Automatic up and over garage door openers. Reviews?

[pryantcc]

Has anyone added an automatic mechanism to their up and over garage door? I'm looking at getting one and would love to hear about your experiences/recommendations.

[suffolkpete]

I've bought a couple of Chamberlain ones from Screwfix, good value for money, easy to self install and I've had no trouble whatsoever with them. They are fitted to single Henderson Merlin doors. Bear in mind you will also need a canopy arm if your door is the sort that project beyond the front when open.

[rich.]

i bought a sectional garage door from a company called wayne dalton with the opener... i love it although wifey has now claimed my workshop to keep her car in....

[gazza82]

Went the sectional door route too .. mainly as the old double-width door had rusted away and kept snapping spring cables ..plus it has started to open at odd angle which meant SHMBO couldn't do it .. and then had a back-problem. £££s solves everything!

I'd have to look to remind myself what the make is .. but the advantage is it is 99% water-tight .. 1% when you trap a snail, woodlouse, twig, leaf, etc under the bottom edge seal and we have torrential rain like earlier this week ..

[Minxy]

I had a Horman door/motor on a double garage door when I had my garage built around ten years ago - still works perfect and never a problem.

[GHT]

Automatic garage doors are one of those completely unnecessary gizmos, like dishwashers. Never mind, what if it's raining. If it's raining you get your flunky to open the garage door. Was it John who said, he who dies with the most toys, wins. You can keep your gizmos, I have a mechanic fairy, an ironing fairy, a gardening fairy, a DIY fairy, (any self respecting gizmo collector knows that DIY means: "Don't Involve Yourself.") I also have a painter & decorator fairy. I might not have the most toys, but I have the cleanest hands, the healthiest back, (from not lifting knackered engines,) the most fragrant washing, and, and, and.

[rich.]

ght is jealous!!

[pryantcc]

Thanks for all the responses folks. At the risk of being ridiculed, and partly in response to GHT's post (no offence taken!), here's why I'm asking:
I'm aiming to achieve maximum engine longevity (aren't we all) as well as body preservation for my daily driver project. Body preservation dictates that I store it in my garage, that's simple enough and doesn't really require an automatic garage door.
In terms of engine longevity, particularly turbocharger preservation but other parts also, it's always preferable to have the engine oil nice and thin at it's operating temperature. This means warming it up in the morning before driving and letting the turbo cool before shutting it off at the end of a journey. I live in a hilly area so have a pretty steep climb to my house as well as some good up-hill action near the start of my commute. I have already bought a combined turbo timer and remote start device. The idea being that I can start the car from the comfort of my breakfast table and let it warm up before I venture out to press it into service. I was trying to figure out a way to extract the exhaust gasses from the garage and couldn't come up with anything that didn't involve me having to hook up some kind of flexible duct arrangement to the exhaust each time I parked up. So, thought about remotely opening the garage door when remotely starting her up!

[JPB]

Hmm, the best way to warm an engine is to set off driving, just don't spank it too hard before it's properly warmed through. pre-heaters that connect into the cooling hosework are a better idea, IMHO, as that way, you'll not attract the same risk of condensation forming inside the engine which, even if you run it up to the point when the fan kicks in, won't be evenly warmed as it would be by driving somewhere. I do agree that letting an engine run on for a few seconds after arriving is a harmless idea, but unnecessary too unless you've been thrashing the engine hard right up to switching it off, which is the only situation in which the risk of turbo bearing starvation becomes real. That level of risk is rarely present in Diesels.
I'd use a preheater simply to get some coolant up to temperature for the heater to work sooner, but running the engine with the car stationary will never get the engine to full operating temperature as the lack of airflow will see to it that the fan kicks in before the thermostat has opened in most cases.

@GHT: No, that was a Terry saying I think (but may well be wrong) and dishwashers are very, very useful as they poach salmon beautifully when they're not being used for cleaning cylinder heads and sundry other parts. I believe that they can also do the dishes but I have someone who does that manually and makes a very fine job of it. Sadly, I am that someone most of the time.

[TerryG]

I think you are worrying too much. I'm a gnats whisker off 200,000 miles with the factory engine and turbo charger (and every other major mechanical component). No warming the car up before driving off, no cooling it down before shutting off. As long as you let the turbo spool down (a couple of seconds) it will be fine.
If you want to get the most life out of your engine change the oil and filter at shorter intervals. I don't believe the 15k factory service interval so I do mine every 10 in that car.
If you REALLY need to pre-heat your engine, an in-sump oil heater and / or coolant pre-heater are probably a better bet. I did think about fitting either / both of those a few years ago when the temperature was REALLY low but instead I just fixed my heated seats and stopped worrying about it.

Remote garage door openers are handy to stop you getting wet and save time sitting on the drive / road depending where your garage is but I'm not sure I'd leave mine open with the car idling as it just invites people to be nosy.