Replacing a garage door opener


 
The only TRUE difference I have found between Liftmaster and Chamberlain (who makes LIftmaster) is the Liftmaster has a one piece T rail the Chamberlain as a rail made of square stock you assemble. I have taken both apart. The motor, circuit board and gear trains are all the same.
As for those circuit boards. I repaired mine myself. It's EZPZ simply a small soldering iron. Remelt the power connections slap that baby back in and off you go.
 
LMichaels said:
The only TRUE difference I have found between Liftmaster and Chamberlain (who makes LIftmaster) is the Liftmaster has a one piece T rail the Chamberlain as a rail made of square stock you assemble. I have taken both apart. The motor, circuit board and gear trains are all the same.
Click to expand...
I agree from my research. A Chamberlain will serve you just as well with the typical metal garage doors. If you have a big, heavy wooden door, you may want a heavy duty product. There is quite a difference in price.
 
Yes there is but I used a big heavy wooden door with a Chamberlain for a VERY long time. But then again I simply had changed out the actual "power head" from the Liftmaster with stripped gears to the Chamberlain. I left the rail. Used it like that for many years until I found a bargain on a belt drive Chamberlain and then I had to change out the rail. Other than how it's assembled I see no difference in performance. It's really all "marketing" more than "substance". In the end your door does not care if the rail is extruded square tubing or the rail. No difference. The power heads are identical.
 
Well, my 27 year old Genie screw drive opener started hanging up yesterday. I've had Genie openers at two houses for more than 40 years and never had a glitch. Don't need wifi or battery backup, but the big debate is belt or chain drive with the new ones. They are not making the screw drives any more according to a local Genie dealer. I'm leaning towards chain drive. Thoughts?
 
@Dan Leighton I installed a belt drive unit for a family member and it is very quiet. The door is heavy, but well balanced but not high volume.

Personally I went with a liftmaster side mount opener. It is even quieter and freed up the garage ceiling space. Downside is it is much more expensive than the center hanging mount.
 
I strongly prefer belt drive. last one i installed is VERY quiet and VERY reliable. I'm pretty sure it was the Lowes Liftmaster version with battery backup. once the battery died, we didn't replace it as we don't use or need that feature.

if life becomes bad enough that I cannot get into my house via any method, i'm likely in need of a hotel room anyway.

there are nice small keyfobs you can add to the liftmaster system for remote opening. and this unit works with the HomeLink technology where we can set the opener code to our car's built in opener transmitter (built into the rear view mirror).

we also don't have the liftmaster version with a camera. we just have a Ring camera in the garage pointed to the door so we can confirm the garage door is closed.

we did install MyQ Chamberlain which allows for remote opening and slosing of the garage door. this way we can always ensure the garage door gets/is closed when it's supposed to be. amazon sells this device for cheap. maybe $25 or so. and it's easy to install.
 
Brett-EDH said:
if life becomes bad enough that I cannot get into my house via any method, i'm likely in need of a hotel room anyway.
Click to expand...
The law was passed in CA with reasoning that some were trapped in their home without power and unable to open their garage to get to safety.

I'm pretty that the battle of a car vs garage door, the car will win.

I will say having the battery backup has been handy a few times when the power is out.
 
DanHoo said:
I'm pretty that the battle of a car vs garage door, the car will win.
Click to expand...
Don't count on that. Many years ago, IIRC I was about 13/14 we had a neighbor (thankfully detached garage), who liked to hunt so he kept his hounds in the garage. They had a "doggy type door", and he kept some dog bedding and a lamp in the garage for a little warmth (though he said the dogs did not require a lot of warmth). One night (maybe 3 AM) sirens, sky lit up orange from down the street. He had 2 VERY large heavy vehicles in the garage. One a 1960 Pontiac Bonneville Safari Wagon and the other a Jeep Grand Wagoneer with 4WD.
The dogs had chewed on the cord powering the lamp, which shorted the cord, over heated it and set the dog bedding on fire. Apparently the dogs were electrocuted. He managed to get in the garage through the side door, by this time the flames had burned the wiring to the opener and he could not get to the manual disconnect. So, still fighting flames and smoke he managed to start the Grand Wagoneer thinking he'd crash through. No such luck. And no such luck with the Safari either, he barely got out with his life really. All that was left was the 4 brick walls and the floor. Everything else collapsed in. Yeah, I am all about battery backup. Also if insisting on the hanging type opener, I go with belt drive every time. Love belt drive. Hate hanging openers. This spring since my old Chamberlin opener (belt drive with backup and added on MyQ) is beginning to have circuit board issues.....................again. I am done trying to fix.
I will be installing a side (or direct) mount opener. It'll require some wiring and a couple other mods, but will allow me to add more worklights and storage in the garage overhead.
They are not outrageously costly compared to a quality belt drive unit either. Maybe an additional $100-$150 for comparable features.
 
