Garage door repair of garage door springs are one of if not the most important mechanisms working to open and close your garage door. Without properly working garage door springs, your garage door opener would not be able to lift your door. The springs are the components that allow your garage door opener to efficiently and smoothly lift and lower the garage door. Garage door openers are responsible for starting and controlling the motion of the garage door, and the springs are the counterbalance allowing the door to smoothly open and close the door. Basically, without garage door springs a garage door opener would be useless, and if not properly balanced, you could burn your garage door opener out years before its time.
Garage door springs are long metal coils that are either tightly wound or extended to counteract the weight of the garage door, allowing the door to be opened and closed on command. There are common types of garage door springs:
Torsion Springs
Extension Springs
Expansion Springs
At Mt Pleasant Garage Doors, the technician will come out and measure your broken springs. Your garage door will either use a torsion spring or an expansion spring. Both must be correctly measured and installed based on the weight of your garage door and application.
The most common type are torsion springs, typically placed horizontally above the garage door opening. Torsion springs are stiff metal coils that are often manufactured from beryllium copper, titanium or carbon, and stainless steel. These materials are chosen as they have a high capacity to store energy which is important as torsion springs utilize stored energy to raise and lower doors.
Garage door springs counterbalance the weight of the door to make it easy to open and close. They serve the same purpose as a counterweight. For example, if a garage door weighs 100 pounds, a spring force of 100 pounds needs to pull against the weight of the door. This can be accomplished with springs that either stretch or torque special parts to assist in balancing the door.
Replacing garage door springs is dangerous because of the torque in a wound torsion spring or the stretch in an extended extension spring. Garage door repairs often involve replacing garage door parts that are tied into the spring system such as the cables and drums. Serious accidents, injuries, and deaths have occurred for those who do not understand the tension and forces at work. A proper understanding of garage door springs, garage door weights, cables and drums and coordinating garage door parts, and how these are interconnected is essential for safe repairs. By even loosening the screws on a drum to replace a cable will shift the entire garage door weight to the other side which could cause garage door damage and possible serious injury.
Call Mt Pleasant Garage Doors for a free price quote to replace your broken garage door springs today.
There are basically three types of cable drums for residential garage doors. The cable drums correspond to different types of garage doors: standard-lift, vertical-lift, and high-lift. Each cable drum is manufactured to help the garage door remain balanced as it opens and closes with the help of the torsion springs.
Standard-lift cable drums are flat for the most part. Toward the outside of the door, the last 3/4 of a turn or so on the grooves of the cable drum is slightly raised. This helps keep the garage door balanced as it begins to open. Standard-lift cable drums are the most used in residential garage doors in the Mt Pleasant, SC area.
Vertical-lift cable drums are taller than standard-lift drums. When the garage door is closed, the cable is farther from the shaft. As the door opens, the cable wraps up on the drum and comes closer to the shaft
High-lift cable drums have both a flat portion like the standard-lift drums and a raised portion like the vertical-lift drums. The cable runs on the raised portion while the garage door opens vertically then switches over to the flat portion when the door begins to run on the horizontal track
It is never safe to adjust or try to replace your garage door cables and drums without a thorough understanding of the pressures and tension the drum is under. Proper cable and drum repairs often require the un-winding of the torsion spring to release all tension from the drum before making the cable adjustment. Many youtube videos show improper cable and drum adjustments that could result in injury to the person making the repair.
Call Mt Pleasant Garage Doors for a free estimate to replace or adjust your garage door springs, drums and cables.
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