Broken Garage Door Spring, Replaced the Same Day

What actually breaks inside a garage door spring

A torsion spring sits on a steel shaft above the opening and winds up as the door comes down, storing the energy that lifts it again. Every cycle work-hardens the wire slightly. Most springs fitted to Perth homes are rated to around 10,000 cycles, which is roughly seven to ten years for a household opening the door four times a day.

When the wire finally fatigues it lets go at a single coil with a bang, and the door loses its counterbalance instantly. A 90kg sectional door that used to feel weightless now weighs 90kg, which is why the opener gives up at the same moment.

Extension springs, the long springs running above the horizontal tracks on older tilt doors, stretch rather than twist and usually fail at the end hook. Roller door springs live inside the barrel and tend to lose tension gradually instead of snapping outright.

What we do on site

The first step is measuring the old spring: wire gauge, inside diameter, overall length and wind direction. Get any one of those wrong and you end up with a door that either flies up or refuses to lift, so we measure rather than guess, then match the size from van stock.

With the door clamped and the shaft locked, the failed spring comes off, the cones are transferred or replaced, and the new spring is wound to the calculated number of turns. Balance is then checked by hand at knee, waist and shoulder height. A balanced door stays put wherever you leave it.

Last, the opener force and travel limits are reset, because they were tuned to the old spring, and the safety reversal is tested with a solid obstruction. Most spring jobs are finished inside an hour.

• Wire gauge, diameter, length and wind direction measured, not guessed
• Door clamped and shaft locked before any tension is released
• New spring wound to calculated turns and balance checked by hand
• Opener force and travel limits reset to suit the new spring

Torsion, extension and roller door springs are not interchangeable

Sectional panel-lift doors almost always use a torsion spring above the opening. Older tilt doors in Perth's 1960s and 1970s suburbs typically run a pair of extension springs down each side. Single-sheet roller doors carry their spring hidden inside the axle.

Each needs a different repair. Torsion springs are replaced as a unit, extension springs are always replaced in pairs so the door stays square, and roller door springs are usually retensioned first and only replaced if the wire has fractured or the barrel has corroded.

If your door has two torsion springs and only one has snapped, we will recommend replacing both. The second is the same age, has done the same cycles, and a return visit in six months costs more than doing it now.

Why spring work is not a DIY job

A wound torsion spring holds enough stored energy to break an arm or worse, and it releases it in a fraction of a second if a winding bar slips. The bars sold online are frequently the wrong diameter for the cone, which is exactly how people get hurt. This is the one part of a garage door we will not talk anyone through over the phone.

Safe things to check yourself: look above the door for a visible gap in the coil, think back to whether you heard a bang, and pull the red emergency release cord so the motor stops fighting a door it cannot lift. Then stop there.

Do not try to lift a door with a broken spring by hand, and do not park a car under it while it is sitting part open. Leave the door closed, use the side entry, and ring us instead. We attend broken springs across Perth the same day, and we would far rather come out to a closed door than to an injury.