School me on garage door openers.

[Dixie-Raven]

Looking for a new opener. Current broken one is a chain drive. I see direct screw drives are now available. Are these any good? On a direct drive how do you open and close if the power is out or can you? Chain drive you can disconnect so it can be open/ closed manually. Also with these newer doors do you have to install the door position safety sensors for it to operate or can you install without these sensors?

Not sure how much my door weighs but my current opener is a 1/2 hp. Thinking of stepping up to a 2 hp to ensure no problems opening due to weight.

[Indiana Jack]

Looking for info too.

[buster502]

i have always used the the old school chain ones, don't really need a big 2 hp motor,the springs set right and you can lift a garage door with one hand easy

[RANGER487]

Not sure what broke on your 1/2 HP but my plastic gears inside went bad this spring and it was an easy fix and did not cost that much.

[KP1923]

I have a Liftmaster 8550W on my garage. They are reliable, virtually silent, and have had zero issues with them. Five year warranty on parts and 1 year on the battery.

https://saferoad.org/liftmaster-8550w-review/

[OkieBud]

I have a Liftmaster 8550W on my garage. They are reliable, virtually silent, and have had zero issues with them. Five year warranty on parts and 1 year on the battery.

https://saferoad.org/liftmaster-8550w-review/

Same Here for 4 years now and zero issues

[Doorman1]

Are you one of those guys that has to have the very best even if not needed? Screw drive openers are dirty and require maintenance on the screw you have to keep adding grease to the screw to keep them quite. Do you have rooms above where the opener will be mounted? If you do go with a belt drive DC motor opener it will have a soft start and stop. All liftmaster openers have built in WIFI now which is a nice feature. There is no need to go with a opener bigger then 1/2hp. Chain drive use a 8365W-267 or belt drive 8355W, if you want a battery backup you can get a 8550W or 8550WLED. Ultimately the opener is only going to be as good as the garage door.

[Dropdeadfred]

what was wrong with the old one other than it is now broken?

It is always way easier to simply replace something with exactly what was there before if the service life was sufficient.

Had an old boss that used to drive me nuts doing things like this, Component works fine for 30 years then fails,,, "Oh it failed because XYZ" lets completely redesign, rewire, re engineer the entire thing so it doesnt fail like that again"
Good grief, Put it back the way it was , get another 30 years out of it.

[AirForceAngler]

I recently replaced all of mine with Champlain belt drives. Much quieter than chain drives. Very little, if any maintenance required, either, compared to chain or screws. Highly recommend. I also have the wifi feature and a smarphone app. Many a time I would get down the road and wonder if I had closed the door. Now I just look at an app and know. I can also open/close from remote as well if someone needs in.

[Bassman Ia.]

Just like that 26 year old Craftsman tractor, the 24 year old Craftsman opener on the 18’ Door and the 20 year old Craftsman on the 9’ door Just keep operating smoothly with minimum maintenance.

[Riccochet]

Screw drive works just like chain or belt. A shuttle rides the screw and the door attaches to the shuttle. Use the little rope to disconnect the shuttle to open the door manually.

That being said I recently replaced a 20 year old chain drive Craftsman opener with a Chamberlain belt drive with WiFi. Super quiet, easy to install and convenient phone app.

[1Holeshot]

I replaced my 10 year old chain drive with a belt drive and like it much better. It is quieter and we just synched the opener to the car and just turn in the driveway and press the icon on the rear view mirro and "open sesame".

[Dixie-Raven]

Not sure what broke on your 1/2 HP but my plastic gears inside went bad this spring and it was an easy fix and did not cost that much.

This is what is breaking on mine. Has happened several times so I think the door is too heavy for the opener. I didn't install the opener nor the replacement parts as it came with the house when bought. Just figured a 2 hp would be more than enough to compensate for the weight. Chain drive is fine but can't find one in 2 hp. I don't want anything high tech with wifi or battery backup, just something to open the door without breaking from use. This is for my detached garage where the boat is kept.

[Bjxds]

Another vote for the belt drive

[bdog7198]

Switched mine from a chain to belt drive when i had to replace the garage door. It is a LOT quieter, wifi and battery backup which has already worked well a couple of times.

[mean_dean]

3/4 HP Craftsman belt drive with battery backup, been installed for 6 years now with 0 issues. Nice and quiet. Even better when I got rid of the old and very noisy wood door and replaced with an insulated metal door.

[WWDIII]

Just fix it, and it will last another 10 or 15 years.

[Old hurst]

My Marantec has been flawless for 20 yrs. DC Motor, Belt drive and Super quiet

[jkirch]

what is everyones thought on the side mount openers? I saw one in a house and it was very quiet and didn't take up any overhead space.

[Bsktball55]

I had a screw drive that I installed at my old house. I thought it was noisy compared to my chain drive I have now. Other than that I never had any issues with it.