"Huh...my door has a spring? Where is it?"
Part of our job in the garage door repair business is to educate our customers. Sometimes we’re able to troubleshoot with them over the phone and prevent a service charge and trip to their house. Other times, from asking the right questions, we discover the customer has a broken spring that needs a spring repair.
We hear this a lot when taking service calls here at WD Door for garage door repair. Before I started working here, I never once thought about how my door functions, let alone knowing about the actual moving parts of the door. It's right up there with electricity in my home, or the internet connection…as long as these very important things are working correctly, I take for granted how much we depend on them to be reliable and worry-free. A few weeks ago, as my family and I were off for a walk in our neighborhood, something got in the way of the door as it was closing, and sent the cables off the drum and bent part of the angle iron (don’t I sound technical!?) I knew enough from speaking to customers that have desperately needed garage door repair, to get our cars out of the garage before we messed with the door. This was on a Friday evening, so we waited until Monday to have one of our technicians come out to fix it. The door was literally impossible to move or open once we got it secured. Thank goodness it was summer and it was easy to leave our cars in the driveway. It was a huge inconvenience, however, and hit us hard just how often we use our door….so much more than our front walk-through door! Having one of our technicians, Merle, come out was pretty cool, as I watched him fix our door. It literally took him 15 minutes, when it would’ve probably taken my husband four times as long, maybe longer. (Don’t tell him I said that)
Part of our job in the garage door repair business is to educate our customers. Sometimes we’re able to troubleshoot with them over the phone and prevent a service charge and trip to their house. Other times, from asking the right questions, we discover the customer has a broken spring that needs a spring repair. (For more info on choosing a reputable and trustworthy company - Click Here.) A typical overhead door weighs approximately 200 pounds. Without the balance weight that the spring provides, your door would not open very easily. Additionally, if you’re operating your door with a broken spring and ceiling mount operator, the motor has to work extremely hard to lift the door, thus causing major damage to the motor. Springs don’t last forever either, they wear down just like vehicle parts do. Being the largest moving object in your home, here are a few helpful points to keep in mind:
There are two major types of springs: Torsion & Torquemaster
A torsion spring looks like a giant, tightly-wound Slinky. It’s pretty easy to see when a torsion spring is broken. There will be a few inch gap in one or both springs. *It’s highly recommended that you hire a professional to replace any kind of spring, including a torsion spring. See our Overhead Door Safety Tips. The stored up torque that is behind the spring can be very dangerous, and has been known to take off fingers and send people to the ER.
A Torquemaster spring is an exclusive Wayne Dalton product. The spring is inside the metal shaft that is above the top of the door. This is a great safety feature since if and when the spring breaks, the metal shaft keeps in contained since springs have been known to come off. It’s recommended that only specially trained technicians work on or replace these special types of springs.
What is a life cycle of a spring?
The life cycle of the spring is a rating of how many times you can open and close the door before the spring breaks. Garage door springs typically have a 10,000 life cycle. Depending on how often you use your door, it can last anywhere from an average of 5-7 years.
How can I increase the life of my current spring?
Oil all moving parts of your door, including your spring, hinges, rollers, and tracks two times per year using a non-silicon based spray lubricant that is specifically made for garages.
With fall and…(*shudder*) winter right around the corner, have one of our experienced technicians stop out for an overall inspection, oil and adjustment of your door. Nobody wants to have their door stuck open or closed in the middle of an Iowa winter! We cover broken garage door spring in Des Moines and also Ankeny garage door service work too. Call us at 515-963-0989 to schedule today!
Allison Peet is the Marketing Director for WD Door. With over 25 years of experience, we handle garage door repair in Des Moines and much of the state of Iowa.
Allison has a deeply rooted respect for tradesmen like our technicians. Her brother is a high voltage power lineman, as was her dad, her paternal grandfather and great uncle as well. “When your power goes out, my brother is one of the many committed people out at 2AM in sometimes below zero weather to get your power back on. Most of us don’t give a fleeting thought about the men and women that work long hours to provide us with these essentials we so very much take for granted.” Thank a tradesman and tradeswoman today!
