Garage Door Torsion Springs Our Springs Are Made In USA (unlike cheap competitors)

Standard torsion springs are the most common type of residential garage door spring, and they're easy to install. Garage doors are typically powered by either one or two springs. The torsion spring can be mounted to an anchor bracket in the middle of your shaft. Above where you'll find it on lighter duty models-or if there's enough room left over for them (and sometimes this doesn't happen), they might put their offset mount up high so that we don't have any obstruction when installing our tensioners!

The two torsion springs balance the garage door and are typically mounted to an anchor bracket above. If one breaks when open, then there is another in reserve which will keep it from falling on you or damaging nearby property!

Opening and closing your garage door relies upon several different parts. First, you need to ensure that your trouble comes from broken springs and not problems with the tracks, cables, automatic openers, or other parts. Before you ask how to open a garage door with broken springs, you should make sure your springs have broken.

Your door refuses to open: Most residential garage doors have a safety feature that will stop them from opening more than a few inches if springs have broken. If you don’t have that safety feature, the door may still feel too heavy to open. If you try pulling the emergency cord, that won’t open the garage door.

• Loud noises: Garage door springs are under considerable tension. They might make a crashing sound when they break and release this tension.
• Visible gaps: If you see any visible gaps in your torsion springs, that’s a clear sign it has broken. Only one spring has broken in some cases, and a second spring will support the door’s weight for a while. You still need an immediate repair because the door was designed and balanced for multiple springs.
• The door falls fast: Garage door springs also help doors close smoothly, so if the door falls too quickly, you probably have a broken spring…
• The door looks bent or crooked: Again, you may have only one broken spring, and the other spring is only holding up its half of the door. You may have a broken garage door spring if the door appears out of balance, bent, or crooked.
• Cables or pulleys hang down from the walls or ceiling: Once the spring breaks, other parts of your system are likely to become loose or disconnected.

Should you be opening your garage door with only one broken spring? Some residential garage doors operate off of only one spring, but many doors use two. Very large and heavy garage doors may even have two springs on each side. Even though the working springs may support the weight of the door at the moment, you should not continue to operate the door with broken parts because the other springs are sure to fail soon because they are also probably aging and have to bear more of a load than they were designed for.

Also, you should replace all of your garage door springs even if only one spring has already failed. New springs will apply more tension, so you’ll have trouble getting your door to balance correctly. Also, one spring’s failure is a sure sign that all of your springs are aging and bound to fail soon. In the long run, it’s a much more frugal decision to replace all the springs at one time.

Are there safe ways to open garage doors with broken springs? In the best cases, you will get your garage door repaired before you plan to open or close it. You may urgently need to get your car outside or access the garage in some cases. At the same time, you should exercise caution before opening residential garage doors with broken springs.

Remember that the garage door is much more expensive than the springs, so you will be prudent to invest in repairs to preserve the door. Also, garage doors can weigh from 130 to over 300 pounds. Unless you know how to handle that load, you’re taking a serious safety risk. If you can’t repair your garage door right away, you might be wise to call for a taxi or Uber for urgent appointments until you can get repairs made.

Do You Still Need to Learn About Opening a Garage Door With a Broken Spring?

If you have an urgent need to know how to open a garage door with a broken spring, you might review a few different situations. Before getting started, it’s best to disconnect your automatic garage door opener.

Two-Car Garage Door With All Springs Broken

In this situation, it’s best to get the garage door springs repaired before worrying about opening the garage door with broken springs. If you have three or four sturdy men to help, you might be able to force the door open while one person makes sure the cables and doors stay in alignment. Some people have tried using sturdy ladders or crowbars to prop up the door. You will face several risks, including having the door fall and injure somebody, the door getting broken, or damaging your car or other property.

Two-Car Garage Door With Only One Spring Broken

If you have a three-hundred-pound garage door with one spring still working, you and your helpers might still need to bear the load of at least 150 pounds. You might attempt to open the door if cables are still attached and the door still tracks appropriately.

One-Car Door Without Insulation

Even the lightest garage doors will probably weigh at least 100 pounds. Even if you are powerful and can lift 100 pounds, you should still have a buddy to ensure that the cords are not tangled and that the door stays on the tracks. Insulated garage doors will weigh more than uninsulated doors, so you should probably treat a one-car garage door with insulation as if it were a two-car garage door.

Of course, it’s always better to proactively keep your garage door springs and other parts well maintained in the first place. That way, you won’t have to figure out if opening garage doors with broken springs is safe or practical. To help you rely upon your garage door springs longer and to avoid emergency repairs, consider these common reasons why garage door springs break in the first place.

• Rust: Even though our oil-tempered springs come protected against rust, any metal will rust in time. To prolong the useful life of your springs, spray them with garage door lubricants periodically. Don’t use WD-40 or other lubricants that aren’t specifically formulated for this purpose. Common lubricants can build up on the springs, attract contamination, or even cause slippage.
• Out-of-balance doors: About once a year, you should check to make sure that your garage door remains properly balanced. Test your door’s balance by lifting the door about halfway. If the door remains in place, the springs pass this test. You probably need to replace your springs if it falls a little, particularly to one side.
• Old springs: All of our springs are warrantied for at least four years, and you can upgrade your purchase of torsion springs to buy superior products with an eight-year warranty. If you did not buy high-quality springs in the first place or use your door several times each day, your springs might be worn from use.
• Dirty and unlubricated springs: Your garage door springs may pick up dirt and other contamination from the outside or inside your garage. Before you lubricate, you can clean off visible dirt with a damp rag. Then you can spray them with a garage door lubricant. At the minimum, attend to this housekeeping chore at least twice a year, but do it more often if you think your springs have been subjected to dirtier or more extreme conditions.
• Cheap springs: Everybody likes to save money; however, the inconvenience of having an urgent problem with your garage doors is rarely worth saving a couple of dollars on high-quality garage door springs in the first place. We offer durable, made-in-the-USA springs with a secure warranty.
• Environmental conditions: Freezing garage temperatures can cause the metal to shrink slightly, and it will expand as the weather warms up. Over time, this cycle weakens springs, and they do tend to break more often in cold weather. Also, very humid conditions will encourage rust. Insulated garage doors and proper lubrication can help protect garage door springs and other parts.

In a perfect world, you might keep track of the age of your springs and permanently replace them on schedule. A garage door cycle refers to closing and opening the door. If your garage door spring was rated for 10,000 cycles, and you open and close your garage door four times a day, you might expect the springs to last over six years under ideal conditions. Ideal conditions mean that you attend maintenance and your garage isn’t exposed to extreme weather.

There’s no way to set a perfect replacement schedule for garage doors. Since most homeowners genuinely do not remember or never know how old their garage door springs are, it’s probably more reliable to look for some common signs that garage doors may fail soon.

• The Door is Out of Balance or hard to use: It will probably start to lose some of its strength and tension before your spring breaks. Check to make sure both sides of your door appear level. Also, notice when the door seems harder to open or close.
• You see visible corrosion: If you can see that the springs are corroded, you know that they’ve lost a lot of their initial strength. Of course, the metal in springs has to be strong and pliable, but rust will make your garage door springs weak and brittle.
• Noisy door operation: In some cases, noisy garage door springs may need lubrication. Also, other parts of the garage door may cause noise. In some cases, you might need to tighten the hardware or replace the garage door rollers. At the same time, sudden, excessive noise can signal a problem with residential garage door springs.