Garage Door Motor Replacement Tips

Moving into a new neighbourhood is often an exciting experience. Those moving into a pre-owned house often have to take several measures to ensure that they're safe and secure in the new neighbourhood. Replacing an existing garage door motor is often among these measures.

Here are a few tips for the benefit of homeowners who may wish to replace the existing motor in a pre-owned house.

Drive Mechanism On Different Types Of Motors

Chain-drive motors are a common feature in older homes. As such, it is likely that a pre-owned house will have a chain-drive motor. These motors use a bicycle-like chain to facilitate opening and closing of the garage door. Chain-drive motors are noisy, which is often among the top reasons for their replacement.

However, the noisy operation makes it difficult for burglars to force their way into the house through the garage door without alerting those inside. Therefore, the homeowner may choose not to replace an existing chain-drive motor for this reason.

Belt-drive motors are a good option for homeowners who mind the noisy operation of chain drive motors. Belt-drives are similar to chain-drives in terms of their mode of operation. However, the bicycle-like chain is replaced by a belt made of fiberglass, polyurethane, or steel reinforced rubber in a belt-drive motor. As such, the racket produced by vibrations on a chain drive motor is eliminated. For this reason, belt-drive garage doors are relatively expensive.

Screw-drive motors are preferred for their simplicity. Their operation relies on the use of trolleys that ride on a threaded steel rod. Rotation of this rod with the motor allows the garage door to open and close.  Screw-drive garage door motors have fewer moving parts, which makes them easier to maintain.

Additional Features To Look For

These features help to increase the convenience of using the motor. Examples of the mentioned features include the following:

• Battery back-up systems: Battery back-up system will allow a homeowner to continue using the garage door long after the lights go out. Some back-up systems may support motor operations for a few days depending on how frequently the garage door is used. This is an important feature for motors that don't have battery back-up as a standard feature.
• Reverse sensors: Reverse sensors will stop a closing garage door automatically in the event that an object is detected beneath the door (e.g. someone passing). This feature enhances the safety of using garage door motors.