By far, the most common repair issue that we find. Most garage door springs are rated for 10,000 cycles. One cycle equals one complete UP & DOWN of your door.
Your springs should do that effectively 10,000 times, at least. We’ve seen springs go much longer. Few break sooner using high-quality parts we provide.
Identifying a broken spring is fairly easy as long as you know what you are looking for. There are two basic types of springs installed on over 99% of all garage doors. These are torsion and extension.
The torsion spring is the one used most in today’s installations. These are located above your door attached to the wall. They can be seen only when the garage door is in the down position. These springs are tightly wound when the door is in the down position.
They unwind as the door goes up, providing the lifting force needed for the door. When a torsion spring breaks, it normally comes with a loud banging sound. If you have a garage door opener installed, one of the symptoms is when you attempt to open your door with the motor, the door raises 4-8 inches, then stops. This is a good indicator of a broken spring.
The Extension Springs are located toward the back of the horizontal tracks. You find these on older installations. Although, they are still used in some systems today. These were the original types.
During operation, they extend when the door goes down and retract when the door goes up. These also make somewhat of a loud bang when they break. Not nearly as loud as torsion spring, though. The same issue with the garage door opener may be present when attempting to lift the door.
The good news is that it’s pretty rare for one of these types of garage door springs to break while the door is in the up position. From a safety perspective, the door won’t run down on it’s own or on top of something.
On a side note…
The same symptoms of the door becoming heavy or the motor not lifting could also be due to a broken cable. We’ll save that for a different post. In either case, we recommend that a trained technician do the repair for you.
Unless you have experience with this exact type of repair, do not attempt it yourself. Always remember, the springs do all the heavy lifting of the door. As such, there is a good amount of tension and force present.
Your Overhead Door of Mohawk™ Team