DanHoo said:
I will say having the battery backup has been handy a few times when the power is out.
Click to expand...
says the PG&E customer. the SMUD customer just sips a cold one and chuckles.

i can pull that door up if needed. and we have 4 1st floor doors and a bunch of windows.

and the car v door has car at 100% win rate for sure.
 
That's the one thing I didn't like when building houses, the garage service door as a option.
The whole idea was you could enter or exit when servicing the garage door ( without entering the house )
 
LMichaels said:
Don't count on that.
Click to expand...

They must build more stout garage doors in your area. Ours or thin metal sectional roll up doors and I'll be a civic running on three cyls could punch out with just a little effort.

LMichaels said:
I will be installing a side (or direct) mount opener. It'll require some wiring and a couple other mods, but will allow me to add more worklights and storage in the garage overhead.
They are not outrageously costly compared to a quality belt drive unit either. Maybe an additional $100-$150 for comparable features.
Click to expand...

I went with a liftmaster 8500W elite and I highly recommend it or one like it. chamberlain and liftmaster are the same company fwiw
 
It happened in the mid 60s. IDK if doors were stouter or not. I know I very much doubt either of our cars could bust through our current door. Double walled steel insulated. The door he tried to get through , was a wooden door. But also bare in mind you were trying with vehicles that were built like absolute tanks as opposed to the over processed tin cans of today that crumple if you look at them wrong. So, IDK
 
DanHoo said:
I had genie screw drive openers for about 20 years, replaced them with liftmaster 8500W side mount Quiet, and frees up ceiling access.

My doors are well balanced and I don't need a battery backup but it's there.

I guess it depends on the type of garage door you have as a side mount will not work on all doors.
Click to expand...
I have this exact setup and really like them
 
LMichaels said:
That 8500 is the one I am seriously considering.
Click to expand...

When I researched these in 2019 the Liftmaster 8500W was nearly identical to the chamberlain RJ070

It seemed to me the difference is Chamberlain is sold in retail stores and liftmaster is sold through installers, and both are available online.

I could not buy the chamberlain at the time because the battery backup was optional and because of that it could not be sold in Cali due to the law. Chamberlain eventually included the battery and they became available again.

Both are the same MFG so the differences might just be branding or there might be subtle differences.
 
DanHoo said:
The law was passed in CA with reasoning that some were trapped in their home without power and unable to open their garage to get to safety.
Click to expand...
This reasoning kind of escapes me unless I misunderstand. If the power went out could you not just pull the manual cord I don't have a double door so I guess that would be heavier. I have 2 doors and they are insulated so maybe a bit heavier than a normal single door but I also have torsion springs the few times I have had to manually open them can't even remember why it was pretty easy to do.

I guess the other thing is if the power went out and your garage door opener got fried cause of a power surge, you would have no choice but to manually open them anyway. My garage actually has a side door which I think I might have opened twice since 1996, the second time I had to open it was for the painters a few years ago so I wanted to remove the door knobs and deadbolt I tried to open the door and the door knob was toast from lack of use.
 
Dan Leighton said:
Well, my 27 year old Genie screw drive opener started hanging up yesterday. I've had Genie openers at two houses for more than 40 years and never had a glitch. Don't need wifi or battery backup, but the big debate is belt or chain drive with the new ones. They are not making the screw drives any more according to a local Genie dealer. I'm leaning towards chain drive. Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Genie still makes screw drive garage door openers and Home Depot sells them.Screenshot_20240118-201206.png
 
I have a Liftmaster GDO and myQ. They work great. Installed about 4 years ago and have performed flawlessly. I have occasional power outages in the winter so the battery backup has been useful. I can open the door manually but it is hard for my wife so the battery is wonderful. The myQ is a free app and the Liftmaster came with the myq built in. I just found a spray lube for the door. Now it is quiet too. I like the myq because I can be in bed and see if I remembered to close the door. A great thing at my age! I am not a fan of internet things in general but the Liftmaster has been good for me.
 
Very interesting subject I have screw drives and my Genie's are probably 14 years old been pretty solid. My cars have Homelink they are a bit flaky probably cause its so old have had to reprogram a few times supposedly the newer openers don't have such issues. When they croak most likely will go to belt drive but the belt drives have some drawbacks also. I have a 2 car garage not a double door 2 single doors don't have wooden or glass doors so some of the drawbacks to a belt drive would not apply to me but maybe to others.

heritagedoor.com

Belt Drive vs Screw Drive Garage Door Openers

There are several garage door openers available today. In this post we're comparing belt drive vs screw drive garage door openers, read on to learn more.
heritagedoor.com heritagedoor.com
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top