screw or chain for garage door opener
johnnyd
| Posted in Construction Techniques on
I did a search on this and only came up with one archived post.
Need to install two garage door openers…doors are insulated steel 8′ high X 8′ wide, torsion spring.
Don’t really need the quiet of belt drive, or the fancy motion sensing (except of course the beam), or even the dual and tri-button remote units…just one for each door will be fine.
Any experience with the screw drive versus chain? Also durabilty and build quality of the various brands?
Replies
I put two Genie screw drive units in my garage about 13 years ago. They are still working and I have never had any problems. I lubricate the screw about once per year and that's it.
Last year I replaced my 25 yo Liftmaster chain drive.
It was still working, but questionable and there was a good sale on.
Liftmaster is made by Chamberlain, but is their non-DIY division.
Very similar product line, but has a one piece rail system.
The replacement was a Chamberlain belt drive and very nice unit. But the materials are not as heavy duty as the old Chamberlian, but that might also be a difference in 25 years manfucturing.
Thanks for the responses.
Quality/need/price/availability has me leaning toward the Genie screw drive.
I like the concept of belt drive, but most of the belt drive models seem to come with pricey and at least in my case, unneeded extras.
I just looked at new doors and openers, can not remember the names. The dealer steered me to the belt drive wasn't much more and super quite also there is a lifetime warrenty on the belt. The screw drives come in 3 pieces and have a tendancy to come apart at the joints, from what I have heard. Also no lube needed on the belt drive.
It used to be that the weak link in the screw unit was the plastic traveler that the screw threaded through, making chain drive units much more reliable over the long haul.
But now the chain drive units have plastic gears, so it's pretty much a wash.
The chain drive units are a little more flexible in terms of installation, IIRC. But probably not an issue if this is a plain vanilla setup.
On any opener installation on a steel door you need to make doubly sure that the door is reenforced at the mount point, with at least two stiffner bars on the top panel.
Our Sears 1/2 hp single light opener has been working for 16 years and still looks solid. Last I heard, the very same machine that I installed in our previous home was still working great too - 23 years and counting for that one.
Phill Giles
The Unionville Woodwright
Unionville, Ontario