Janet the normal life of an opener is 10 to 12 years. There are exceptions like yours of course. Sears sells more openers than everyone else put together and that is why you read so much about them and most of the people that post with problems are not the original owners therefore no manuals or experience other than pressing the button. My pick is Liftmaster. It is the professionally installed brand of Chamberlain Mfg. Co. Chamberlain also sells under the Chamberlain name for DIY'ers and makes most of Sears openers. Sears has just recently started handling Genie openers. Hope this helps you.

Thanks Don. I had to chuckle at your comment "not the original owners therefore no manuals or experience other than pressing the button"....yep, that describes me perfectly!!

I agree with Don. The newer openers have some neat features too. Ours has motion sensors to automatically turn the lights on when we enter the garage and off after a couple of minutes. This keeps us from leaving the light on all of the time.

yes janet i also agree with DON, MY UNIT IS 20 YEARS OLD AND I JUST REPLACED THE GEARS. BUT I DO ENJOY DOING THE WORK. I THINK YOUR UNIT HAS GONE IT'S COURSE AND YOU SHOULD NOT GET INTO THE MONEY PIT SITUATION, TAKE DON'S ADVISE IT IS THE RIGHT ROUTE TO GO

I would check into a Liftmaster professional belt drive series opener. I just replaced my Craftsman chain drives with Liftmaster Pro Belt drives and they are so much nicer and so quiet in comparison.