What are the best garage door opener??
Not able to lift much for about three more months.
It was bad to not drive for two months.

Thanks,
Dewey

mine is a craftsman.

I just replaced my old craftsman (22 yrs old) with a new craftsman. It was a single motor model that raised two 9 ft doors. Pretty hard to beat that.

Thanks,sound like a winner.
Will order two today.

Thanks,
Dewey

I use Liftmaster openers.
Our local shop sells them and u buy the motor seperate from track/belt.
They stock 6-10' tracks and since I have 8' doors on all my garages they work good.
The older one is close to 15yo.
My b-i-l has one on his 14'X24' overhead door.

Ditto on the Lift Masters....Have 2 and work flawlessly...Also very easy to program remotes or Homelink or that sort of thing...

2 chamberalins here. I like em.

Liftmaster on my 12 x 14 roll up, no problems in 3+ years..;)

Liftmaster estate series with a DC motor and battery backup. Even if you don't get the battery unit, they are very nice units.

Liftmasters seems to be quite good for me too.

Thanks,
Dennis

Liftmaster, Craftsman and about 30 others all made by Chamberlain and private labeled.

Wayne Dalton makes a unit that works like a commercial unit in that it attaches to the torsion bar. They mount up against the header over the door, so no track and chain/belt. At first they only worked with Wayne Dalton doors, but I believe they now have a retrofit unit that will work on anything with a torsion bar.

Can't speak to their reliability or sound level, but its a neat design.

I have a Craftsman on a 10' roll up door. The spring on the door broke
so the Craftsman opener wasn't getting any help from the spring.
I don't know how long the spring was broke before I discovered it, but I kept using it for 10 days before I had it fixed. When I pulled the disconnect rope on the opener I could not lift/open the door by hand.
That had to put a lot of strain on the opener and it didn't break, still works fine. If I need another one it will be a Craftsman.

Two Chamberlain's on our garage doors. They worked hard for about 20 years and then the motor went out on one and the plastic worm gear broke on the other. Our garage doors are HEAVY too. Probably a good 2 1/4 inches thick and solid wood. Even with the tightly wound torsion springs, I still probably have to lift them with about 50 pounds of force if I disconnect them and open them manually.

---ben

Liftmaster, Craftsman and about 30 others all made by Chamberlain and private labeled.

yip. they are like batteries.... all different labels wrapped around the same thing.

decide how much HP you want, and shop for them by price. if you don't already have a code pad outside your garage, that is a nice feature and does not require any wiring. it is remote and just screws into the wall.

decide how much HP you want, and shop for them by price. if you don't already have a code pad outside your garage, that is a nice feature and does not require any wiring. it is remote and just screws into the wall.

Absolutly, I couldn't agree more, that has saved my butt a couple of times....:cool:

Outside codepads are awesome. I had a craftsman one on my old house. For the new house, I bought one from walmart that was universal for all garage door openers and it controls two doors with one control. Cheap ~$15 awesome gadget.

I run a garage door business and install Liftmaster units primarily. (again made by chaimberlain) We have always had great luck with the 2280/3280 belt drive unit here:

http://www.liftmaster.com/cw/product_model/0,4027,uid-inJnbGJgZWpnYg==_2027-id-29,00.html

In the last few years Ive made 1 warrenty repair on this unit. I would recommend it to anyone and have one on my house. its Super quiet and Super low maintenance. (screw drives need to be greased very often and chains need to be tightened)
And it also has a lifetime warrenty.

I have also installed alot of the 2500/3500 units here:

http://www.liftmaster.com/cw/product_model/0,4027,uid-inJnbGJgZWpnYg==_2027-id-8,00.html

However I have done ALOT of warrenty work on them. Its a good product...its just too new to be reliable.

Thats just my $.02

I'll second the Wayne Dalton door and opener. I thinks it's called the I-drive. I have a lot of headroom over my door. The I-drive allows me to use the space over the door to hang stuff from the ceiling. The track from the old opener got in the way before.

It has a wireless opener switch, wireless keypad for outside and tiny key fobs for the car. There is no stupid eye thing to install either. If something blocks the door, the opener senses when there is too much pressure and reverses. Clean installation without a mess of low voltage wires to run.

The instructions for installation were absolutely the WORST instructions I've ever come across. It was almost impossible to follow them and of course I put the door in on a Sunday so no customer service to call. It's almost like they don't want homeowners to put these in, professional installers only. Great door and opener though.

So just how much horse power do I need? I have a 12x12 door. It's pretty heavy, but teh springs make it fairly easy to open. if I call up a speacialty shop here in town they tell me I have to have a unit retailing for around $5-600. However, it seems some of you are running the little Craftsman with big doors. Please, someone who knows, tell me what I need.
Thanks,
jc

The springs carry the weight of the door. All the opener does is get it moving just like if you lift it by hand. No opener is capable of lifting the entire weight of the door w/o damage. I always use the 1/2hp ones b/c they are common and dont cost much more than a 1/3hp unit. a 3/4hp unit will be fine as well but It wont be worth a huge jump in price (if there is one I have no idea)

In summary any of the openers will work. A 1/2 ton truck with a 350 will pull 10k lbs and so will a 3500 duelly with a D-Max. however...The D-max will not have to work as hard and will last longer pulling that weight. the same applies to a garage door opener.

Again being in the garage door opener business i would recomend this model:

http://www.liftmaster.com/cw/product_model/0,4027,uid-inJnbGJgZWpnYg==_2027-id-29,00.html

Or an equivilent Craftsman model (same manufacturer)

Good luck!!

Thank you!

I just read through the manual. It shows 8 ft and 10 ft rails but I have a 12 ft door. Suggestions?

Really???? I am almost positive that they have 12' rails I will call my supplier and ask them about that tomarrow (they are already closed)

Sorry about that:duh:

Thanks again.

What are the best garage door opener??
Not able to lift much for about three more months.
It was bad to not drive for two months.

Thanks,
Dewey

I love my liftmaster, but I would definitely go with a belt drive system, they are much quieter and well worth the extra money.

just got a new one yesterday, craftsman 3/4 hp. I like it

What size door are you using it on?

Hey Brisk, What type of doors do you install? I've been looking for a new one and have had a an estimate for a Marathon Door. Do you know anything about these doors? Thanks for any info.

What size door are you using it on?

just a 9' x 7'. it was on sale for the same price as a 1/2 hp

Just had a Martin garage door instaled.Asked for a IDRIVE motor, the installer said will not install them, because to many are returned.
Den.