Do you know how long the average electric garage door opener lasts? You may be surprised to find that it is only about 10 to 15 years. However, there are some cases where your opener may become obsolete even sooner. For example, government regulations changed in California after the wildfires of 2017 and 2018. The governor of the state passed a bill which makes it required for residential openers to be equipped with a battery backup. There is also the fact that some garage doors of lesser quality may not last as long while others, like the LiftMaster’s Elite Series, may last a little longer than others.
You also have to realize that no garage door opener is going to last forever. As time goes on, your garage door opener is going to begin to stop operating at top performance. The rate at which you use the garage door has some impact on that. If you are like most people who have an attached garage door, you might come into your house using the garage more often than not. However, there are other things that have an effect on how long your garage door opener will last, which we’ll go over below.
The first thing to know is how old the opener actually is
Not sure how old your garage door opener is? That’s not uncommon, especially if you’ve lived in the same home for a long time or you moved in and the garage door opener was already installed. There are two different ways to find out how old it actually is.
Try these methods to date your garage door opener:
- The first thing you should check is where your electric garage door includes an automatic photoelectric reverse system. If you aren’t sure how to look for that, it’s simple. Look for sensors on the side of the opening of your garage door around four to six inches (10 to 15 cm) from the floor of the garage. If these are present, that means the door opener was manufactured before 1993.
- However, to get the actual year when the opener was made, you will want to grab a ladder and take a look at the metal housing on the outside. The serial number and model number will be listed there, as should be the year of manufacture.
Now that know when it was made, determine whether it was more than 10 to 15 years before the current date. If that is true, it is absolutely time for you to start considering an upgrade. You also want to be aware that the more you use the door opener, the quicker it is going to wear out on you. In addition, if you ignore strange noises which can be the result of a malfunction, the door opener will wear more quickly. Both the frequency of use and how often you do maintenance or have it done tell you how long it will last, which is the same for any appliance in your home.
It might seem like a 10 or 15-year lifespan isn’t extremely long, but you might be surprised. Take into consideration that your spring system, whether torsion or extension, which is a counterweight for the whole sum of the garage door weight only lasts around five to seven years.
If you aren’t sure this all makes sense, you don’t have to take out word for it. Speak to any Doors & Things specialist and you can get a more accurate idea of whether you immediately need to swap out your garage door opener or have a tune-up and wait a while longer, knowing you are safe and your opener is working correctly.
There are many other situations where you may want to switch out your garage door opener
The age of your door opener is only one of the reasons to consider switching it out. However, there are several others to consider:
The manufacturer of the door opener no longer is in business
Sometimes you might find that the door opener you have is made by a company that is no longer around. This is why we make our recommendation for garage door openers from LiftMaster / Chamberlain. This company has been around since 1954 and is known for offering a quality product.
You have concerns about the safety and protection of your own family
Up until 1982, there was no requirement for a door opener to have a referral system at all. At that time, it was made a voluntary industry standard to require garage door openers to include a mechanism for automatic reversal. This made it possible that if an object was in the way when the door was lowering, it would stop doing so and instead raise. Then in 1993, legislation came into place that improved safety yet again. This made it where door openers were equipped with automatic photoelectric reversal system. If you found that your opener is older than that and does not continue both safety systems, it is much more likely that an accident could occur and you should upgrade your electric garage door opener.
You’re adamant about preventing a potential robbery
Another thing happened in 1993 in regards to garage door openers. Up until that point, they were programmed using a seven or eight dip switch system. Each of the dips was set to either 0, -, or +. The problem is that this was easily detected by a potential robber who could use the information to open your garage door and get inside whenever they wanted. In the time between 1993 and 1995, LiftMaster / Chamberlain made a change to their coding system, which made it possible for there to millions of codes. A few years later, this was increased to billions of possible codes. One of these door openers is nearly impossible to break into.
You are tired of all the noise from your system
If you have a garage underneath a room you live in or sleep in, you might be tired of all the noise, keeping you awake or distracting you from other things. New door openers on the market now use metal-reinforced rubber belts. On top of that, there are wall-mounted openers that can be right next to a door. These are called Jackshaft door openers and are created for residential dwellings. If you upgrade to one of these, it can prevent noise transference through your garage ceiling joists.
It’s time to make your life a bit simpler
Just a few years ago in 2013, LiftMaster / Chamberlain came out with something new and fairly revolutionary in terms of garage door openers. This is called the MyQ System and is a new technology that makes it possible to operate your garage door no matter where you are. A simple download of the MyQ app lets you use a laptop, smartphone, or tablet to open and close the garage door using Wi-Fi. You can also set up the app to offer notifications whenever the door is opened or closed. It also offers the ability to set a timer so the door opens or closes each day at a specific time.
If you are ready to get more information…
If you are someone who lives in or near Midland, you can contact us at any time at 705-322-0136. We offer the entire range of LiftMaster door openers from those with chain drives to those with belt drives, which can be installed near the door or centrally. Each of them is reliable and very quiet for your convenience. Many of them also come with an emergency battery so you can operate the garage door even if you don’t have power.
We are also happy to offer you a email quotation. You are also welcome to visit us at our showroom if you would like. We offer a Design Centre where you can look at various styles of garage doors to decide on your favorite. Our image gallery is also available so you can find numerous beautiful examples.
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