A garage door opener that works well for years is a wonderful appliance to find. Yet even if it works well, the opener's technology can become a bit out of date. While the opener itself might not necessarily be obsolete, the energy consumption of newer openers and insulation in newer doors will be a big improvement. And it's not just the power needed to pull the door open that can shrink. You can gain a few advantages regarding energy consumption and loss when you upgrade to a new opener and door.

Better Condition and Less Drag

Your old opener may have been in good working condition, but the parts still would be getting older and possibly starting to not work as efficiently. Plus, the natural settling of the house can shift the opener and door by just-so-much, throwing the track and door out of alignment by just a little bit. Not enough to create problems, but just enough to result in more drag and power usage on the opener in order to get the garage door open.

Newer Doors and Better Insulation

If you upgrade the door along with the opener, you can get better insulation that reduces thermal transfer (i.e., energy loss that makes your heater or air conditioner work harder -- even if the garage isn't heated, the heat from your home in winter, for example, can seep into the garage and then outside; better insulation in the garage door helps hold that heat in). Older doors may have thinner insulation, and they likely have microscopic cracks that are letting air flow in and out.

Standby Power Draws and Energy Efficiency

Garage door openers have to be on all the time. Yes, you can manually turn them off, but if you forget to turn them on again, that's a major annoyance to anyone trying to park in the garage. So you need to be sure that the standby power draw or phantom load is very low. Here's where you have to do your research, though -- openers all have different standby draws. Get one that has the lowest possible phantom load that still offers the other features you need. Phantom loads can increase your utility bills by a substantial amount.

It's nice to have appliances that last for many years, but eventually, you do have to upgrade them for efficiency reasons. Your newgarage door opener should last for many years, too, so go ahead and schedule a consultation to see what the new openers are like.