Wondering which garage door opener features to look for? Garage door openers have evolved significantly since their invention; becoming safer and smarter every year. But it can be hard to distinguish which features will be the best for your garage door. Let’s take a look at some of the most important garage door opener features to look for, and how those will affect you and your home.

Safety Features

As always, safety comes first! This is hands down the most important feature to consider when looking for a garage door opener. Sensors and the Automatic Reversing features will significantly decrease the risk of any injuries or accidents. The Automatic Reversing feature will automatically switch the direction of the garage door any time it encounters an unexpected obstacle. While the sensors create a line using lasers that, when gets broken, prevents the garage door from closing.

Type of Opener

Before browsing various garage door openers, you need to understand what type of opener will work with your garage door. It’s generally a good idea to choose a door and an opener that were made by the same manufacturer. The different types of openers are: 

• Chain-driven garage door openers are more affordable and stronger than their belt-driven counterparts. Their durability will extend the life of your opener, and their strength guarantees your garage door will open consistently.
• Belt-driven garage door openers are ideal if you are looking for an opener that makes less noise and movement. The convenience of a quieter mechanism, however, comes with a cost and they tend to be pricier than a chain-driven opener.
• Screw-Drive garage door openers use a different approach to lifting the garage door, and are faster and more reliable than chain and belt-driven openers. However, screw drive garage door openers require more maintenance and are not suitable for heavy doors found in older homes.

Manual Release

Garage door openers are a wonderful modern convenience! But you may still need to manually open your garage door from time to time, especially in the event of a power loss. This is why having a garage door opener with the Manual Release feature is critical. Manually opening your garage door is also a wonderful way to check for sagging.

Don’t forget to consider some of the more enjoyable features, too – like an opener that can be controlled from your smartphone! No matter which garage door opener you decide to purchase, ensuring the functionality and safety of your opener relies on a quality installation job. If you are looking to install or replace your garage door opener, contact our trusted professional team at 1-888-602-6550.

Garage doors are simple! You come home, you press a button from your phone or a remote, and voila! Inside you go. But, things weren’t always so easy. In fact, when garage doors first became popular in the 1920s, oftentimes the passenger had to exit the car to open the garage manually. Even in the rain and snow. Luckily, both the convenience and the safety of garage door openers have made leaps and bounds over the last 100 years. Behold – the evolution of garage door openers.

The First Electric Garage Door Opener

The first electric garage door opener was introduced in 1926 by C.G. Johnson. However, the button to activate the system was located inside the garage. A convenient way for homeowners to bypass this system involved running a wire outside of the door. However, this made it easy for just anyone to come by and open your garage door.

Post World War II Electronics Boom

World War II stimulated a huge electronics boom. Once the 1950s hit, companies began releasing garage door openers that were far superior to the bulky and expensive openers from the 20s. In 1954, the Alliance Manufacturing Company marketed a garage door opener named Genie. Genie became the first mass-produced, radio-controlled residential garage door opener. The addition of the remote control made automatic operation of the garage door a true convenience. Alliance even went on to invent the direct-drive screw opener, which was probably the most popular unit installed in the 1970s.

Garage Door Openers Today

Early garage door openers only offered the most basic of functions – lifting and closing the door. Over the years, many variations have been developed. Including chain drive, belt drive, screw drive and jackshaft units. On top of remote radio operation, garage door openers can now be operated wirelessly with Wi-Fi connectivity. Allowing you to monitor and operate your garage door from wherever.

Safety Improvements

The earliest units did not have any safety features; they simply ran until reaching a travel limit switch and shutting off. Today’s residential opener systems all include a speed sensor that reverses the door to full open if it touches an obstruction, a photocell non-contact device that reverses the door to full open if a beam of light projected across the bottom of the door opening is broken and a maximum run timer that will shut down the opener system if it does not reach the close travel limit within a specified time.