Protect Your Garage Door Opener From Lightning Strikes

It's that time of year all across the country when thunderstorms and lightning will pop up unexpectedly. Most people are aware of the damage lightning can do to their t.v.'s, computers and phones but few ever think about their garage door operator.

Today's garage door openers are like the other newer electronics in your home and have electronic control boards that act as the "brains" of the operator. The control board (also known as circuit board or logic board) control all of the functions of the operator and radio receiver. Some makes of control boards seem to be more susceptible to power surges and lightning strikes than others but in the end it doesn't take much to destroy one of the control boards.

If your operator does take a direct hit (or even a close hit) from lightning you can almost guarantee that the control board is going to be fried. A new control board is going to cost anywhere from $70 - $120...all depending on the make and model of the opener. And that doesn't include the $70 - 100 labor charge if you call a service company to replace the board.

What can be done to protect the garage door operator? You can either unplug the operator every time there's a thunderstorm (which isn't very practical) or you can add a Surge Protector to the plug of the operator. For less than $10 you can buy a Surge Protector which will protect you're garage door opener and save you the time and money of having to replace a damaged control board.