What turns a roller door into an electric roller door
An electric roller door is an ordinary roller door with a motor added. Steel-Line says its doors can be run by a motor or lifted by hand, with helical springs balancing the weight either way, so a door you lift today can usually take a motor later.
Steel-Line says its roller door openers fit most popular brands of roller door, with accessories to suit. Merlin says the opener on a roller door sits on one side near the opening, and Gliderol's Rollamatic GEN II is tucked inside the door roll. Which of those suits you comes down to the size of the door and the room around it.
Garage roller door motor sizes the makers give
| Door it suits | Worth knowing | |
|---|---|---|
| Gliderol Rollamatic GEN II | Residential roller doors up to 12 square metres | Tucked inside the roll |
| Gliderol Glidermatic Heavy Duty | Doors up to 12 square metres | Needs 120mm of side room |
| Gliderol Glidermatic Dual | Larger roller doors up to 16 square metres | Gliderol's opener for bigger doors |
| Steel-Line roller door opener | Single or double doors up to 16 square metres | F-linX Wi-Fi for phone control and checking the door's status |
Working out your door's size
Those limits are in square metres, so multiply the door's width by its height. A door 4 metres wide and 3 metres high is 12 square metres, right on the first limit. A double door can pass it easily, which is why the size is the first number to get right.
Other makers have their own ranges. Merlin's roller door openers are the SilentDrive Essential MR655MYQ, WeatherDrive MR555MYQ and SilentDrive Elite MR855MYQ, B&D sells Power Drive, and Automatic Technology calls its Easy Roller Opener (GDO-6 V4) its flagship rolling door opener. Ask the door specialist for that model's limit, because the figures belong to each maker.
Room beside the roll
A motor usually takes more side room than a door lifted by hand. Steel-Line's brochure gives 90mm by hand and 120mm with an opener for its "A" series doors, and 125mm by hand and 150mm with an opener for its larger "AA" series.
That matters where a brick wall, a post or a shelf sits close to the opening. If one side is tight, ask about an opener that sits in the roll.
Power for a roller door motor
A garage built for a hand-lifted door may have no power point near the top of the opening, and that is where a side-mounted motor sits. A new power point or a hard-wired opener is electrical work, and every state wants a licensed electrician for it. The form asks whether there is a power point near the ceiling, so have a look before you send the job.
Sheds and carports need one more question. B&D's Smart Pro manual, written for a sectional opener, says that motor must sit in a dry spot protected from weather. Ask the door specialist whether your model suits an open carport, and see the shed and carport roller door page for the door itself.
Check the door before a motor goes on
A motor will not hide a door in poor shape. Steel-Line says a roller door that fails to stay up, rolls up loosely, is hard to open or slams shut is out of balance. Tell the door specialist if yours does any of that.
Think about use as well. A door that moves at the press of a button tends to get used more, and B&D says its Roll-A-Doors are tested for 20,000 to 30,000 up-and-down cycles. It works out to more than 15 years at five opens and closes a day, by B&D's figures, so a busy household should expect to get there sooner.
Features to ask about
- Auto-reverse: Steel-Line says every opener it installs has an Auto Reverse System as standard.
- Safety beams: Steel-Line's Photo Eye is optional, and its auto-close timer only works with beams fitted.
- Phone control: B&D pairs its Smart Phone Control Kit with Roll-A-Pro and Power Drive openers, and Merlin says its myQ app needs Safety IR Beams installed.
- Battery backup: of Merlin's roller door openers, only the SilentDrive Elite MR855MYQ lists it as compatible. Steel-Line's wind rated package includes a battery backup unit.
- Key release: Steel-Line says this is especially useful when there is no other way into the garage.
- Remotes: Steel-Line's handset memory holds up to 15 codes, and one key ring remote can work up to three doors or gates.
A motor does not change the tension
The springs inside the drum still hold the door's balance. Steel-Line warns against tensioning a roller door yourself, at risk of serious injury or death, and says the job needs a professional who re-checks the balance afterwards. Do not loosen anything on the drum to help a motor along.
Once the door moves on its own
A door that needed two hands now moves when a remote is pressed, so the house rules change. Steel-Line's manual says to keep remotes out of reach of children and never stand, walk or drive under a moving door, and it calls playing 'beat the door' very dangerous. B&D says to teach children the risks and make sure the door is fully open before you drive in or out.
What you can do first, and what to leave
You can
- Measure the door's width and height
- Measure the space beside the roll on both sides
- Look for a power point near the top of the opening
- Note whether the door feels heavy or slams shut
Leave to a door specialist
- Fitting the motor and setting it up
- Spring tension and anything on the drum
- Bent guides or a damaged curtain
- A new power point or hard wiring, by a licensed electrician
What we would do
Before you settle on a motor, stand inside the garage and measure from the edge of the opening to the nearest wall or post on each side. Do it at the top, where the roll sits, as well as at floor level. One tight side can decide the motor for you, and it is much better to learn that from a tape measure than on the day.