Our customers come to us with various questions. So, we decided to dedicate this post to answer some of them:
Q. How will I know that my garage door spring is balanced properly?
There is an easy way for you to check the balance of your garage door. Start by releasing the operator. Then, manually open the door halfway. When you remove your hands off the door, it should maintain its position. Now, if you see slight drifting, ignore it. However, if the door drops down or opens on its own, then the garage door springs need adjustment. Don’t attempt to do that yourself but call a trained professional. Only an experienced technician can correct the balance of your garage door. Don’t leave it too long because someone may accidentally get hurt. Don’t attempt correcting the balance or you may be the one getting hurt.
Q. One of the two springs that are installed on a shaft across the garage door’s top has broken. Do I only replace the broken one? Or do I change both? Why?
Whenever a customer presents us with this query, we advise them to change not just the broken spring, but also the seemingly unbroken one. There is a reason for that: when both springs were functional, they were bearing the same amount of stress. Every time, you opened the door or closed it, the springs handled the stress equally. So, if the stress was considerable enough to break one of them, what is there to say that it didn’t damage the other one as well?
You may not see that damage immediately, but keep in mind that using your sight to predict the life expectancy of spring wouldn’t give you an accurate measure. Furthermore, an old spring and a new one may not be compatible with each other. This could throw off your garage door’s balance and create other problems for you. Our advice would be to call in the Plano Garage Door Repair experts for further guidance.
Q. Should I pay extra for beefier springs as my garage door shop salesman suggested? Or are they just interested in trying to make a sale?
Before you purchase a new garage door for whatever reason, stop a moment, and think. The only important components of these doors to their functionality are the springs. If the springs are the part responsible for helping your garage door go up (faster) and down (slower), shouldn’t you be investing in them?
Torsion springs are coiled and will cost you extra bucks. They are rated to retain functionality for about 10,000 cycles. Even though you may think that is a lot, you aren’t factoring in other things. Such as things forgotten in the car that you or a family member need to get to and many other similar incidents. They all increase the frequency with which your garage door will be opened. With just six times a day, your garage door will have completed 10,000 cycles within five years or less! Therefore, spend extra for a spring that has a rating of 20,000 cycles.
Q. Do new garage doors come with springs?
Yes, they do. But there are two main types of garage door springs. The first type as mentioned is the torsion spring. The second one is the extension of spring. Nowadays, most garage doors have torsion springs. That’s because even though extension springs are cheaper, they aren’t as durable.
We mentioned cycles above, now let us explain what a cycle is. A spring’s lifespan is measured in cycles and the closing, and opening of the garage door panel once constitute one cycle. Most extension springs come with a rating that falls in the range between 5,000 and 10,000 cycles. Torsion springs begin upwards of 10,000 cycles – some types will last for 50,000 cycles!
Q. How can I keep my garage door springs from failing prematurely?
It is true that a garage door spring has a lifespan and that it is designed to last for a limited number of cycles. But besides extended use and the usual aging, other things could cause your spring to fail prematurely. One of them is rust! Rust is bad news because it can cause a spring to lose its torsion. Therefore, if you want your springs to last, you cannot afford a lack of maintenance.
As springs get older, the amount of pressure they must bear increases. For instance, a garage door with new springs will take just 8-10 pounds of force to open. But aging springs will need to exert increasingly more pressure to lift a garage door that may weigh as much as 250 pounds. Even a new spring may break in just three years if you aren’t looking after it, lubricating it, and getting rid of any rust that accumulates.
We hope you found satisfactory answers to your queries. For more questions, such as how much should garage door spring replacement cost, give us a call!
