Eden Roc’s Guide to Garage Door Openers
Eden Roc’s Guide to Garage Door Openers
There was a time when garage door openers were not automatically purchased with every new garage door, but those days are long gone!
Garage door openers are convenient, easy to use, cost-effective, and so reliable these days, that the idea of having a garage door without an opener is quite ridiculous.
What are garage door openers?
Garage door openers are motors which open and close your garage door in response to the press of a remote control button, or the press of a garage wall button.
What are the types of garage door openers?
There are 2 types of garage door openers:
- Openers for sectional & tilt doors
- Openers for roller doors
Openers designed for sectional and tilt doors cannot be used for roller doors, and vice versa.
Sectional and tilt door openers use either a chain or belt drive system to pull the garage door through a curve to sit below the garage roof. Roller door openers are positioned at the end of the roller door; the opener has a number of prongs which fit into the roller door’s cylinder. As the roller door opener rotates, the roller door is furled to open, or unfurled to close.
How can you select the best garage door opener for your home?
Regardless of which garage door you have, there will be a number of openers suitable for your set up.
The most important thing is to ensure that the garage door and the opener are correctly paired. Doing so will keep prevent your garage door opener from enduring excessive wear and tear as it is forced to work with a door for which it was not designed.
To pair your garage door with a suitable opener, you will need to provide your local garage door company with some information relating to your garage door:
- What type of garage door do you have? A sectional, tilt, or roller garage door
- How large is your garage door?
With this information, your local garage door company will be able to provide you with a suitable opener recommendation.
These are our recommendations:
Who manufactures garage door openers? And which manufacturer is the best?
In the table above, you will notice that we have recommended Merlin garage door openers. We recommend these Merlin openers as we have found these to be great openers! They are robust, reliable, fast, quiet, and great value for money. Additionally, these openers also come with the best warranty in the industry – 7 years!
Despite our recommendations, Merlin is not the only option. There are several other great garage door opener manufacturers as well, including:
To see the full range of motors we provide, check out our online shop.
How can you control your garage door with your phone? – What are ‘Smart Openers’?
In the last few years, ‘smart openers’ – garage door openers which can be controlled with your phone – have come into the market.
Despite still being quite new technology, these smart-openers are here to stay! All new residential Merlin openers, our preferred garage door openers, now come with this technology as standard. Though, as well maintained garage door openers have a lifespan of roughly 15 years, it could more than a decade before phone-controlled garage door openers are in every home.
Can you control your garage door opener from your phone without having to purchase a new opener?
Unfortunately, no.
If you are wanting to control your garage door opener with your phone, you will need an opener which can connect to the internet. As of right now, there are no add-on kits or accessories you can purchase for your existing, non-smart garage door opener to turn it into a ‘smart opener’. You will need to purchase a new smart opener to control the door from your phone.
Opener Installation
Garage door opener installation requires a number of skills which few people possess. If installed incorrectly, your garage door opener could be put under excessive strain and deteriorate quickly or break.
For these reasons, it is recommended that garage door openers are only installed by qualified garage door technicians.
Where can you find your garage door opener’s manual?
There are a huge number of garage door motors in the market! So, while our resource centre is not exhaustive, it does include manuals for the most common openers. Check out our resource centre to find your garage door opener manual.
What is the cost of a new garage door opener?
As there are a number of garage door openers on the market, the cost will change greatly depending upon which model of opener you need.
That being said, you can expect a residential garage door opener to cost between $500 and $1,500 depending upon; the opener model, the size of your garage door, and any add-ons you may purchase with your opener.
Which are the quietest garage door openers?
For roller doors, we have found the openers in Merlin’s SilentDrive range to be very quiet. For sectional garage doors, we have found the openers in Merlin’s Commander range to also be very quiet – but not as quiet as the SilentDrive.
Garage door opener remotes
Today, you won’t find a garage door opener without its accompanying remote.
Every new garage door opener comes with 2 remotes when it is installed, but these may need to be replaced should the original remotes be lost, stolen, or break. Unfortunately, not all remotes work with every opener. The replacement remote will need to compatible with your garage door opener.
Your local garage door company will be able to help you find a remote which is compatible with your garage door opener. Simply show them what your existing remotes look like, or tell them which opener is fitted to your garage door.
If you’re based in Australia, you can purchase a replacement motor from our online shop.
Garage door opener replacement parts
As garage door openers involve a number of moving parts, it is not uncommon for parts to wear, break, and require replacement.
These parts can be replaced by a garage door technician, or by yourself if you have the skills to make the repair. Find garage door opener parts on our online shop.
Opener accessories
A number of accessories can be purchased with your garage door opener, including additional remotes, wall buttons, keypads, battery back-ups, and PE safety beams
Wall buttons
An opener wall button works like another remote, but is installed on the wall inside your garage which will open or close the door as the wall button is pressed.
Garage door keypads
Keypads are very similar to wall buttons but are instead located outside the garage. Keypads require a PIN input before it will open the door. This is to prevent thieves from gaining access to your garage.
Battery-back ups
Should the power go out, you will definitely be wanting a battery back up on your garage door opener. A battery back up continues to feed power to the opener when the power is out, allowing you to open and close the door. An opener without a battery back-up will be stuck closed when the power goes out.
There are many instances of people becoming trapped inside there garage during a power outage as their openers did not have battery backups.
PE safety beams
Photo-electric (PE) safety beams extend a laser beam between two points on either side of the garage door opening. The safety beams will detect when something passes beneath the closing door, then reverse the door to prevent it from being crushed.
Are we missing any information? Do you want us to go more in-depth? Let us know!
Tell us what we’re missing in this article, and we’ll be sure to find out and update the article!
