Teach me about garage door openers

Seems to be appliance month at Casa Boxhead. First, we had to change out the washer and dryer as they weren't worth repairing and this morning one of the two garage door openers (chain drive, most likely original to the house) expired. Well, more threw the sprocket around the garage...

Time for a new one. I'm intrigued by the wall mount units, does anybody have any experience with them? Our garages don't have much headroom so I was thinking that a wall mount unit may allow the installer to move the tracks closer to the ceiling.

Any advice appreciated, I have to call one of the better garage door companies tomorrow morning to see if they can replace the opener ASAP as I don't think my wife is willing or able to attempt to open the door manually.

This is all you need to know: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Chamberlain-1-2-HP-Belt-Drive-Garage-Door-Opener-with-MyQ-Technology-HD520EV/205211873

Seriously. Top notch opener for dirt cheap price. It has all the bells and whistles including an app that notifies you on your phone when it opens/closes. In my years at Home Depot, I had a dozen contractors who spec'd this one every time. I even had one contractor who would order them by the pallet a few times a year.

Description:

Features a 1/2 HP motor for easy lifting of heavy doors
Steel reinforced belt-drive system opens garage doors smoothly and quietly
Patented security plus 2.0 rolling code technologies along with multi-frequency transmitters help eliminate interference, providing consistent performance over a long range
Home link compatible - the in-vehicle remote control system (may require an external adapter depending on the make, model and year of your vehicle)
Allows for up to 200-watts of lighting and is CFL compatible
Quick-an-easy-to-install 5-piece rail system fits most garages with 7 ft. high garage doors, extension kits are required for garage doors that are 8 ft. (model 8808CB) or 10 ft. (7710CB) in height
Solid steel chassis and rail for long-lasting performance
Includes two 3-button visor remote controls, multi-function wall control and wireless keyless entry system

I've owned a couple of these:

http://www.weshipgaragedoorparts.com/liftmaster-8500-jackshaft-garage-door-opener.php?gclid=COqK9YOCvsYCFQiTaQod_7kPow

Not recommending the seller, necessarily, it was just the first Google response.

In both cases I used them to provide clearance for a lift. They work great. I installed the first one myself and it was a bit difficult to set up properly, but once I got it adjusted it was maintenance free.

It was the only jack shaft opener at the time that was worth anything. Don't know if it still is.

What Basil said^.

BoxheadTim wrote: Time for a new one. I'm intrigued by the wall mount units, does anybody have any experience with them? Our garages don't have much headroom so I was thinking that a wall mount unit may allow the installer to move the tracks closer to the ceiling. Any advice appreciated, I have to call one of the better garage door companies tomorrow morning to see if they can replace the opener ASAP as I don't think my wife is willing or able to attempt to open the door manually.

I have experience with wall mount units.

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/extreme-ly-minor-garage-makeover/63763/page1/

Cliff's Notes: If you have a torsion spring on your garage door, get a Liftmaster 8500. They are not all that expensive and they are super easy to install.

They are incredibly quite.

I have a three car garage that had traditional chain drive openers hanging over each bay. I needed to raise the tracks on one door and move to a wall mounted opener to make space for a lift. After a week with one wall mount opener and the two old ones, I was so in love with the new one that I removed the other two (fully functional) old ones and gave them away. I replaced them with wall mounts.

Learn stuff here:

http://ddmgaragedoors.com/diy-instructions/

This kind of thing is why I love poring over this site. I didn't know there was anything I needed to know about garage door openers, but here you have invaluable info. Awesome!

I always had good luck with the Genie brand. Back in the '70's, my dad was replacing openers all the time. They never lasted. All the neighbors had Genies. He put a set of those in and never touched them again. Don't know how they are today.

Go from this:

To this:

I am low key - we usually burn through one of these every 15 years.

One time my F-I-Law went on vacation and I stopped in to do the lawn work - I went to open his garage door and was wondering why the bar had started to bend in the middle towards his Buick then destroying the chain bar and bending it in half? Then I saw he put a 2x4 on top of the door to block it from opening. So I had to install a complete new opener the next evening.

Another advantage of the Liftmaster 8500 is that it uses a deadbolt lock mechanism instead of relying on the garage door opener to keep the door locked. So you don't have to worry about thieves forcing the door open or defeating the bar mechanism (see Youtube for tutorials on how to do this).

Liftmaster 8500 basically looks like what I'd want. Let's see if I can get hold of the local dealer, otherwise I guess it's an Amazon order...

Local dealer is coming to install it on the 13th. Decided in the end that it wasn't worth DIYing.

Had the Liftmaster 8500 installed this morning, so far we're very impressed. Really quiet, seems to work really well so far. I'll most likely have one fitted to the other garage door as well pretty soon.

Did the liftmaster when we moved into the new house. Affordable and available at the big box store of your choice. Easy install and super quiet as our master bedroom is directly above the garage.

Woody wrote: What Basil said^.

BoxheadTim wrote: Time for a new one. I'm intrigued by the wall mount units, does anybody have any experience with them? Our garages don't have much headroom so I was thinking that a wall mount unit may allow the installer to move the tracks closer to the ceiling. Any advice appreciated, I have to call one of the better garage door companies tomorrow morning to see if they can replace the opener ASAP as I don't think my wife is willing or able to attempt to open the door manually.

I have experience with wall mount units. https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/extreme-ly-minor-garage-makeover/63763/page1/ Cliff's Notes: If you have a torsion spring on your garage door, get a Liftmaster 8500. They are not all that expensive and they are super easy to install. They are incredibly quite. I have a three car garage that had traditional chain drive openers hanging over each bay. I needed to raise the tracks on one door and move to a wall mounted opener to make space for a lift. After a week with one wall mount opener and the two old ones, I was so in love with the new one that I removed the other two (fully functional) old ones and gave them away. I replaced them with wall mounts.

This! I have two of Liftmaster 8500s. Great openers. My daughter bought me the MyQ internet gateway so that I can open them from an app on my phone. It will also give me a warning if the door is open after 9:00PM (or any other time I set it to). If my neighbor needs to borrow a tool and I'm not home I have him go to the garage door and then open it from where ever I am.

The gateway connects to your router with a cable. Super easy to set it up.