May 13, 2024
Did you know that residential garage doors are opened at closed at least 1,500 times every year?
If you think about it, that’s a lot of time! And that could easily cause wear to your garage door opener.
Your garage door opener is pivotal to the overall operation of your garage door, but like all the other things, it can malfunction and would require replacement.
Before that happens, it’s essential that you know how to identify the warning signs. This could save you from having to get your entire garage door replaced!
From our experience on the job, we know what to to look out for. Here are the 5 signs it’s time for a new garage door opener.
Intermittent Opening and Closing
An obvious sign that your automatic garage door opener is failing is when the garage door opens or reverses suddenly. This could be due to problems with the safety eye feature. In addition, the reversing issue may also be caused by faulty electronics within the garage door opener.
Although some people would have it repaired, it’s a better idea to replace the garage door opener instead, as this is a more cost-effective option even for tilt garage doors and roller door openers.
As for intermittent operation, it’s also a common warning that the garage door opener is faulty, and the best possible solution here is to replace it with an updated unit.
Vibration On the Garage Door Opener
Noisy Garage Door Openers
Do your garage door motors loud noise when you operate the garage door? Remember that some garage door openers were designed as noisy due to the chain drivers.
However, it’s something you should know first. However, if it’s a fairly new garage door and the opener is making some noise, then it’s likely that there’s a problem.
Age is the common cause of a noisy garage door, and it’s often associated with squeaking, creaking, or clanking.
Slow Movement
Old Model
The Average Lifespan of a Garage Door Opener
Taking care of the garage door opener is important. Knowing its average lifespan will also help you determine whether it is time for a replacement or a repair would suffice.
Garage door openers have a lifespan of ten to 15 years. However, a lot of factors may influence its lifespan, such as how you use the door. Let’s say, for example, if you don’t use it that often; chances are, it will last longer. On the other hand, using it too often may cause wear and tear that could compromise its longevity.
Another factor that influences the lifespan of the opener is its installation date.
You will find stickers on your system containing the installation date and model information. By checking this, you will know exactly the physical age of the system, which you can use to determine whether it’s time to get a replacement.
How to Maintain Your Garage Door Opener
Limit Its Use
You know that habit when you or other family members tend to use the garage to access the house, even when they didn’t bring the car? If you’re guilty of this but you want to prolong the life of your garage door opener, then you should stop doing this. Break the habit and instead, use your house doors more often.
Typically, a garage door has five to ten up-down cycles per day—with daily ten cycles, you may find yourself replacing other components of the garage door more frequently compared to when you limit its cycles to at least only two per day.
Have Regular Inspections
Your garage door is a vital part of your home; therefore, it must be inspected by professionals on a regular basis, too. Don’t wait until there’s a major problem to fix before you have a professional come over.
Having a regular inspection done at least twice a year will ensure you are on top of things. Not only will this maintain the garage door opener, but the other moving parts as well, such as the panels, pulleys, cables, and springs.
Don’t Lubricate!
Never make the mistake of lubricating door openers. What you can apply lubricant to is the other components, such as the tracks, hinges, rollers, and springs.
To Sum Up
Whether you have a tilt door, roller door, auto openers or a sectional door, taking care of your garage door opener and knowing when to replace it is important.
As new technologies are introduced into the garage door industry, these door openers become more advanced, which is also the reason you might want to think about replacing and upgrading your garage door opener.
By doing so, you get to benefit from automatic technology and better chain drive that will make your garage doors even more efficient and may even last longer.
Contact the Garage Guys
Garage Door Services Sydney
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