Garage door spring replacement question

[Rich P]

About 25 years ago I installed new garage doors and used Holmes E900 brackets. These are the style for flip up doors and are mounted on the sides for of the door. There are two long springs on each bracket.

On the manufacturer's label there is a statement that "springs over 5 years old should be replaced." If I had followed that I guess I'd be getting ready to put in my 5th set (and there are two doors, so a total of 8 springs!). As it stands now they are all the original ones that came with the brackets.

Have I just been lucky or is this just the manufacturer doing a bit of CYA?

[cabinetman]

On the manufacturer's label there is a statement that "springs over 5 years old should be replaced." If I had followed that I guess I'd be getting ready to put in my 5th set (and there are two doors, so a total of 8 springs!). As it stands now they are all the original ones that came with the brackets.

Have I just been lucky or is this just the manufacturer doing a bit of CYA?

If the door works OK and the springs aren't rusted, and the brackets check out, I'd say if it ain't broke don't fix it. It's probably a CYA thing for them and an income.
.

[phi1l]

my Garage door has springs that are 60 years old. I have never heard of garage dfoor springs failing in any way.

That being said. metal fatigue is a fact & springs will get more brittle with use.

I think if I hd nothing else to do & the temperature in **** started to droping under say.... 35deg. I might think about doing it, ... right after I got down on my hands & knees scrubbed the driveway clean.

[cgallery]

If my existing springs looked good and (due to age) were likely made in the U.S., while the replacement springs were possibly made in China, I may be inclined to keep the old ones.

[geeoh]

I replaced 2 wood garage doors that were rotting with Clopay steel doors in 1997. Both the wood and steel doors had the long springs on both sides. The Clopay doors I installed had wire rope to feed thru the springs and brackets to retain both ends with a safety sheet explaining spring breakage as the reason. The wood doors I installed in 1982 did not have the wire rope kit. I have only heard of 1 spring breaking over the last 30~ years. You could always just purchase wire rope etc. for piece of mind...

[LCHIEN]

all metal springs can break they fatigue and break down>
Causes: number of use ccyles, amount of tension, and environment - humidity and temperature.

Probably five years is their worst case calculation based on many cycles a day and worst case corrosion rates.

Yours will last much longer. how much is a crap shoot. Breaking springs can be dangerous - they warned you. You take the chances.

[pelligrini]

I have never heard of garage dfoor springs failing in any way.

I've had them fail! One took out a flourescent shop light when it did. I wasn't in there when it happened, but I had to clean up the mess. It was actually the hook portion of the end of the spring that broke. I don't know how old the springs were, probably over 30 years though.

[Woody]

Whatever you do - DO NOT ATTEMPT to replace them yourself. Hire a pro and have them do it.

[justaguy]

Whatever you do - DO NOT ATTEMPT to replace them yourself. Hire a pro and have them do it.

The springs that mount on the sides are pretty easy to replace. I replaced a set for the family next door that had one break. It only took about 30 minutes.

The scary ones are the torsion springs that mount above the door header. Mine broke last year and I hired a pro to replace the door and spring. They actually came out and installed a clamp putting the tow pieces back together until the new custome door arrived. Watching the guy wind the tension into a spring that had already broken and was clamped together was an experince.

[Rich P]

Since I installed these myself (as well as made the doors) I'm not worried about replacing them, just don't want to fork out unnecessary bucks. This brand does have retaining wires which seem designed to contain the spring should one give way so that much is covered.

[aggrex]

+1 for the spring cables !!!!

Invest in INEXPENSIVE spring cables whenever possible to control the spring when it breaks. It should be standard for any garage door set-up

[mpc]

On my garage door, with probably the original springs (20+ years old) what gave way was the pivot/hinge bolt on the arms. The springs never let go. Just one day, while my folks were visiting, dad hit the "open" button. BANG! The bolt had sheared off completely, dropping that side of the garage. The door had just began to open so it didn't fall far, nor did it come down at a bad angle and smash my cars or anything. Just a frighteningly loud noise.

Replacing old style pivot door springs isn't hard, nor do you have to fight with much spring tension. You'll need a helper though: somebody has to hold/prop the door open at around 70% fully open... depending on your hinge geometry. Somewhere near there is where the springs are least stressed. That's where you install them - with no tension at all. Then just tighten nuts on U-bolts at the lower mounting point (typically) to introduce tension. At least that's how it was on my original and on my replacement spring setups. I never had to fight any real tension in the springs.

Look for replacement springs with metal rods or some other internal mechanism to catch them if/when the break. Quality ones will have pieces mounted to both the top and bottom ends of the spring to contain it no matter what fails (ideally using separate mounting bolts for the spring and rod): spring in the middle, either spring end, or whatever the spring mounts to/mounting bolts. If a shared mounting bolt fails, both the spring and that end of the containment rod are no longer fastened so that containment rod is useless.

mpc

[JimD]

I don't think I've ever seen springs on the side but your description sounds like the ones I am familar with that have springs overhead. The cable down the center will prevent large pieces from flying off but will not prevent small ones. I do not consider it a big risk, probably the biggest thing would be if it hit you somewhere bad or your car and scratched it good. Overhead is probably worse and I do not worry about it.

I wanted to do my torsion springs on my main garage but LOML stopped me. I researched it throughly but she wanted to spend money to have somebody else do it. Wasn't that expensive and we had the money.

I do not view springs as something like electronics which have a high rate of failure initially, then nothing for a long time, and then maybe a high rate at the end of their life. Springs fail due to high cycle fatigue which is a function of stress and surface finish and cycles. So eventually they fail. Not a bad idea to replace the preventatively but I would never do it every 5 years. Every 20 years seems reasonable to me.

Jim