Here are 5 reasons why you should change your old electric garage door opener

If your garage door opener is from the days when The Beatles first appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show, then it’s probably the time to think seriously about changing it.

Here are 5 good reasons that will show you that it’s time to move on and accept the idea that it needs to be changed. Basically, it comes down to how safe your garage door system is as well as being able to take advantage of new technologies that will simplify your life.

Improve your safety and that of your family

What would you say is the main entry point to your house if you have an attached garage? For most homeowners, it’s the… garage! All of you who park their car there, leave for work in the morning and come back in the evening; those who use it as a workshop or to access lawn and garden accessories, as well as the kids when they run off to school then return in the afternoon… together that makes more than 70% of people, quite a lot, right?

The belt drive model has a metal‑reinforced rubber belt. This type of opener tends to be quite a bit quieter, and it works well for those who have a bedroom located above the garage.

So, taking that into consideration, it becomes very important for your door opener to be safe and not liable to hit or injure anyone. Did you know that before 1993 door openers had only one automatic reversal system, the one we call “mechanical”. In this system, when the door is lowering, if it comes in contact with an object or person, that pressure will cause it to immediately reverse direction.

Get unparalleled safety and ease‑of‑use from a new door opener.

As not all people were overly diligent about verifying the proper functioning of their garage door along with the numerous accidents involving children, U.S. and Canadian authorities added a second safety system, this one using photo eyes. This system consists of 2 units placed on each side of the door, about 4 to 6 in. (10 to 15 cm) from the ground with one sending a beam of light to the other. If anything breaks this beam, the door automatically goes back up.

Are you confident that your door opener is equipped with these 2 automatic reversal systems and that they are working properly, thus ensuring your safety and that of your family?

Prevent your door opener from being used by intruders

If you programmed the remote for your door opener using DIP switches set in either a +, 0, or – position, it is very likely that the signal can be received by ill‑intentioned people who will then go ahead and burglarize your home in your absence.

Since 1993, most door openers have used the much more advanced technology of rolling codes. This means that each time you press on the remote, a completely new code is generated for the subsequent use. In 1993, Chamberlain Group (including the brands Chamberlain, LiftMaster and Craftsman) started equipping its remotes with the Security+ system which allowed for many millions of codes. This was followed by its Security+ 2.0 system in 1996 offering more than 1 billion possible codes.

Today, we are talking about connected homes

We have now reached the point where we can use our smartphones, tablets or laptops to open and close our garage doors from anywhere. Chamberlain Group (LiftMaster and Craftsman) have offered the technology MyQ since 2013.

What’s more, since August 2017, new garage door openers have come with Wi‑Fi technology, meaning you can use your voice to open and close the garage door. We’ve certainly come a long way, haven’t we!

Today, you can open and close the garage door from your smartphone.

Reduce noise, especially if your bedroom is located over the garage

If your door opener operates with a chain drive, like that on a bicycle, or a system made up of a chain attached to a steel cable, you’ve found where those garage noises are coming from. Today, there are door openers that use rubber belts (reinforced with metal fibers similar to the way car tires are made) that are proven to be much quieter.

To reduce the noise even further, you can choose to replace your metal rollers with white or black nylon rollers. In addition, there is even a vibration isolator system which uses rubber placed between the opener motor and the metal brackets holding it to the ceiling to further quiet operation.

Are too frequent power outages causing problems?

Then be aware that some door openers come with a backup battery, specifically the models 8500, 8500W, 8550W and 8360W from LiftMaster. In the event of a prolonged outage, you are able to use your door opener 20 or so times. That could come in handy!

Ready to take action?

Our dealers know garage doors and door openers inside out! They will advise you and explain the best choice to make based on your requirements, whatever they may be. If you wish, they can easily email you a quotation.

For choosing a new garage door that really suits you, why not try our Design Centre? Or go through our image gallery to get some inspiration.