Hydraulic Hangar Door Experiences

Hey - we are in the process of selling our current home and moving to the airpark at Pecan Plantation and are currently working on finalizing plans for the house and the hangar.

When I was at Oshkosh, I looked at the various hangar doors. The two that looked good to me were Higher Power doors and a new door by AirSide.

http://www.hpdoors.com/

http://www.airsidedoors.com/products/hydraulic-hydralink-doors/


Both have a similar mechanism of action where the door pivots as it lifts, reducing the sweep and finishing up with the door 1/2 in and 1/2 out of the hangar (which should minimize the load on the building).

Each company claims that they have the best mousetrap, but I was wondering of any of you have experience with either of these doors.

FYI - the rough cost for a 42 x 15 door was $9800 for the Higher Power and $12K for the AirSide.

Thanks,
Jason

Hangar Door

Saw Higher Power Door at 2010 Sloshkosh and was in the middle of a hangar restoration. Purchased their door and installed it myself. Door worked great. Sold the hangar but would do it again since it eliminates the need for a massive header along the front. I just dug down under the concrete floor and poured a little bigger footer under the vertical pieces that carry the door load. Easy.
Don

Different Story Here....

I worked on a company project where we had a hangar with a 70' x 14' Higher Power door. I became so fed up with the door that I will never recommend nor ever personally purchase another HP door. I don't want to knock the company because they were concerned with our issues and stand for great values, but I just wouldn't go there again. If my personal dollars were invested I would have sent the door back.

The construction company had to completely cut/weld most the door brackets to make it fit together - basically rebuild the structure of the door. The rest of the door looked like it was constructed by a beginners welding classes, it just looked sloppy. We never got around the hydraulic adjustment issues after going through 2 pumps, and the door would magically raise itself up 2 feet if you left it unchecked for a month - even with power completely disconnected - it wasn't the pump's doing. Something about pressure bleeding in the cylinders or some explaination...... Not sure but even after they 'fixed it', still had the problem the last time I was aware. The door would always flex and chatter in the tracks and I was never comfortable standing under it.

I spoke to the Airside guys at OSH this year and looked over their door and link design, which looked superior to the following track design of the HP. We talked about the kinks and why I was having issues as one of the guys (I think) was a hydraulic engineer. Great explanations and had clear and educated reasons why they went with their design.

Both doors are the same concept but the Airside looks much better executed. I would go to Airside if I was looking at this style of door.

Very Happy HP Door Customer

We installed a 40ft Higher Power door 4 years ago in our Airpark hangar-garage, it has worked great and I would highly recommend it. It was easy to install and has never had any problems. I suspect that we use the door far more than the average user, it gets opened at least twice a day 7 days a week. Jennifer parks her Mini Cooper between the tail and wing of the RV-10 and uses one of the wireless remotes to open and close the door.

It has worked so good that my neighbor even installed one last year.

Please feel free to call me with any questions.

http://youtu.be/Eb9nbn3-1FY

Rob Hickman
N402RH. RV-10
Advanced Flight Systems

Have you looked into Wilson Doors. We have a Bi-Fold on our airpark home and it has worked flawlessly for 21 years. They also do single panel doors in both steel and aluminum.

http://wilsondoors.com/

Roberta

If you want to save major $$$ and want something simple that works great, try these (http://www.foldtite.com/). I know of two at a local field and they are great doors. I'm going to put a set in the hangar I'm building next year. 40'x10', preassembled door frames, polycarbonate sheathing on the door, less than $5K.

Does anyone within 200 miles or so of the Chicago area have one of these doors? I'd love to fly-in and take a look.

Thanks,
Jason

doors

Jason , I have a 42 ft. X 12 ft. Hydra fold one piece that works very well. No track and rollers, very simple & remote opener controls. It is insulated and seals tight. Fly up any time if you like. Ron

On one of my hangars I have the standard Wilson two panel powered bi-fold. On my other hangar, where the -9A is currently, we have something very similar to the Fold-Tite "Stacker". I like the latter better. Mine was custom built from scratch by the previous owner. I can have the manual door open at least as fast, if not faster, than the powered door. The manual door is a one pinkie finger operation and the simplicity is beautiful. Mine runs on "trucks" of six sealed roller bearings on a recessed rail in the floor. The next hangar I build will have a manual door of similar design.

Higher Power Door is the real deal. Why use any other door if it's adding weight to your building? Weight = dollar.

Worth pointing The Higher Power Door is also manufactured by a company in the south called AeroDoor. Lead time there is 8 weeks and freight is reasonable.

http://www.hangardoors.aero

Hope everything works out on your hangar project.

JC