An electric garage door is simply an ordinary garage door with an electric motor added. Adding a motor to the door does not alleviate the spring loads on the door. Consequently, the opener has to only assist the door in moving up and down, which is why the door should always be balanced first.
Fitting of the Opener
The fitting of an opener also depends on the type of door in use. In the case of up and over doors and sectional doors, the opener is fitted at the ceiling of the garage and a rail is fixed to the upper edge of the door. A belt or chain tied to the rail draws the door up. Belt drives are more fancy and quiet in operation as compared to a chain drive. This is of importance if the garage is adjacent or over a living room.
The case is different for roll up doors. The motor is fitted to the wall where the roll up curtain is housed.
Automating side hinged doors is also possible.
Conversion of Manual Doors
It is also possible to automate manually operated doors. Up and over doors are easy to automate and canopy doors are also easy to automate, although the case is not the same for old canopy doors. Check with your door supplier to be on the safe side. Spring loads on a door can hasten wear and tear on the motor.
Size the motor to the door. Heavier and/or wider doors require more pull force, and an undersized motor will run hot and fail.
Safety features
Federal law requires that all electric doors be equipped with a safety feature that detects an obstruction in the door opening and reverses the door. There are two types of safety features that are generally found in residential door openers. The first is a pair of photocells. The second is a feature that applies a limit to the pull force of the opener. If either of these features malfunctions, the door should not be used until the feature is repaired or replaced.
There is a manual release feature on all door openers that allows the door to be opened manually.
Door openers made before about 1995 have a feature that allows the opening limit to be set manually. Older door openers should be replaced with more modern models.
Possible problems with electric doors should be evaluated before assuming the door is completely broken. Is the battery in the remote phone dead? Is a sensor misaligned? Has the power to the door lost and/or interrupted?
If your motor makes noise but your door doesn’t move, or if your door moves but stops quickly after starting, try operating the door manually. If the door is heavy, the problem is with the door and not the motor.
The newest garage door openers allow for controlled opening and closing of the garage door from a smart device and give a notification if the garage door is left open. While these features are a good addition to a garage door opener, these features won’t help if your door opener is used on a badly balanced garage door.
A garage door balanced properly and checked by a professional will make the garage door opener last longer and can save you from a possibly dangerous situation. An inexpensive service call to check the balance of your door can help save you money in the long run.