Why choose high-speed doors instead of sectional ones

1. How many times a day will you open the doors?
2. Do you heat the spaces behind the doors?
3. What is the speed of the doors?
4. What lifespan do the door systems provided by the supplier offer?
5. What is the failure rate of the chosen doors?
6. What kind of service does the door supplier offer?
7. How much will it cost and what will the operating costs be?

Why are these questions, and especially the answers, so important? Because only by thoroughly and responsibly examining all the answers can you make a decision that will not incur unnecessary additional costs in the future – whether for service or for operation itself. Let us take a closer look at each question and answer.

How many times a day do you open the doors?

A fundamental question that surprisingly many investors overlook. Every door is designed for a specific number of cycles. This is most often given as an annual figure that reputable manufacturers guarantee. If you have an unheated warehouse that you open occasionally, opt for the cheapest doors. Those are the sectional ones. They are not expensive, but they are also not designed for high load and are suitable where there is generally low traffic. However, if you have, for example, a logistics center or a warehouse with a high turnover of goods, do not choose sectional doors. Why? Their construction is not prepared for such loading, and you will often face service issues (and the associated costs), as well as their lifespan, which at high loads is only counted in single years. In contrast, high-speed EFAFLEX doors are indeed a more expensive initial investment, but due to their longevity, reliability, and durability, they pay off in the long run. When you add the operating costs over the following years to the initial costs of purchasing the doors, high-speed doors are clear winners. It is not uncommon for properly serviced EFAFLEX doors to function reliably for up to 20 years. Sectional doors cannot achieve that.

Do you heat the spaces behind the doors? What is the speed of the doors?

These two questions are closely related. You may be wondering why the speed of the doors is so important. The answer is simple and might even be surprising to some. The speed of the door opening has a significant impact on the climate in heated halls.

The principle is straightforward – if the doors in a heated hall are open longer than necessary, valuable, and increasingly expensive heat escapes. If you can close the doors quickly, you'll save. Furthermore, unnecessary ventilation creates an environment that can threaten the health of the workers inside.

The speed of the doors saves money

The principle of saving is simple – the faster I open (or close), the more I save. There is also a direct proportion concerning the size of the doors – the larger the doors and the more frequent the openings, the more the speed of the doors saves on energy costs. Or conversely – the slower and larger the doors you have, the more you will pay for unnecessary heat loss.

They know this well at Holzpack, where the installation of high-speed EFAFLEX doors led to significant savings in heating bills. Moreover, the average temperature in the halls increased by a full 10 degrees, which is particularly appreciated by the company's employees. You can read more about how Holzpack saves here: here. But it is not only at Holzpack that they save thanks to the speed of the doors. In South Bohemia's Jihostroj, for instance, after the reconstruction and installation of EFAFLEX high-speed doors in the production hall, they pay a third less for energy, which is significant savings given the current high prices. Want to know more about what they did at Jihostroj? Click here.

As it follows from the above, in this comparison as well, high-speed doors "win" over sectional ones. High-speed EFAFLEX doors reach speeds of up to 4 m/s, whereas the speed of regular sectional doors is 0.2 to 0.5 m/s. Of course, it always depends on the specific design and type of doors, but high-speed doors are always much faster than sectional ones.

What lifespan do the door systems provided by the supplier offer?

An important question and even more important answer. Reputable manufacturers like EFAFLEX offer an annual guarantee for a specified number of door openings and closings. It always depends on the specific type, but the minimum annual guarantee with this manufacturer is 100,000 cycles per year, which translates to hundreds of cycles per day. For higher-tier door systems, an annual guarantee of 250,000 cycles (which means higher hundreds of cycles per day) is not uncommon. A separate chapter is devoted to doors for robotic operations, which can handle several cycles per minute.

What is the failure rate of the chosen doors? What kind of service does the door supplier offer?

Another important aspect of selection. High-speed doors (with proper servicing) can reliably function for up to twenty years. The lifespan of regular sectional doors is counted in single years under high loads. Sectional doors are more prone to failures compared to high-speed ones. Each unexpected service intervention, of course, costs extra money, and if these interventions are needed frequently, operational costs also rise. At this point, it is important to consider who will perform the service and how quickly they can produce spare parts. And everything starts with the choice of the door supplier. If you initially buy the cheapest doors, even the best service will not make them faster. When choosing a service company for doors, several factors must be considered - where the company is located, how wide and accessible its branch network is, how many technicians it has, and how qualified they are, but mainly what service conditions and response times it offers. Quality service is characterized by the technician's travel time and the guaranteed delivery time of spare parts. A good example in this regard is the company EFAFLEX. The service for the doors is performed by technicians who are direct employees of the company and are located in branches throughout the country. They can produce most spare parts within 24 hours, and the speed of service interventions is therefore really very high.

How much will it cost and what will the operating costs be?

EFAFLEX doors are faster and more reliable and have a longer lifespan than competing doors. However, the initial investment may be higher than that for sectional doors, for instance. When purchasing industrial doors, it is important to consider the entire lifecycle. In addition to the investment in purchase, it is wise to consider the operating costs, including the lifespan of the door system and its reliability. Customers of EFAFLEX often include companies that initially focused solely on the price and preferred a competing offer when purchasing doors. After several years of operation—informed by typical experiences—they switch to high-speed doors even though the original door system has not reached the end of its lifespan. The most common reason is indeed the problematic reliability of the doors and the disproportionately high operating costs for repairs, which also disrupt the daily operations of these companies.