An overview of some of the popular garage door openers
There are many different garage door openers available on the market these days. You really need to do some research first before you buy one to see exactly what you need for the type of garage door you have, and how much you are willing to spend to get one. Without careful research you could easily end up wasting your money by buying a garage door opener that just isn’t right for the door you have.
Garage door openers are certainly not a new concept. In fact they were first introduced in 1926 in Indiana, although they never really became popular until after World
War 2, when the Chicago based Era Meter company made the first electric garage door openers that had a keypad positioned at the end of the driveway. Back then the design of these garage door openers was very simplistic. The actual mechanics of the door opener did not provide the lift for the door. This was done by counterbalance springs that were attached to the door via cables. The tension of the springs then lifts the door when it is released. The electrics were used to open a track that will allow the door to maneuver by the counterbalance springs.
Today you can get garage door openers that use three different sorts of driver to operate them. The chain drive openers are the oldest, but still prove to be very popular and they still work very well and you can get them at a very reasonable price. The main problem, or complaint with the chain driven openers is the noise they create.
Screw drive garage door openers are a little more expensive than the chain drive ones, but they are quieter and they are very simple to install so they are favorites amongst the do-it-yourselfers’. They require very little maintenance as they have very few moving parts to them so they don’t go wrong very often.
The belt drive openers are basically designed in a very similar way to the chain driven ones, just that they use a belt instead of chains. This cuts out most of the noise, but they are more expensive than the other types of garage door openers.
Popular companies that make garage door openers
There are many companies that make garage door openers. Some are very established and have been in the business a long time. Others are more recent companies, but some of the newer kids on the block are still doing very well in the competitive market. Here I will list some of the more popular companies that make garage door openers, and I will have more details about each company at different locations on this website.
Chamberlain: Chamberlain has been manufacturing garage door openers and access control products since 1954. Part of the Chamberlain Group Inc (which itself is a subsidiary of the Duchossois Group), this company has established itself as one of the leaders and is one of the largest manufacturers of garage door openers in the world. Their global reach has been achieved through careful management and dedicated customer service. Liftmaster is the company’s line of garage door openers that are installed by professional installers.
Genie: The Genie company is probably the biggest competition to Chamberlain when it comes to garage door openers. Genie is a subsidiary of the Overhead Door Corporation and was founded in 1923. They are based in Ohio and serve the US and Canadian market. Their garage door openers are high tech and have an extremely good reputation for quality and reliability. Genie also offers dealer installed products as well as do-it-yourself products.
Linear: Linear was founded in 1961 by Ted Farrell and originally its main business was selling and installing electric garage door openers. But they did expand into an electronics manufacturing company a little later and designed and made control systems in house. They still have quite a range of garage door openers, although these are far from being their main selling product.
Wayne Dalton: Wayne Dalton also offer a couple of different types of garage door openers. They have the wall mounted and ceiling mounted door openers. They both use their Z-Wave® technology in their remotes. Their garage door openers can be fully integrated with lights in the garage, security lights, pathway lights, thermostat controls and much more. The Z-Wave® technology operates them all from the one remote control unit. These are the more popular companies that both manufacturer and install different types of garage door openers. As mentioned earlier, I will have more detail about each of these companies at different locations on this site.