Here’s something I bet you never even thought about when you were shopping around for your new home: what kind of garage door opener should I get? If you’re coming to your home from an apartment or a condo, the thought of having to purchase or replace a garage door opener has probably never entered your mind. After all, it was never your responsibility.

Well, it sure is now. Garage door openers, while fairly uncommon in terms of items that need maintenance or repair, are still mechanical and hence will break eventually.

Generally, there are really only three reasons why someone would ever replace their garage door opener:

1. The one they have has broken – The most obvious reason is needing to replace a broken or damaged unit. Since a garage door is a pain in the butt to have to open manually, having your opener break usually prompts an immediate response (a trip to the hardware store).
2. The opener they have is very slow – No one enjoys waiting, especially on those cold winter nights when they are coming home from work. If your garage door opener is slow, your only real option is to replace with one that is faster.
3. The opener they have is noisy – While garage doors have always had a mechanical sound when being opened, sometimes too much noise is cause for annoyance. Reduce the damage by purchasing a quieter motor and supporting hardware.

We purchased the Chamberlain WD822KD as a solution to problem number three- our garage door sounded like a tanker truck being dragged across a concrete wall every time that we opened it. At first it didn’t bother us because the novelty of buying a new home was still there, but after a while it started to wear on our nerves.

Features

What drew us to these particular motor was that it is supposed to be much quieter than a traditional motor. Other notable features include:

• 1/2hp motor
• Steel rail system
• Two included remotes to open doors and turn on lights
• “Belt drive” – supposed to be quieter than a chain or screw system
• Lifetime warranty on the motor and drive belt (important)

Installation

I took down the old unit with a help of a friend of mine (and a couple beers) and had everything off in about half an hour. Then, following the instructions included with the Chamberlain, we had everything up and running in about an hour. Everything fit exactly as it was supposed to, and I didn’t experience any issues or situations that weren’t covered by the manual.

I spent a bit more time on the remotes and the main control panel, but once that was in I was pretty much finished. The entire project took me about three hours from start to finish, and by no means am I a contractor.

How does it work?

Now, on to the good stuff- does it work like it’s supposed to? Well, my wife and I were very eager to see how it performed. She did the honors by pressing the open button, and our garage door began to open. No loud noises, no clunking, no errant sound effects or horrific sounds of things scraping. Just the sound of the rollers moving on the track and the “hum” of the motor.

Very, very quit. I was impressed.

Conclusion

This is a great motor. The door takes a few seconds to open, but boy is it ever quiet. For the price I don’t think there’s a better option out there if noise is an issue for you.

Pros:

• Quiet.
• Easy to install.
• Looks pretty good.
• Two remotes that are easy to program.

Cons:

• Not the least expensive by any means.
• Takes a few seconds to open the door.

Overall: A great piece of machinery- highly recommended!