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Dontdothatfucker t1_j6j9n7f wrote

Reply to comment by Interesting-Dish8894 in Does garage door insulation need to be evenly distributed? by Prophetshark

100 percent. I used to work for a garage door company, and on occasion we had to replace springs that break

(NOTE: a modern garage door spring breaking is NOT DANGEROUS, it wont randomly fly off and break anything. Look above your garage door, there should be a rod with a spring or multiple springs wrapped around it. If you still have an old style which are fairly rare now, then the springs will stretch freely and are dangerous: you should get an upgrade).

Anyway, we were able to disengage the springs, use a scale to weigh the combined total of door sections, and use balance tables to find the correct size spring or springs, and number of rotations. Any decent company should be able to do that and get you new springs. I would recommend that instead of removing insulation (because a non insulated panel keeps out little more cold than the wind) but also because if that door was improperly balanced the whole time, you could be looking at strain on the opener or other parts of the door hardware.

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b00gers t1_j6jj4ye wrote

Are you referring to the old style where there is a spring on each side without any rod? I have this style and always am concerned when I'm in the garage with the door closed. Should I be prioritizing updating it?

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ObesePolice t1_j6jke8u wrote

Make sure a safety cable is installed then worry about something else.

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Dontdothatfucker t1_j6jl4q1 wrote

Yup! Easy to instal a safety cable, that will keep them in place if it ever snaps. Worth replacing if you’re doing home improvement projects, but not dangerous or anything as long as you get cables

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TheATrain218 t1_j6ko3cr wrote

When we bought my current house, we had two major emergency fixes to make.

Reseat a toilet leaking around the flange and....

...put safety cables in the garage springs.

My dad said "do the toilet; it's going to take longer and the water damage is a bigger issue than springs that haven't broken yet and probably won't anytime soon."

He was right, reseating that toilet took forever and we ran out of time. We left the house via the garage door, and as it was coming down THWANGGGGG.

Motherfucking spring let go and danced all over the garage. Thank God we weren't inside. Replaced all the springs, added safety cables, and no problems in the 5 years since.

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buzzed-116 t1_j6mo7ln wrote

well, maybe the spring should have come first...more deadly and quicker...??? But a leaking toilet.....pretty serious too. Hind sight....

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heridfel37 t1_j6jqsbf wrote

The spring on a modern garage door won't go flying when it breaks, but the door falling is still dangerous

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Sad_Frosting1670 t1_j6kthr3 wrote

The spring breaks because it is cyclically loaded. Every cycle makes a small crack open a little bit more. The final straw that breaks it is going to be when it is wound the most - which is in the down position when the door is closed. So, a falling door is unlikely going to occur.

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chrisp1j t1_j6ltm4i wrote

Untrue, mine broke when it was being closed, midway up. Loud and a little scary. Probably 25 years old, something that should have been replaced.

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