If you have an older garage door opener that is still going strong, you may be hesitant to replace it. However, if the opener is more than 15 years old, there are some pretty compelling reasons to retire the old opener and install a modern new garage door opener.
Safety is one of the main reasons to consider replacing an old garage door opener. Garage door openers sold in the U.S. prior to 1993 were not required to have safety sensors to detect obstructions in the path of the door. These devices are designed to stop or reverse the door when a child or other object is detected.
Garage doors are very heavy and can easily crush a child causing serious injuries or death. If your garage door opener is not equipped with these safety sensors, replacing the opener with a newer model will significantly reduce the risk of injury from the garage door.
In addition, new garage door openers are more secure than older models. Remote opener controls used to use fixed frequencies for activating the door. It is not difficult for criminals to trick the system and activate your garage door allowing them entry to your garage and possibly your home. New remote control systems are far more secure than these older systems and criminals can no longer break the codes.
New garage door openers offer other security features not found on older models such as fingerprint detection devices on exterior keypads that eliminate the need to remember the keypad code and the risk of the code falling into the wrong hands. They also have battery backup so that the opener will operate even during power outages.
