Sectional Garage Door Springs
- newcombpropertymai
- Apr 3
- 3 min read
Updated: Apr 4
Sectional Door Torsion Springs are the lifting force behind your garage door. Like any spring, they have a life cycle, and for Garage Door Springs, that's about 15,000-25,000 cycles. A standard double sectional garage door weighs 80-130 kg; larger doors, timber doors, and custom aluminum doors can weigh in excess of 500 kg.
Why do they break?
Springs and Cables usually last 7-10 years as they have a duty cycle (the amount of times the steel can wind and unwind before its weakened to breaking)
This is highly varied with many factors,
Undersized Springs
Extreme usage (15+ cycles per day)
No Regular Maintenance / Adjustment
Salt Air \ Coastal Wind Facing homes
Overly damp areas with no protection
Large Gaps and no seal at top and/or open carport installations
Incorrect Tension, Lubrication and alignment are the leading causes of spring breakage other than duty cycles. They need to be maintained regularly to keep them at peak performance.
What is a cycle
Each time the springs load tension, this is a cycle, thus one open and close motion is a cycle. when you consider your garage door usage, its usually much higher than you think. Do you use it as a front door? 2 cars in and out every day? Kids bikes and toys? taking the dog for a walk, Some Garage doors are used just like the front door.
4 x 365 (That's 2 cars in and out once per day)
1460 Per year
10 years = 14600 cycles.
How do they work?
Torsion Springs work using a coil spring that is wound up to counter weigh the dead weight of the doors Curtain as it is raised by the operator (Or Manually See More...)
Each time the door Opens and closes, the torsion spring winds and unwinds to counteract the weight of the door. When a Sectional door is installed, the curtain is placed in section by section starting level on the floor.
Spring tension is added as a last task, approximately 8 full turns are added to each spring which is specifically made to account for the height, weight, and cycle usage. Companies have been known to save money by under rating springs. This heavily impacts their life.
Lifting Cables are attached to drums to lift the door as it winds up, The large torsion bar across the top transfers the springs power to the cables, the attach to the bottom of the door and lift it as the wheels roll around the track.
Just like Torsion springs, these cables are a consumable item on your garage door as they wear each time the doors rolls up and down. as they wind around the drum.
We ALWAYS replace the cables at the same time as springs.
Springs Must be replaced as a balanced pair.
If you have not serviced your sectional door recently and you use it daily, we recommended a 24 month routine maintenance schedule to keep these components in the best working order. We can also identify premature wearing items usually caused by misalignment of the door saving you money on costly breakdowns.
Do you need a service to maintain your springs?
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From the Tech
I have installed 100's of sectional doors, replaced 1000's of springs in my 16+ years on the road as a full time installer and service technician. The number 1 thing that causes costly breakdowns is poorly maintained highly used doors. Doors I have installed as a business owner for 10+ of those years with full warranties who maintained their 24 month services, did not have any breakdown call outs. I have Serviced doors that are 25-30 years old that have been maintained regularly and have their original springs and motors still working. Jamo Liddelow - 16+ Years in field tech | B&D Trained |
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