Garage Door Torsion Springs 101

Your garage door opener smoothly opens and closes a garage door that weighs hundreds of pounds with the help of a spring. Torsion springs are one of the most common movement devices used in garage doors, using the energy of the spring form to lift the heavy door. This is one of the most important components of your garage door opening system; without it, the opener could not lift your garage door. Here is a basic guide to garage door torsion springs and what you need to know.

The principal behind torsion springs is the same as any door with a spring; wind up the spring and it will have stored energy that will help move the door. For garage doors, torsion springs are usually installed horizontally on the ceiling opening hardware. The ends of the spring are attached to each cable that lifts the door. When the door closes, the spring winds up. When the door needs to open, the stored energy is released as the spring unwinds and transferred to moving the door up.

This simple process can be trusted for thousands of cycles of opening your garage door up and down. Most torsion springs can last about 10,000 cycles, giving you several years of use before they need to be replaced. However, weather and use will wear them out, and when they break it, the garage door they support can slam shut. This can be dangerous, and it can be very risky to try and replace a spring on your own.

Torsion springs should be replaced about every 5-7 years. Make sure to have yours inspected each year as part of your annual service for your garage door opener. It is best to proactively replace springs when recommended, versus waiting for them to break, so follow the advice of your local garage door service company.

Posted on behalf of: 
Habpro Garage Doors
Dacula, GA 30019
770-985-3355

High Cycle Garage Door Torsion Springs

Buying a new automatic garage door opener for your home involves deciding on the type of drive system, the options and features, and the amount of power the opener has.  Garage door opener sold for residential use can have motors with as little as 1/3 horsepower (HP) or as much as a full 1 HP.  Generally speaking, bigger is better but not for the reason most homeowners think.

Most people believe that larger and heavier doors need a more powerful garage door opener, but the reality is that even the largest and heaviest garage doors can be opened and closed with the smallest garage door opener on the marked if the garage door is properly adjusted.

Garage doors weigh hundreds of pounds and would be very difficult to open without some help from the lift assistance springs.  Most garage doors use either torsion type springs mounted inside the garage above the opening or extension springs mounted along the tracks to help lift the weight of the door.  When properly adjusted, the door will be easy to open and close by hand no matter what it weighs.

A larger garage door opener motor is desirable for two reasons:  It will operate more quietly and it will last longer.  An automatic garage door opener with a larger motor does not have to work as hard to open and close the door which keeps noise to a minimum.  In addition, a typical garage door opener goes through 500 to 1,000 opening and closing cycles every year.  If the opener does not have to work as hard, the wear from these opening and closing cycles will be less and the opener will last longer before it wears out.