Electric garage door connections

We are considering doing away with our old manual garage door and having an electrical sectional one fitted.

I was talking to a work colleague who had one installed about a year ago and was asking about the electrical connections as I'm not certain if I have a spare breaker position on my consumer unit and had begun visualising having to replace it.

He said the company who fitted his didn't use the consumer unit but ran the wire from the motor/lifter to a nearby 13A extension socket (fastened to the side of a garage roof joist) then ran the wire from this to a double 13A socket on the garage wall, inserting the 13A plug into this.

Is it acceptable/allowable to do this ? I was sure that the motor would have to be connected to our consumer unit

Patty0Dore said:

Is it acceptable/allowable to do this ?

Click to expand...

Yes, and it's a common choice. A neater option would have been wired permanently to an FCU but electrically it makes no difference.

Patty0Dore said:

I was sure that the motor would have to be connected to our consumer unit

Click to expand...

Door motors for normal domestic garage doors are very low power items and would not require a separate connection.

The motors are quite low-powered and will be fine plugged into a 13A socket-outlet.

I think my father-in-laws is battery backed up. In real terms like a stair lift the battery does all the work, the main connection is just for the battery charger. I am lead to believe today you need to be licensed to fit them in the same was as motorised gates! I have not tested my father-in-laws, but I am uneasy about its install. I can see no sensors or beams or pneumatic strips to stop the doors should they hit some thing when closing. With an inferred remote not so bad as you have to be able to see the door for the sensor to see the remote, but with a RF remote you can close the door when it is not in view, his is a RF remote and it is in a holder inside the house, so he can't see the door closing. As well as the danger of trapping children or animals both under the door and in the garage, it also means he tends to push button and not check the door is closed, many times I have had to knock on his door to tell him it's open. Also to open the door should there be a power cut or any other fault needs one to unlock a handle and pull out a pin, putting that pin back in is no easy task. Two weeks ago his battery in remote went flat, such a simple fault, but he could not find the garage key, been years since last used. Once door open then also no way to close without refitting pin and pressing button on the door which is inside the garage, so it was a case press button and run out of garage before the door closed. I liked the idea of an electric garage door until he got one. Now no thank you.

Mine (Hormann) has a quick release disconnect which, when pulled, has the door revert to manual operation. Whilst its a 16', heavy lump, it's a suitable backup. For anti-crush, it uses a resistance/pressure sensor at the motor end (no switches or ir sensor) which stops the door and immediately lifts it about a foot.

Mine definitely stops if it hits something, although I'm not sure I'd like it to be me in the way.

My installer stood under the door and lowered it onto himself to show me it would stop. Not sure if a small child would be harmed though, but I haven't got any of those.

Thanks to flame port and stillp for the guidance.