garage door opener

[gear jammer]

What's the consensus. Chain drive or belt drive?

[Allen]

My Genie screw drive has been working for over 20 years now. Might want to give one a look see.

Al

[EatenByLimestone]

Belts are much quieter. Genie warranties them for 15 years. They don’t plan on them going bad. There’s a steel mesh in them. Think of them as a toothed v belt from a car.

[Snipe Hunter]

I'd buy a belt just because they're quiet and don't jerk around the door making even more noise.

Genie 500 (chain) is cheap and a good opener. Not overly quiet but a good opener. Under $200

Chamberlain makes a belt drive for about $290 that's ultra quiet, and has some techie features and a couple belt drives without the techie features for less.

The real old ones that I see still plugging away are Chamberlain and Craftsman (which are also Chamberlain). So old they have no safety features like the infrared and pressure sensitive reverses.

I see a lot of LiftMaster openers, they are made by Chamberlain. Also nice openers. At one point, Chamberlain were industrial and LiftMaster were residential. Both are residential now so maybe Depot sells LiftMaster and up the street Lowes, is selling Chamberlain.

The new Craftsman are made by Black and Decker. Talk about cheesy openers

[fredhargis]

I've switched all my openers over to the Chamberlain belt units. Our last house had 2 that I switched out, this one has 3 and I switched those out. I put one in the shop building and it's also Chamberlain belt. The belt drives are quieter, no lubing the chain or screw, and no dripping of that lube onto anything below.

[Cabinet Monkey]

The answer is  " none of the above "



A jackshaft drive is the best, though it will be more expensive.  Quietest, most compact and inconspicous, and easily secured w/secondary lock.


https://www.liftmaster.com/dc-battery-ba.../p/8500WMC

[EatenByLimestone]

Jackshaft openers can’t be installed on doors without a jackshaft.

[JosephP]

The answer is  " none of the above "



A jackshaft drive is the best, though it will be more expensive.  Quietest, most compact and inconspicous, and easily secured w/secondary lock.


https://www.liftmaster.com/dc-battery-ba.../p/8500WMC

You beat me to it.

And it sure seems like most doors I've seen installed in the last couple of decades do have a torsion spring instead of side springs.

[K. L. McReynolds]

I've had all three. Chain, belt, shaft.

Seems to me that spring condition is more important, other than the noise situation. As well as the door weight. My current garage door is a wooden door (1&1/2 car wide--circa 1965). It has torsion springs. There was a shaft drive in place(maybe 10+ years) old when I bought the house. It had failed and was disconnected. I replaced it with a chain drive(Chamberlain, I think). I noticed the door was fairly difficult to raise manually, but chalked that up to door construction.






When the chain drive failed several years later, I tried a belt drive, mainly because of the small problems with the chain drive getting out of time. When a spring failed(broke), I decided, although I know the installation/tensioning procedure, to have  pro do the work.

There are two springs, of unequal lengths. He told me why, but I disremember now). He also said the heavier doors wear those spring faster(makes sense).

[rudedan60]

I have a Geni Screw Drive I put in 11/98. I have been through 2 motors during that time which the company replaced under the lifetime warranty. The screw drive is noisy, but it keeps going. One motor was the Capacitor for starting it.  I have replaced 3 torsion springs during that time as well.