I'm watching Flashpoint and they want to open the garage door
remotely. Will the hostage holders inside hear it. No, it's state of
the art hydraulic.
Do they really have silent hydraulic garage door openers?
I doubt it. Hydraulics and cold weather can cause problems. Hydraulics
would be more expensive. Hydraulic systems are not noiseless. Neither
is the door. Not that it can't be done, but what would the advantage
be?
I have been in the garage door/opener business for 25+ years and have
never heard of such a thing. Thing about it you would have to have a
hydraulic pump/lines ect. It wouldn't be economically feasible.
Besides a new opener with belt drive is whisper quiet.
What kind of cold weather are you talking about?
I have experience with hydraulic systems that use
a light silicone oil that tolerates low temperatures
quite well. I know that hydraulic equipment used in the
Arctic and Antarctic has a lot of trouble with cold
temperatures but that's an extreme example.
TDD
And how do they tolerate it? They have to go to silicone or glycol
based hydraulic fluids and then all the seal components of the
pump and cylinder must use special seal materials rather than the
standard nitrile seals. All this costs more and does not wear as well
as the same system with petroleum based hydraulic oil in warm
weather..
On Sat, 07 Mar 2009 09:05:28 -0500, snipped-for-privacy@mucks.net wrote:
You know it's never been 10 below zero anyplace I've ever lived.
Maybe 3 degrees below zero once or twic. And that was 45 years ago
and in the north half of the US. And if one day it was, I'm sure you
could disconnect the door from the hydraulics. If they made
hydraulic gdoor openers.
The hydraulic systems I referred to were designed to
use the light silicone oil. The systems were used to
open and close doors and gates. I'm sure the same
manufacturers have designed around the same equipment
for garage doors. I've worked on big swinging doors
that were in industrial environments that were using
hydraulic systems to open, close and lock. Vehicle
traffic went through them. Hummmm, I wonder if it
could be called a garage? All of the above mentioned
equipment worked quite well in sub zero temperatures.
In fact some of them were in frozen product storage
and distribution warehouses. I'm sorry I don't know
everything but I'm working on it.
You should read up on HYDREX Hydraulic Oil for extreme
temperature ranges. I figure the Canadians would know
something about low temperatures.
http://lubricants.petro-canada.ca/en/products/513.aspx
Texas Refinery Corp. produces a special low temp fluid
that flows at -40 deg F.
http://www.texasrefinery.com/lb-speciallowtemp.htm
Perhaps aircraft manufacturers know about low temp
hydraulic systems. They test them with temperatures
from - 40 F to + 120 F. I wonder if The Space Shuttle
has any hydraulic systems?
TDD
Yes to hydraulic, probably not to silent. One I saw advertised
was for a bi-fold door. That would be more appropriate for a big
door like on an equipment shed.
Hydraulics aren't noiseless. There would have to be some sort of
pump motor and pump. Hydraulics on farm tractors are a bit noisy at
first in really cold weather.
It wouldn't be efficient to keep the pump running constantly.
That would mean some sort of starter for the pump motor which could
make a little noise on startup.
Dean
Well, the show got worse as time went on. A big fancy house with
indoor zones, by room I think.
Plus they could remotely disable one zone at a time, (which is true.
My friend who owns an alarm company can do that from any computer,
probably if it has the right software on it. ) But though the
burglar/hostage takers inside, who planned to come when no one but the
maid/accomplice was there were still prepared to monitor the zones,
were monitoring the zones and would notice when one went off line, and
though it takes several secodns to get through the door, the burglar
would only see it for a split second and not realize what was
happening, even though it happened to 3 consecutive zones.
But I still liked the show. I don't expect them to be technologically
accurate.
Air cylinders would be better than hydraulics for that application. You
don't need hydraulic power to open a door. Plus air would work fine in
cold weather.
Most likely the brainchild of the show's technically illiterate
writing staff......I'd put my money on "script requires it to exist"
rather than exisitng in the real world.
In the process of opening a garage door (sectional, I
assume) ............
How much noise comes from the opener, how much from the rollers &
track?
Where does this "magic" hydraulic power come from? Hydraulic systems
require a pump of some sort to run at some point and typically
they're not silent.
cheers
Bob
Ya know, the doors could be spring powered open
and hydraulic powered close. That way the rich
guy wouldn't wake his wife after sneaking home
from that little tryst. *snicker*
TDD
HomeOwnersHub.com is a website for homeowners and building and maintenance pros. It is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.