Question:
I have owned both chain drive and screw drive openers, most recently a Genie
screw-drive unit I installed about 18 years ago. As I am now looking for a
replacement, I would much appreciate any thoughts about what is a really
durable and low maintenance replacement.
I see screw, belt, and chain drives being sold, and there may be other
methods used now as well. Is any one approach vastly superior, and is any
specific brand really exceptional?
Answer:
-The belt drives are quieter and faster. My overhead door units have metal
sprockets and one piece tracks. The ten footer is a belt, the nine footer
is a chain.
-I put in a idrive Torsion when they first came out in my area a
little
over 3 yrs ago. I absolutely love both how quiet the unit is and how
little space it takes up! On the minus side, the gearing in mine
stripped and locked up in the third year. I've also gone through
premature failure on the set of two remotes that came with the
unit. The remotes would not stay latched shut - touching them
would make them pop open and their batteries spill out.
To their credit, Wayne Dalton replaced all the items with no
problems, but it was a self-install and the rep was hinting that
WD may not re-replace the unit if it strips out again. So, I'm a
little
leery about their build quality and how far their warranty service
actually goes.
They may stand behind their product a little better if its installed
by a rep. I think they suspect that my garage door is mis-balanced
or is sticking (though the door was professionally installed
and opens manually one-handed). That's OK, I suspect their
original design didn't have enough mechanical margin. The
replacement unit has some noticable design changes in the
electronics, so I'm hoping that they also beefed up the gearing
a little too...
-I've had the Genie screw drives at 2 houses over about 30 years. 1st one
was the one-piece drive, more recently the 2 piece. They both worked well.
Only thing I don't like about the newer ones is the way they shut off the
light automatically when the door is UP (on the old one the light remained
on indefinitely when the door was open). Usually if the door is up, I'm out
there & if I want the light OFF, I'll shut it off. Plus on more than one
occasion with the old one, I'd glance out & see the light on in the garage &
it would remind me I had forgotten to shut the door. I'm sure this is an
energy thing, but especially with compact fluorescent the energy is
negligible, plus I think having the light ON when the door is open deters
theft. As to screw or chain, all other things being equal, a screw drive
has FAR fewer moving parts, so will be more reliable. It's just a better
design, again all other things being equal.
As an interesting aside, according to the inflation calculator at
http://www.westegg.com/inflation/ the $140 you paid 18 years ago would be
equivalent to $239.51 today, so the same unit costing $170 today probably
doesn't indicate any real difference in quality. They probably make/sell
more of them now than the did 18 years ago, lowering per unit costs, not to
mention the fact they're probably made overseas now all or in part, which
may not have been the case 18 years ago.
-I had them fix an opener. 9 months later the spring broke in the door. Completely unrelated
failures but they did not charge me any labor on the second repair because
they had fixed the opener for the same door 9 months earlier.
