Not all springs, are created equal!

 You all know what a Torsion Spring is right? If you are still learning about them, they are the large coiled things approximately 12 inches above the top section of your garage door on the part of your home known as the "Header".

They are about the size and length or your arm and typicallyl located in the center of your door. That said, the real question is,"Why are torsion springs important and what make some different than others?"

 The importance of your torsion spring starts with the garage door itself. First, the average weight of a steel sectional garage door is about 200lb.s when resting on the floor. Second. gravity, wants to keep it there. So how do we get two hundred pounds of steel in the air? Most people believe it is the opener that does all the work. Although there is some association, the fact is that your garage door opener is only moving your door into an open and close position all the while your door is being suspended. or. counter-balanced the entire time. That:s right, it:s your spring doing all the real work. It:s "The Muscle" behind the moving.

 Since garage door operators have been getting stronger and stronger these days. some of the strongest have been known to be capable of opening a door with a broken spring, (though often with serious consistences- see miracle door). Especially renowned for this is the Genie screw drive models which are still some of the strongest in the business today. Hence the title given them,"Opener" we are led to believe that they must be a lifter as well, but that's not the case. They were designed to apply no more than 10 lb.s of force to overcome door inertia of starting from a dead stop to general door travel friction only. So the real deal that lifts the steel, is the spring.

 So now, what makes them different? Well there are three measuring factors to the springs size, but the one I'm going to educate you on today, and the one most important to you is the Length. The length of a torsion spring is the only way one can determine and tale account for the life cycle of the spring. So in essence, if you want your door to open and close more times and increase the value of you investment in your door and home, is to get the Longest springs possible.

 To give just a bit more detail to that, a cycle in spring terms, is a complete open and close. Also, according to industry charts and measurements, we can effectively increase the cycle life of of your spring life by more than 1000 cycles by adding as little as an inch in length to your spring.Now, most new doors come from the factory with approx. 10,000 cycle springs which, based on how often you use your door, have been considered a 5-7 year use based on today's average household, and there is not much say a homeowner has in that as far as new door installation goes.The good news is that when your spring finally breaks, you can then be very selective in what spring you want to replace it with.

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This is a good example of a difference in the sizes of available springs today. This happens to be from a job where  another company put on the shorter springs which were way to "Hot" for their 180lb. door. That is a term we use to refer to a door out of balance having used springs pulling up too hard/fast. The customer then asked us to put in springs that would correctly balance their door.
 So then, how do you insure you are going to get the long life springs? Well, that can be as hard to answer as the applied science it takes to calibrate a low cycle spring to a high cycle spring. You see, the first obstacle is that a long life spring not only cost more to buy, but they are as well heavier to carry around and have available -on hand- in light of today's gas prices. And another thing is that most technicians grumble at having to use their heads and have to be fully trained to make an accurate conversion in the field mostly because, the longer you make a spring, the weaker it gets so now you have to size up in wire size. They just think, it is simply easier to go back to the manufacturer and get the exact replacement and be done with it.

     That's not how we think!           
  Would you like to see our work?

Click "Read More" to see pictures of our work.
or
Call us today for a better Garage Door Spring Repair.  800-401-9155

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A pair of galvanized torsion springs next to a pair of high cycle galvanized torsion springs

Oil tempered garage door torsion spring broken next to a high cycle galvanized torsion spring.

A pair of standard cycle oil tempered torsion springs next to a pair of high cycle galvanized torsion springs

This is a great example of how short some springs are out there without the customer even knowing.

Just to drive the point home.....

We promise to use springs rated from 26-30,000 cycles and all galvanized to avoid rust, (Galvanization as well costs more), and we do it all because we value our customers as much as they value their homes.

Call us today for a better Garage Door Spring Repair.  800-401-9155