My garage door seems to open slower with insulation?
Question:My new house's garage door is a plain metal door type without insulation. I got a belt drive half horsepower opener installed a few months ago, and it works great. The other day, I got some of that insulation foam panels installed into the door. It seems to go a little slower now with that foam. Is this bad for my opener? I have seen many people get this insulation before, so I figured it would not be a problem. It opens smoothly, just SEEMS to be a tad bit slower now.
Answers:
the door is heavier with the insulation installed
You got some foam in the roller bearings, Try a WD40 spray to clean them first, then spray inside and outside rollers and inside rail guides and drive chains with lithium grease. This grease will stay soft in cold weather and resist wear.
the weight is probably making it slower. is it causing a strain on the opener. thats what you have to determine. if not you should be fine.if yes you might want a 1 horse unit.
Added weight will slow the action. If the motor does not appear to be strain it should be ok.
When you added the insulation you incre4ased the weight of the door but you may also have caused interference with hinging if your foam is mounted too tightly. Check that first, then if that isn't a problem (you would see and hear the interference) then call the door installers to readjust the door balancing spring. That spring comes close to reflecting no load to your opener. The door moving slowly indicates one or the other increased the resistance which can damage the openner in time.
you have to add spring tension. if the spring is the overhead type you can add turns(get it done by someone who has experience very dangerous lots of stored energy), if the springs run along the upper return tracks you will need bigger ones contact door place or hardware store(easier to change do with door up and locked in place with vise-grips on track under bottom rollers). either way pull opener emergency release cord,door should operate easily and should almost stay wherever you leave it at. if not corrected you will dramatically decrease opener life.
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