Nine years ago, we decided that we could no longer compete with herds of deer wandering through our property and decimating pretty much anything that looked remotely like garden plants.
We sought out bids to construct a 1,000 foot (linear, not high) fence with 7 foot lodge poles and wire fencing. In order to make it work for the intended purpose and allow cars to come and go, we included a gate that came with a Liftmaster gate operator. I think the gate operator ran about $1,500 at the time.
A couple of weeks ago, I went out and conducted my twice a year test of the manual release mechanism which allows us to escape with the vehicles in case of gate operator failure. For nine years, I inserted the key, turned the lock, twisted the manual release lever open and pushed the several hundred lb. gate open and called it good. This time, not so much. The ram mechanism was frozen solid.
I figured that the release was mechanical as in some sort of clamp around the screw in the operator; I was wrong. It seems that the lever actuates a switch that needs to see a specific voltage in order to release the mechanism when manual exits are needed. Liftmaster tech support told me that the two possibilities are the switch in the operator or a failure of the relevant circuit in the main board in the control box.
The operator has no user serviceable parts and the main board won’t work with a new operator, so I have spent the better part of the last few days swapping out the entire now retired gate operating system for a new one to the tune of $1,680.
It seems that the industry standard for a Liftmaster LA500 gate operator is 9-10 years although I know of folks who have had them for considerably longer.
So I figure I spent $13.88 a month for the life of the operator. I thought I bought it, but it kinda feels like I was renting it.