Screw drive garage door openers have a number of advantages over cheaper, chain drive door openers, and one of the most important benefits is quieter operation. Chain drive garage door openers can make an awful lot of noise and vibration when they operate, but screw drives are much quieter, letting you use your automatic garage door in the early hours without disturbing the neighbours.
If your screw drive garage door opener is making unusually loud noises while it opens or closes your garage door, the excess noise may be a symptom of underlying problems. Here are the most common causes of noisy screw drive garage door openers, along with ways these problems can be rectified:
Loose Mounting
If your screw drive garage door opener is attached to the wall or ceiling of your garage, the mounting that holds it in place may have loosened over time. This can cause the mounting and the opener itself to vibrate excessively, causing a loud rattling noise.
If you are handy with a wrench, you can tighten any loose bolts or screws holding the mounting in place yourself. Make sure the fasteners attaching the opener to the mounting are also tight. If you are unfamiliar with the type of mounting used on your opener, or simply aren't comfortable trying to fix the problem yourself, call in an automatic garage door repair service to fix or replace the mounting for you.
Improper Lubrication
Screw drive garage door openers use a rotating, threaded metal rod to open and close the attached door, and these rods are subjected to a lot of friction while operating. If the opener makes a high-pitched squealing sound when functioning, it is possible that the opener's drive rod is not properly lubricated.
Improper rob lubrication can also cause other, more serious issues, and may strip the threading from the rod. If you have a suitable lubricant to hand (white lithium grease is best), passing a rag soaked in lubricant along the length of the rod should provide ample lubrication. Make sure that the opener is completely disconnected from its power source before attempting this, or have the rod lubricated professionally.
Motor Burnout
If your screw drive garage door opener makes a loud humming or buzzing noise when activated, it should be deactivated as soon as possible. This noise often signifies that the opener's electric motor is badly worn and starting to burn out. Continuing to operate a garage door opener in this condition can lead to overheating or catastrophic motor failure, which can leave the opener irreparably damaged.
In these situations, you should call in a garage door motor repair specialist to inspect the opener's motor. It may be possible to repair the damaged motor, but in most cases it will need to be replaced entirely. Fortunately, this is still cheaper than purchasing and installing an entirely new garage door opener.
Share14 April 2022
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