How You Can Tell
- A bang from the garage that sounded like something heavy fell, often when nobody touched the door.
- A gap a few inches wide in the coil on the bar above the door.
- The opener lifts the door a few inches, then stops or reverses.
- The opener strains, hums or flashes its light.
- The door rises crooked, with one side lagging.
Any of these means the door is missing most of the help it needs to rise. The opener was never built to lift that weight alone, and running it can strip its gears. Then you need opener repair as well.
Why They Wear Out
Every trip up and down counts as one cycle. A standard spring is built for roughly 10,000 of them.
If the garage is how your family comes and goes, that can be four to six cycles a day. At that pace a standard spring often lasts somewhere around five to seven years.
Humidity and salt shorten that. Rust roughens the coils, and the spring starts working against itself.
Which Spring Do You Have
Most houses have torsion springs on a metal bar right above the closed door. Some older homes and detached garages have extension springs running along the side tracks.
Extension springs should have a safety cable threaded through them. Without it, a broken spring can fly across the garage. If you don't see one, ask for it.
A few doors hide the spring inside a sealed tube. Those usually wear out sooner, and technicians often suggest switching to a regular torsion setup when one fails.
Replace One or Both
Two spring doors are common. When one breaks, the other has made exactly the same number of trips and is likely close behind.
Replacing both saves a second visit. Replacing just the broken one costs less today. Both are fair choices, and a good technician will offer both.
Standard or Longer Life
You'll often see two grades. Standard springs are rated for about 10,000 cycles. Upgraded springs are rated for 25,000 to 30,000.
The longer life spring often costs about twice as much and lasts about three times as long. If you plan to stay put, it usually pays off.
What you can't do is buy a lighter spring to save money. Springs are sized to the weight of your door, and a heavy door may need four.
What the Visit Should Include
After the new springs go on, the technician should check the cables, drums, bearings, rollers and hinges, then balance the door and reset the opener's force.
Sometimes a door that feels heavy has fine springs and worn rollers instead. That's why the check comes before the quote.
For numbers, read the spring repair cost guide. Door stuck closed? Send the form or call (850) 555-0147.