to search for either ¾ HPC or ¾ HPS.
Focus on the garage door opener drive types
One more feature to focus on when searching for motors is the drive type. The most common options are belt drive and chain drive openers. You can always get a screw drive motor too, but the first two are more popular due to their convenience and durability. What you need to decide is price tags and level noises. Chain drive openers are louder and cheaper than belt drive ones which are a bit more expensive but silent. Keep in mind that thanks to the new technology, DC motors are very quiet. And so if you choose a chain drive opener powered by a DC motor will be relatively silent.
What else to notice before you buy a new opener
If you don’t have enough room on the ceiling, there is always the choice of a jackshaft which is mounted on the wall. But you will still need the help of a garage door company to check the distances and tell you if this is the right choice for you.
Although it’s up to you whether you get an opener with limited or plenty of security features, make sure it includes the necessary safety features, like the photoelectric eyes and the emergency release cord.
