Electric garage door openers - you have probably seen these things around. They help close and open the garage doors to eliminate the need for manual labor. Other than opening and closing doors, how does it really work?
All kinds and brands of door operators for your garage follow the same mechanism. If you notice, it has an electric motor that whirrs to life when you press the button. This motor turns on a clockwise direction to pull the doors of your garage open. When the off button is switched, it reverts to its original position and uses a counter clockwise motion.
Types of Garage Door Openers
There are actually various types of electric garage operators for the door of your garage. The most popular one is the chain-driven one as it is cheaper than the others. It pulls the doors open using chains that rub to the metal trolley. While this is cheap, it makes a lot of noise when you are closing or opening the door.
A less noisy but slightly more expensive alternative is the screw-driven type. Instead of using chains, it uses a rod that is inserted to a metal hole. The rod is the one that pulls the doors up and closes it backs down. Because there are fewer parts in this type of operator, it produces less noise.
The best one is the belt-driven types. It uses belt-like structure that produces the least noise. It is more expensive than the other two.
Other Useful Features
Some time in the 1990's, the government has mandated the use of safety reversal system in garage door openers. It uses infra red technology drilled in beams and placed on either side of the door of your garage. When the beams do not meet each other, it means something is in the path of the garage door. It sends signals to the opener to revert back to its original position as it is about to crash into something.
There are also wireless remote controllers today that allow users to operate their electric garage openers even without punching the right code in the pad. The doors open with just a push of a button.
This is how an electric garage opener generally works. If you do not have one installed yet in the door of your garage, you should seriously consider investing in one for your convenience and for the security of your family.