The Best Commercial Garage Door Openers

Garage door openers are used for opening and closing garage doors automatically using a remote control.These simple devices are so useful that it really is difficult to live without them anymore.But what are the best commercial garage door openers these days?

The first models of garage door openers were quite simple and consisted of only 3 parts, a radio transmitter, a receiver and the actuator that opened and closed the door.The receiver detected an amplitude change and opened and closed the door based on that.

There were some major security issues with these kinds of garage door openers because anyone with a transmitter could open them and accidental openings were common when neighbors opened their doors.

Later models used a shared frequency to prevent accidental door openings and 256 combinations of dipswitches were made to prevent interference from other door openers.Even with these improvements the security issues were not overcome.

Today´s commercial garage door openers use a hopping code technology or a rolling frequency meaning the door is not opened several times using the same frequency.The technology is reasonably simple because there are only three types of garage door openers on the market, the belt drive, chain drive and the screw drive.

Chain drive garage door openers are reasonably cheap (about $130) but noisy because this model uses a metallic chain along with a metal trolley.Screw drive door openers use a threaded lead screw and cost about $150 and up.

Newer models of the screw drive door opener have plastic lined tracks to increase the speed of opening and also to reduce the noise.Belt drive garage door openers are the most quiet and also the most expensive, they cost from about $170 and up.

A common misconception is that the door is lifted by the door opener, it is the spring that lifts the door and when the door is opened the springs do most of the lifting, when closed the springs come into tension.

Garage door openers use two types of springs, torsional springs and expansion springs. Jackshaft door openers takes less space than the Trolley type which is attached to the door and the motor.This is safer but takes more room in the ceiling.

There are two different types of motors available, AC and DC.AC is more common but DC consumes less electricity and makes less noise, the speed is also easily controlled.Some models have safety precausions like auto reverse in case there is an obstruction like a child or pet.

The remote control operates to a quite long distance, about 150 feet, and can also be used to switch on and off the lights in the garage.Most modern commercial garage door openers come with a keypad that can be installed outside the door so the garage can be opened if the user has forgotten the remote control or the batteries are down.In case of power failures, most models allow and emergency release so the door can be manually opened if needed.