I felt like doing some market research on what garage door opener parts fail and give people the most trouble. So I went right to the source. I went to the main garage door company in the city that actually installs and services them.
I went over to Pioneer Door here in town who is the dealer for Overhead door and asked the residential sales manager what is the most common problem that people generally call in for. I asked him this at nine o’clock in the morning and I could tell that he was not expecting this but I thought for a moment and said “people kicking or damaging the garage photo sensor.”
Apparently he gets calls all the time because someone’s garage door will not go up and they cannot figure out why. It just stopped working. So they schedule a service call to get it fixed. Well the service technician finds out that the photo sensor was damaged in some way. How does it happen? A person can accidentally kick it, hit it while taking out the garage, or bump into it with something including a vehicle. When that happens the garage door will not open, obviously.
An easy problem to fix. A lot of the time the sensor is just out of adjustment and you just have to realign it. Other times you are going to have a purchase a brand new part. In any case doing both of those things is cheaper than paying for a service call and buying a whole new garage door opener sensor. Where I live a service call is actually free but in many places it can be closer to $100.
While I was there I noticed a magazine called International Door Association. I had no idea that there was an association, and one that published a magazine, but there is. They give all sorts of good advice on their website. I did find out some very interesting from their website. Apparently the federal government is offering financial incentives to homeowners to buy qualifying insulated garage doors. Under the stimulus package signed by President Obama on Feb, 17, 2009, tax credits for energy-efficient home improvements have been extended and increased significantly. That means that adding a new garage door in 2009 or 2010 can save you money by helping to lower home energy consumption and costs, and it will help pay for itself this year through the tax credit incentive. Definitely something to check out!!
I got a subscription so I will keep you posted on any new events that are happening or any new information I find relating to maintaining, replacing, or purchasing garage door opener parts for your home or business.