Usually the biggest mechanical item in your house is the overhead garage door, which you drive your car through, sometimes without even opening it, I know you do :-).
The main and most dangerous component of the overhead door is the garage door spring (or springs depending on the design), which supports the full weight of the door panels (sometimes more than 400 pounds) and helps it lift / lower the complete door assembly. I have personally installed 3 overhead garage doors with 2 different types of springs, and you have to trust me on that – garage door springs are under enormous stress and you can be seriously injured or even killed doing such work. If you decide to take a risk, it is imperative that you follow the instructions down to the last detail! Even if you have a friend or a professional do it for you, read it and double check everything after the installer finishes the job. Overhead garage doors don’t have safety brakes (at least I haven’t heard of one), that would prevent it from falling over when the support spring fails. I found a few US patents for such devices, but apparently none of them were implemented on an actual garage door.
According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, accidents involving overhead garage doors account for thousands of injuries each year (average 30,000 per year). For example, these injuries are: fractures, crushes, and amputations. It is believed that not all injuries are reported in the United States. (CPSC)
There are basically two types of garage door spring systems that use track/side rails (at least these are the most common types in Illinois and probably the rest of the US):
1. Garage door torsion spring(s) wound on a rod above the top section of the garage door opening (door head)
2. garage door extension springs that attach to both sides of the door and stretch along the horizontal portion of the track when the door is closed
You may also have an old one-piece door that swings out as it goes up and up. This particular design will have springs mounted to the sides of the door opening, approximately waist high, secured to a lever bracket system that extends the springs toward the ceiling when the door is closed. It is an old and extremely dangerous system, which is no longer manufactured. If you have such a system in the garage, I recommend that you replace it.
Garage Door Torsion Springs: There are single or double spring designs. Typically the spring will break while under maximum tension, which is when the overhead garage door is closing/rolling down, or is already fully closed (NORMALLY). If you are closing it manually and it happens during this operation, don’t try to prevent it from squashing, let go… well unless your foot is where the door will close!
When one of the two garage door springs breaks, you need to replace them at the same time! It will cost some extra money, but having an old spring and a new one installed:
– put much more emphasis on the new
– the door will lose its proper balance
– most likely the remaining old garage door spring will break soon
Residential overhead garage door torsion springs have a 5,000 to 30,000 cycle life. Those digits represent an average total number of times you should be able to open and close the door before anticipating garage door spring replacement.
Garage Door Extension Springs – You may have one or two on each side of your overhead garage door – the spring is free to slide on this cable! When a garage door spring breaks without the cable inside, the broken ends can seriously injure anyone within their reach. Cables should always be included with overhead garage door hardware (assuming they come equipped with extension springs), but MANY PEOPLE forget to install them or don’t read the instructions and perhaps assume they aren’t necessary. Unlike the torsion spring, which doesn’t actually show any visual wear until it breaks, extension spring wear is much easier to spot, because they simply change dimension – the coils are overstretched (they look best when the garage door is open). If you notice such behavior in your garage door springs, it’s time to replace them.
And for both types of garage door springs, their tension must be adjusted evenly (in a two-spring system) in order for the overhead door to ride correctly on its rails; to test it, stop the door slightly above the garage floor (1″ or two). ) and make sure its bottom/top edge is perfectly horizontal. Measuring the gap along the bottom might not be the best way to confirm as garage floors are often uneven Placing a level somewhere in the center section of the top edge of the garage door will give you the best reading (remember the door should not be closed all the way! ) this level without any help (garage door opener arm is disconnected).
Important things to remember:
1. Check overhead garage door rollers/hinges, cables and springs for smoothing to ensure they are in good working order
2. Educate your kids on garage door safety
3. Never leave children and disabled people alone near or in the path of the garage door
4. Keep your body out of the way of the door when closing
5. Do not leave personal property under an open garage door
6. Read more about the garage door opener and other garage components
