New Opener Installation

Picking the Right Machine, Then Fitting It Properly

When repair no longer makes sense, the next decision is drive type. There are three real choices and the garage usually picks for you.

Chain Drive

A steel chain on a rail, the cheapest and the most durable of the three. It is also the loudest, and it transmits that noise into the structure it is bolted to.

Perfectly sensible on a detached garage, or on an attached garage with nothing but a hallway above it. A poor choice under a bedroom.

Belt Drive

A steel reinforced rubber belt in place of the chain. Same mechanism, considerably quieter, and it costs a little more. Choose it whenever there is living space over or beside the garage, which in the newer parts of Long Beach is common.

Belts do not stretch the way people expect. A good belt drive outlasts most of the boards it is attached to.

Wall Mount

Also called a jackshaft. The motor bolts to the wall beside the torsion shaft and turns the shaft directly, so there is no rail and no motor head hanging over the car.

It is the most expensive option and it earns that in three situations: a garage with almost no headroom, a high lift or cathedral ceiling door where a rail cannot run, and a garage where the ceiling is racked out for storage. It also puts the loudest part of the mechanism at the wall rather than over the sleeping side of the house.

Wall mounts need a solid torsion shaft setup and adequate side room. Not every door can take one, and we will tell you before you commit.

Battery Backup Is Required Here

California SB-969 has required a battery backup on every residential garage door opener sold or installed in this state since July 2019. The reason was straightforward. During evacuations, people were trapped by powered doors they could not open when the grid went down.

So a compliant new opener runs a set number of cycles on its own battery. Batteries are consumable and typically want replacing every few years. We show you where it sits and how to know when it is done.

Sizing to the Door

Horsepower is only part of it. Door weight, height, insulation and whether the door is a single or a double all count. A light duty unit under a heavy insulated double is a machine working at its limit from day one.

Standard height doors take a standard rail. Anything above seven feet needs an extension kit, and there are doors where the honest answer is a wall mount instead.

What the Install Includes

1. Balance the existing door, or report what it needs before we proceed.
2. Remove the old unit and any rail brackets that are staying.
3. Mount the new head to solid structure, with proper hanging iron rather than perforated strap.
4. Fit the new rail, trolley and arm, and set travel and force limits.
5. Fit new photo eyes to UL 325 height, wired and stapled clear of the track.
6. Test contact reversal, obstruction reversal and the battery backup on battery.
7. Program remotes, keypad and the wall control, then hand over the release cord procedure.

Keep the Old Remotes in Mind

If you have four remotes and a keypad in daily use, tell us. Rolling code compatibility varies between generations and it is far cheaper to choose a compatible unit than to buy a handset for every car afterwards.

Call Andrewhmoeller at (562) 907-5017.