Garage door spring repair and replacement
The spring is what makes a two-hundred-pound door feel like it weighs twenty. It stores energy when the door comes down and gives it back when the door goes up. When it breaks, nothing about the door has changed except that you are now lifting all of it.
Torsion or extension
| Torsion | Extension | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it sits | On a shaft above the opening | Along the horizontal tracks, one per side |
| Usually found on | Most doors fitted in the last twenty years | Older or lighter doors |
| How the door lifts | Level, with the load carried on the shaft | Pulled from each side |
| When it fails | The door drops | The spring leaves at speed unless a containment cable is threaded through it |
A torsion spring sits on a shaft above the opening and winds up as the door closes. Cables run from drums at each end of that shaft down to the bottom brackets. Most doors fitted in the last twenty years are torsion, and it is the better system: the load is carried on the shaft, the door lifts level, and a failure drops the door rather than releasing a spring across the garage.
Extension springs stretch along the horizontal tracks on either side, one per side, usually on older or lighter doors. They should always have a containment cable threaded through them, because an extension spring that lets go without one leaves at speed.
Why springs are replaced in pairs
On a two-spring door the pair has been through the same number of cycles under the same load. If one has reached the end of its life the other is at the same point, and replacing only the broken one buys a second call within months. It also leaves the door unbalanced in the meantime, which the opener pays for.
Why this is not a homeowner job
A wound torsion spring on a double door holds enough energy to break an arm. Winding it takes the correct bars, and the bars have to be the correct diameter for the cones, because a screwdriver in a winding cone is how people get hurt. Beyond the winding itself, three things have to match the specific door: the wire size and length of the spring, the drum size, and the cable length. Get the pairing wrong and the door either hangs at the top or drags at the bottom.
What a snapped spring does to the opener
An opener asked to lift an unbalanced door is doing work it was never sized for. Run it a few times against a broken spring and you strip the gear kit, so a spring call becomes a spring call plus an opener repair. If you hear the bang, do not press the button again.
A broken spring can also leave a car shut in. Do not start it and let it run while you wait: Health Canada's carbon monoxide advice is never to idle a vehicle in the garage, even with the garage door open, and to keep the door between the house and the garage closed.
Where we do this
- Ottawa
- Mississauga
- London
- Brands installed and serviced
- Garaga, Amarr, Stanley, LiftMaster, Chamberlain, Genie
Related
Garage door spring repair: what people ask
Short answers on what usually breaks, what a visit involves and what it costs to put right.
How do I know a spring is broken?
Look at the spring above the door. A broken torsion spring shows a clean gap of an inch or two in what should be a continuous coil. The door will also feel far too heavy to lift by hand, and an opener that was fine yesterday will strain, stall part way, or hum without moving.
Can a garage door spring be repaired rather than replaced?
No. A spring is a single piece of wound wire and it has a finite number of cycles in it. When it breaks or loses tension it is replaced. What can be adjusted is the winding, which is how a door that is slightly heavy or slightly floaty gets rebalanced without new parts.
Should I open the door manually with a broken spring?
Only if you have to move a vehicle, and only with a second person. Without the counterbalance you are lifting the full weight of the door with nothing holding it up, so it will come down hard if it is let go. Prop it, do not balance it, and do not leave it open on a broken spring.
Everything else we repair and install
Every service the branch nearest you can send a van for.
Garage door repair
Broken springs, cables, rollers, tracks, sensors, trims and any garage door opener problem. Fast, professional service when you need it.
Garage door safety sensor repair
The door starts down and reverses, or the opener light blinks and will not close. What the photo eyes are telling you, and when it is only alignment.
Garage door off track
Garage door off track or not moving properly? Protech can safely realign the door, repair damaged tracks, replace rollers and get it running smoothly again.
Garage door parts
Springs, cables, drums, rollers, hinges, brackets, seals and opener parts. What is on the truck, what is matched to the door, and what is not a DIY part.
Stuck garage door
A door that will not move, or stops halfway. The check order that tells you whether it is the opener, the springs, the track or ice, before anyone touches it.
Garage door problems
Match the symptom to the cause: a bang and a heavy door, a crooked door, a door that reverses, an opener that hums. Then go to the page that covers that fault.
Talk to Protech Garage Doors today
Call (613) 845-9950 at any hour, or email info@protechgarage.ca for a new-door quote with no rush.