Sooner or later, the spring or springs on your garage door are going to break. When that happens, you need an experienced garage door professional.
Torsion Springs 101!
Nearly all overhead sectional garage doors sold and installed in the past 25 years come with 10,000 cycle rated springs. For the typical household, that translates to about 6 – 10 years before springs begin to break.
Unless you are trained and experienced with the mechanics of garage doors, you should never attempt to work on garage door springs or any component of a garage door’s counter balance system. The amount of tension stored in a garage door spring is DANGEROUS!
Signs of a broken spring:
1.) If you try to open your garage door and are unable to lift it.
2.) If your door is connected to an automatic garage door opener, and it will only open the door a few inches before stopping.
3.) With the door closed, look above the door. If your door uses a torsion spring assembly, you’ll be able to see that the spring is in two pieces.
What Do Garage Door Torsion Springs Do?
A garage door is comparable to a heavy wall that can be lifted overhead. Springs are engineered to counter-balance the door’s weight; the tension of the spring(s) off-set the weight of the door. This allows you, or your automatic garage door opener to lift the door more easily.
How Do Torsion Springs Work?
The spring(s) off-set the weight of the garage door when they are under tension. Torsion force is created by twisting the spring. The more times the spring is twisted = more force = can lift more weight. Spring force is greatest when a garage door is closed. Torsion springs are normally found on a tube or shaft that’s mounted on the wall just above the garage door. When the door is all the way open, the spring is closer to a relaxed state. There’s just enough force on it to hold it open.
Why Do Torsion Springs Break?
Every time a door goes up and down, the springs go through a cycle. Over time, they simply wear out and break from metal fatigue.
What is Torsion Spring Engineering?
Garage doors come in many sizes and weights. A garage door spring assembly should apply just the right amount of force at the right time. The door should be allowed to set firmly on the ground, lift easily, rest in the partially, or full open position and be easy to pull down into the closed position. Finally, the spring should be rated to withstand a minimum of 10,000 open and close cycles. (10,000 is the industry standard.)
When all of these conditions are met, the door is said to be in balance. To achieve balance, the spring must be engineered to the specific door – weight of your garage door determines the size spring(s) used.
Offer applies toward torsion springs on a basic steel-sectional garage door only – one offer per door.
