November 2005

Garage Door Blues

Tired of replacing garage door openers?

Up the driveway and into the garage. But this time the remote doesn't raise the door.

The problem isn't the remote. A nearby lightning strike has taken out the garage door opener–again. And you're getting tired of $250 service calls.

“Garage door protection is not necessary for everyone,” says Dan Guy, WEMC power quality expert. “But if you've had a garage door damaged at least once by lightning, it's worth considering.”

Walton EMC can help you put an end to garage door blues with our Real Protection program. Our surge suppression experts can protect your garage door opener from lightning and surge damage with our four-step process.

First, we make sure your home is properly grounded. Good grounding is important because it gives the excess current from a lightning strike or surge a place to go.

“Not having a good ground on your home is like having a sink with no drain,” says Guy. “In a sink with no drain, the water spills over onto the floor and cabinets.   In your electrical system, the surge spills over into wiring, electronics and appliances–not good.”

Next, technicians install a large appliance motor protector at your meter. This device protects all motors in your home, including the garage door motor, against surges. If a surge gets through anyway, don't worry.   Real Protection will repair or replace the damaged equipment.

The opener motor is protected, but we're not through yet. Some of the main components damaged in garage door systems are electronics and circuit boards. A high-quality Tripp Lite plug-in protector installed at the opener's electric outlet prevents surges from coming through the power source.

A huge advance in garage door safety came with the advent of photocell sensors. These sensors mount near the ground and prevent the door from closing if something is in the way, like a pet or small child.

“Never, ever disable these sensors,” says Guy. “They prevent small children from being injured or killed by a heavy garage door.”

Unfortunately, these sensors and their associated wiring provide another path for surges to zap door opener circuit boards. For the final line of defense, we install hard-wired hybrid protectors at the circuit boards inside the opener. These compact devices also stop surges originating in wiring to the push button inside the garage and additional accessories, like outdoor keypads.

The photocells and keypads themselves are at the end of the wire and outside the barrier provided by the hybrid protector, so they can't be covered by the Real Protection guarantee. A typical installation takes about an hour and costs around $150.

“This system works,” says Guy. “In eight years, we've only replaced one opener. Not too bad when you consider the number of garage doors and lightning strikes on our system.”

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