El Dorado Hills Garage Door Repair

Tag: Battery backup

  • Add Garage Door Opener Repair to Your Wildfire Prep Checklist

    It’s more important than ever to prepare your household for natural disasters, and in California, wildfires are the most threatening. Updating the type of garage door and garage door opener you have in your home should be added to your checklist. Battery-powered garage door openers are more reliable than electric in this case, since the latter can be struck useless when wildfires hit and the power goes out. Tragically, there have been numerous elderly folks falling victim to disabled garage-door entrapment, unable to open their garage door manually and escape the dire emergency.

    Plan for Battery-Backup Upgrade When Replacing or Repairing Your Garage Door

    Making the switch to a garage door opener with battery backup is not merely a precaution—it’s a necessity. As of July 2019, California law mandates that all newly installed or replaced garage door openers must include a battery backup, with non-compliance resulting in a $1000 penalty. Many homeowners were put in a tight spot by the higher cost associated with battery-powered openers. Battery powered backup systems can run around $500 compared to around $200 for electric models. More affordable battery backup kits are now available, making this vital upgrade more accessible.

    This law underscores the importance of ensuring that your garage door opener remains operational during power outages, which are common during wildfire events. The investment in a battery-backup system is a small price to pay when considering the safety and peace of mind it provides. In the event of a power outage, a battery-backed garage door opener will allow you to safely exit your home, potentially saving lives during emergencies.

    Garage Door Battery-Powered Openers Are for More than Wildfires

    Beyond wildfires, battery-powered garage door openers also offer reliability during other natural disasters, such as floods and hurricanes. These openers ensure that you are not trapped in your home when access to power is disrupted. The ability to quickly and safely evacuate can make a significant difference during any emergency.

    It’s Always Worth It to Invest in Safety 

    While the initial cost of transitioning to a battery-powered garage door opener may seem steep, it’s a worthwhile investment. More budget-friendly battery backup kits have become available, easing the financial burden on homeowners. Whether you are replacing or repairing your garage door for unrelated reasons, incorporating a battery backup is a prudent step. The most recent wildfires have ravaged a record-setting number of acres. This emphasizes the critical need for reliable emergency preparedness measures. You home security doesn’t stop with cameras; you need to be able to exit your home with ease. Garage door battery backup systems are for this specific purpose.

    Ultimately, the peace of mind that comes with knowing your garage door opener will function in an emergency is invaluable. Many homeowners agree that the added cost is justified, given the life-saving potential of these systems. Ensuring that your home is equipped with a battery-powered garage door opener is a responsible and necessary measure to protect your family and property from the unpredictable nature of natural disasters.

  • Add Garage Door Opener Repair to Your Wildfire Prep Checklist

    It’s more important than ever to prepare your household for natural disasters, and in California, wildfires are the most threatening. Updating the type of garage door and garage door opener you have in your home should be added to your checklist. Battery-powered garage door openers are more reliable than electric in this case, since the latter can be struck useless when wildfires hit and the power goes out. Tragically, there have been numerous elderly folks falling victim to disabled garage-door entrapment, unable to open their garage door manually and escape the dire emergency.

    Plan for battery-backup upgrade when replacing or repairing garage door

    More than just a precaution, making the battery-backup adjustment is now necessary to abide by a California law (established July 2019) carrying a $1000 penalty. Initially, homeowners were disappointed to discover that transitioning from electric to battery-powered openers can come at a cost, with the battery-powered price ringing in at $500, as opposed to the electric option running around $200. But more affordable battery backup kits are now available. Large or small, this is an expense to be prepared for if you are repairing or replacing your garage door for an unrelated reason. Money well spent in a matter of life and death, especially considering the most recent wildfires (late summer of 2020) have ravaged a record-setting number of acres. Peace of mind is worth the price, many homeowners agree, especially since battery-powered openers are not only more reliable in case of fire, but also amidst floods and hurricanes.

  • A Guide to Choosing the Best Garage Door Opener Installation

    Garage door openers make life more convenient, but keep in mind they are not all alike. There is a vast discrepancy when it comes to options, convenience, and price for many of the new garage door openers on the market today. Here is a brief guide on how to choose the perfect garage door opener for your garage.

    Drive Types

    The first thing you should do is decide on which drive type you want. Drive is the mechanism used to open the door. Your choices are:

    • Chain driven garage door opener
    • Belt driven garage door opener
    • Screw Drive garage door opener

    Chain driven garage door openers are the cheapest but are also the loudest — not the best choice if your garage is near a bedroom or a living room. Belt driven garage door openers tend to be the most popular because they are much quieter and won’t wake up the neighbors. Screw-driven garage door openers use a threaded metal rod which rotates on the spite to lift the door. These require more maintenance and tend to be loud.

    Smart Garage Door Opener

    If you are installing a new garage door opener, you really should take this as an opportunity to step into the 21st century with a smart garage door opener. This way, you can access your garage door remotely from your phone or computer. It gives you complete control. If you should happen to forget to close the garage door, you’ll get an alert and can shut the door even sitting in bumper to bumper traffic. It also makes package theft a thing of the past. Simply have the delivery driver contact you when the package arrives. You can open the door remotely and give them access to your garage.

    Battery Backup

    Any opener installed in California after 2019, including El Dorado Hills, is required by law to have battery backup. This was inspired by the wildfires in California a few years ago when the neighbors of a California politician had trouble evacuating their home due to a power outage. While this requirement is designed to keep people safe, it’s really a good idea regardless of the law or any emergency. This way, you’ll always have access to the convenience of your garage door, even during a blackout.

    You can install battery backup to any existing garage door opener. We’d be happy to come out and help!

  • Is Your Garage Door Opener Installed with Battery Backup?

    Is Your Garage Door Opener Installed with Battery Backup?

    Is Your Garage Door Opener Installed with Battery Backup

    It’s official. Come this July, all newly installed garage door openers in El Dorado Hills, Sacramento — in fact throughout the state of California — will require battery backup.

    But the truth is it doesn’t matter if your garage door opener is installed this year or 20 years ago — battery backup is still a good idea. In fact, it might even save your family’s life.

    The New Reality of Climate Change

    Wildfires are what spurred the bill to become law — a new climate change reality in California that aren’t going away anytime soon. If Malibu can be devastated by a fire, so can El Dorado Hills. And when the evacuation order comes, you need to be able to open that garage door — even if there’s a power outage, as there typically is in a wildfire.

    The bill was launched by a California register whose neighbors had difficulty evacuating during a wildfire because of garage doors that had lost power.

    The Sacramento Bee reports:

    “At least five died during the Northern California 2017 wildfires because they were unable to get their garage door to open after they lost electrical power, according to the supporting language of Senate Bill 969, which California Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law Friday in an effort to prevent any more such deaths from happening.

    Under the new law, automatic garage doors sold in California after July 1, 2019, must include a backup battery that can provide power in the event of a power outage. The bill also provides for a civil penalty of $1,000 for ‘every offending garage door opener,’ according to a legislative analysis of the bill.”

    Avoid Tragedy — Be Safe

    The language of the bill documents numerous tragedies from people who couldn’t escape. An analysis “recounted stories of neighbors stopping to help raise garage doors, elderly people who didn’t have the strength to manually open their garage door and a mother who struggled to get her disabled son into a car because their custom van was in the garage they couldn’t open.”

    As garage door professionals, we’d like to reiterate the importance of battery backup is not just about following the law. It’s about your family’s safety. Even outside of a wildfire scenario, power outages can be common. It’s nice and convenient to be able to access your door no matter what — even if your late to work and it’s raining cats and dogs in the middle of February.