Electric Garage doors- do they use a lot of electricity?

Recently moved into a property with an electric garage door, do they use a lot of energy? I have some gym equipment in there and some tools paints kids bikes etc. we probably open and close 4 times a day at the moment. 

Not sure what kind of hit this will have on my bill, Id be happy with a manual door to be honest, not tried to manually open it don't want to mess with the springs on it 


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Comments

  • Mark_d
    Mark_d Posts: 2,360 Forumite
    1,000 Posts First Anniversary Name Dropper
    No they don't use a lot of electricity...but compared to a manual garage door they use more electricity, cost more initially, and have more technical issues/breakdowns.
  • casper_gutman
    casper_gutman Posts: 830 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    edited 9 September 2024 at 10:22AM
    There's a blog post regarding the running costs of electric garage doors here: How much does an electric garage door cost to run? | Garolla Garage Doors

    It's written by someone whose job is selling garage doors, so there's a bit of a caveat there I suppose, but it looks believable to me. If anything, it looks as if their estimate will be on the conservative side: they've assumed the door takes one minute to open and close, four times a day, and I think most people would start to feel pretty impatient if they were waiting a full minute for a door to open/close!
  • ThisIsWeird
    ThisIsWeird Posts: 7,935 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Second Anniversary Name Dropper
    edited 9 September 2024 at 10:39AM
    You won't notice it on your monthly bills - ever.
    They run for around 10 seconds each time, and probably draw a couple of hundred watts for that duration?
    On standby, it'll be well under one watt - which troubles some folk, but not most, 'cos - again - they'll never actually notice the difference in their bills.
    You could unplug every 'standby' device in your home, and I'd be utterly gobsmacked if you could detect even a fractional difference in your bills. And, if you could, it would be pennies.
    Not a lot to pay for a hell of a lot of convenience - I don't just mean the garage door, but everything else that's on standby.


  • Rodders53
    Rodders53 Posts: 2,625 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    The rating plate label is illegible but probably has the Voltage and Current used on it?  If not a Wattage.  Volts x Amps = Watts.

    Time the door opening and closing time taken.  Multiply that time by the number of uses per day.

    ( Watts x {Time in minutes/60} )/1000 = the number of kWh (kiloWatt-hours) of electricity consumed each day...  1 kWh is one unit of electricity.

    Modern Horstman doors use circa 200 Watts when opening or closing...  lets assume a 1 minute to open and close 4 times every day for a year 365 days?  I make that a tad under 5 kWh per annum.

    Of course its also sitting in standby to allow a remote control fob to open/close it - where it might be consuming 1 Watt continuously... 365 x 24 / 1000 = 8.76 kWh per annum. It might be less (or more if an older design).

    Then almost every device you have sitting in standby will be consuming a similar amount, as well.

    So the actual door opening operation is 'lost in the noise' of other devices.


  • Rodders53 said:
    The rating plate label is illegible but probably has the Voltage and Current used on it?  If not a Wattage.  Volts x Amps = Watts.

    Time the door opening and closing time taken.  Multiply that time by the number of uses per day.

    ( Watts x {Time in minutes/60} )/1000 = the number of kWh (kiloWatt-hours) of electricity consumed each day...  1 kWh is one unit of electricity.

    Modern Horstman doors use circa 200 Watts when opening or closing...  lets assume a 1 minute to open and close 4 times every day for a year 365 days?  I make that a tad under 5 kWh per annum.

    Of course its also sitting in standby to allow a remote control fob to open/close it - where it might be consuming 1 Watt continuously... 365 x 24 / 1000 = 8.76 kWh per annum. It might be less (or more if an older design).

    Then almost every device you have sitting in standby will be consuming a similar amount, as well.

    So the actual door opening operation is 'lost in the noise' of other devices.


    Dam picture qaulity, I will take another later

    Thanks for feedback, so Im looking at around £4.13 a year for the combined KWH on your calculations so not bad at all really?
  • victor2 said:
    I've had an electric garage door for around 25 years. It uses 8W on standby and 100W when operating, then a 40W bulb which stays on for 3 minutes after it has operated. On current rates it's costing me about 4p a day with my use of about twice a day.
    I love it, and still get a kick out of opening it as I approach the drive in my car. I am one of a seemingly less common breed today that actually keeps the car in the garage though! :)
    I took the bulb straight out of mine so I guess there's a saving, If mine is similar maybe like 3p a day? it does look awesome when it opens don't get me wrong  😅
  • Kiran
    Kiran Posts: 1,531 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I'm pretty sure mine is similar power usage. It's money well spent in my opinion anyway as the kids can open the garage door using Alexa and there's no danger of them dropping an up and over on their heads or something
    Some people don't exaggerate........... They just remember big!
  • victor2
    victor2 Posts: 8,072 Ambassador
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Steveotwo said:
    victor2 said:
    I've had an electric garage door for around 25 years. It uses 8W on standby and 100W when operating, then a 40W bulb which stays on for 3 minutes after it has operated. On current rates it's costing me about 4p a day with my use of about twice a day.
    I love it, and still get a kick out of opening it as I approach the drive in my car. I am one of a seemingly less common breed today that actually keeps the car in the garage though! :)
    I took the bulb straight out of mine so I guess there's a saving, If mine is similar maybe like 3p a day? it does look awesome when it opens don't get me wrong  😅
    Reminds me of Thunderbirds when it operates - one of my favourite TV shows when I was a kid, which I suppose ages me a bit! 🤣

    I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the In My Home MoneySaving, Energy and Techie Stuff boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com. 

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  • The Tracey Island toy has made a few comebacks over the years, so you might not be to old 😅
    Captain Scarlet was more my era
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