I’m a sucker for horsepower.

And more is better.

Right?

Well…maybe for cars, but not for your Garage Door Opener.

If you’ve got your eye on a brand new Garage Door opener with a ton of horsepower, don;t expect it to open and close your garage door like it’s at a drag race.

There’s more to it than that.

So read on and find out why garage door opener horsepower isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Think of it like this…

Since we’re talking horsepower and…well…it’s for your garage, I’m going to stick with the car analogy.

Buying a garage door opener based on horsepower isn’t like buying a sports car. It’s more like buying a sport sedan.

Let me explain.

In a sports car (in general) a car with more horsepower is faster (i.e. better) than one with less horsepower. Don’t get me started on power to weight ratio and other critical factors of buying a sports car. Just run with the analogy, OK?

When you’re looking at a sports sedan, power isn’t the most important thing. You want all the bells and whistles. Comfort as well as speed.

You can get a Chevy SS or a BMW M2 for about the same price. The BMW has 50 less horses under the hood, but is quicker off the line and holds its value much better.

Whether you’re a Chevy-guy or a BMW fan, the point I’m trying to make is to use the horsepower as one factor to consider. Not the be-all-end-all.

Horsepower is a big selling point

The fact is that horsepower is a big selling point, and the garage door opener manufacturers know it.

It grabs our attention and makes us think it’s more important than it really is.

What do I mean by that?

We’re not going to be too impressed by a smartphone integration or extra safety features like automatic locking. I mean…they’re nice innovations, but they’re not going to get me to run out and buy a new garage door opener.

But if I suddenly see a new model with 1 1/4 HP when my old one has a measly 1/2 HP then I MUST HAVE IT!!!

Doesn’t really make sense, does it?

More horsepower = more features

Manufacturers know that we’ll buy more horsepower, but in order to really make a profit they’ll need to add some new features as well.

They’re usually things like extra remotes, smart-home integrations or safety features.

You know, the boring stuff that we really should be focusing on instead of HP.

So using horsepower as a guide, let’s look at what else is included in those models first. Then we’ll talk about how much horsepower you really need to lift your garage door.

What will garage door opener horsepower cost you?

1/3 HP ($?): When I was doing my research before buying a new garage door opener, I found a few articles that suggested a 1/3 HP as the entry level. There’s just one problem: Most major manufacturers stopped making a 1/3 Horsepower garage door opener. You may still be able to find old stock lying around, but I’d steer clear of these.

1/2 HP ($130-$190): This is the new entry level garage door opener. You won’t find too many bells and whistles. The major selling point here will be the number of remotes that they include. On some of the more expensive models you’ll also get an exterior keypad entry. If you’re looking at a garage door opener that’s pushing the $200 price mark, I’d move to the 3/4 HP models instead.

3/4 HP ($180-$250): Now you’ll start to see some of the cooler features like smart home integrations or smartphone apps. The more expensive models will include a battery backup or an LCD wall-console.

1.25 HP and up ($200+): This is the cream of the crop. Every opener I found with over 1 1/4 HP had an external keypad included, smartphone integration and most of them had a battery backup. You’ll also find some really cool innovations here like automatic locking as well.

How much garage door opener horsepower do you need?

How much horsepower you need depends on what kind of garage door you’re lifting.

Garage doors come in all shapes, sizes, materials and (most importantly) weight. The heavier the door, the more work the motor in your garage door opener will be doing.

More work, means more horsepower. (Insert Tim Allen grunt here)

Wooden garage doors or doors with windows or insulation will weigh more than your basic steel door.

As a general rule, a single-car steel garage door is about 8′ x 7′ and will weigh roughly 80-90 pounds. Although adding garage door insulation will push that to between 100-110 pounds on average. Changing to a wooden door or adding windows will increase the weight to upwards of 130 lbs.

Double garage doors are usually 16′ x 8′ and weigh in at between 150-210 pounds. Going with windows or a wooden garage door here and the total weight balloons up to almost 350 pounds.

Power isn’t everything

That makes it easy right? The more the door weighs, the more horsepower your garage door needs. Easy right?

Not so fast.

Horsepower isn’t everything.

Believe it or not, the garage door opener doesn’t do most of the work. The torsion spring does the heavy lifting – literally.

With a properly balanced garage door, the torsion spring and garage door opener work together to raise and lower the door easily. If the spring isn’t calibrated correctly (too tight\too loose\wrong size\etc.) then the entire system is going to suffer.

You’ll also want to keep your garage door properly clean and lubricated. For a quick guide, check out this article I wrote about how to spend five minutes, once a year to keep your garage door lubricated.

Another big factor to consider is how the opener actually pulls the garage door up and down. 

Chain drive and belt drive garage door openers are the most common – and least expensive. Chain drive garage door openers are usually less expensive than belt drive units, but they’re also much louder.

There are a couple of other options that are pretty innovative as well.

Sommer has a Direct Drive garage door opener that actually moves along the track while it’s working. Because the unit is moving and not the chain, there should be almost no noise. Its a little pricey so I’d like to see this one in person to get a better idea of how it sounds.

The one I’ve got my eyes on is the Liftmaster 8500W, which is a totally new idea for garage door openers. Instead of being on a track hanging over the center of your garage, it is mounted directly to the wall next to your door.  Just imagine what you can do with all of that extra space!

What horsepower garage door opener do i need?

I admit to looking at the horsepower and buying more than I should. But you don’t have to make the same mistake that I did.

If you have a single car, steel garage door you only need a 1/2 horsepower garage door opener. If you have an single insulated door, single wooden door or any material double garage door, you can get by with a 3/4 horsepower garage door opener. You only need to get more horsepower if your garage door is made of some crazy-heavy material that weighs more than 350 lbs. 

If that’s the case, please let me know all about it in the comment section below. Because…wow.

What’s next?

Most people, especially guys, put a lot of emphasis on horsepower. Too much in this case.

Hopefully this changes the way you’re looking at buying a garage door opener. I know it did for me.

Have you spent more on a garage door opener just because it had more horsepower? Let me know in the comments below. 

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