Chain-driven garage door openers are a common sight in most garages. While these units are designed with long service lives in mind, proper maintenance and upkeep remains the major key in helping one last for years on end. The following offers several tips that can help you keep your garage door opener in great shape in the years to come.
Tighten Your Hardware and Minimize Vibrations
One of the drawbacks of using a chain-driven garage door opener is the vibration it often generates during operation. Given enough time and usage, these vibrations can cause various nuts and bolts holding the garage door opener in place to work themselves loose. Preventing this from happening requires a two-pronged approach:
These steps will not only prevent your garage door opener's mounting hardware from coming undone during operation, but they'll also help suppress much of the noise generated through hardware vibrations.
Don't Cut Your Chain Too Much Slack
Chain stretch is another common issue that occurs with chain-driven garage door openers, but the chain itself doesn't actually "stretch." What usually happens is that the hinge pins and sleeves holding the chain together wear down, causing the chain to become "slack" as tension decreases due to the wear. This usually occurs over the course of several years and you might not notice it happening until you discover one day that the garage door isn't opening up all the way. Slack caused by excess wear can also cause your garage door to close harder than usual.
Taking the slack out of your garage door opener's chain drive is usually a matter of locating the threaded shaft on the carriage assembly. Start by loosening the inner nut and then tighten the outer nut until the chain is taut. However, you don't want to overtighten the chain, as that could cause the chain rollers to wear out prematurely.
Pay Attention to the Garage Door Opener Light
From a maintenance standpoint, the garage door light is one of most commonly ignored parts of your chain-driven garage door opener. Over time, dirt and debris can build up on the cover, slowly cutting the amount of light that comes through the cover. It's always a good idea to not only remove and clean the cover, but also clean the area around the light bulb while the cover is off.
In addition, you should also make it a habit of replacing the light bulb on a yearly basis, unless you're using a LED light as an energy-efficient replacement. If that's the case, then you should follow your LED light manufacturer's recommendations in regards to longevity and replacement.
Never Forget to Lubricate
Lubrication is one of the most important maintenance tasks for a chain-driven garage door opener, but it's also one that's easily ignored or simply put off for various reasons. A lack of lubrication can lead to metal-on-metal contact, increased friction and resulting premature wear and tear.
Using ordinary grease and spray lubricants can draw dirt and grime into the chain, resulting in premature wear and tear over time. Instead, it's best to use a WD-40 or another type of light penetrating oil. Make sure to wipe up any excess oil with a clean cloth.
For more ideas on your garage door opener visit a site like http://raynordoor.com/ and/or talk to a professional.
Share13 February 2017
How secure your garage door is depends on several elements. How old is the garage door? How well is it maintained? Are there broken windows? Do you have a lock on the door? These are just a few things to check for to find out just how secure your garage door is. Chances are, the items that you store in your garage are of great value, and if they are stolen, they could be hard to replace. This blog is all about increasing garage security. You will learn when to replace the garage door, find out about the different kinds of locks and tips for making the garage as secure as it possibly can be.