DIY Klutz wrote:

QUESTION 1:
Why would this strong torsion spring break all by itself?

QUESTION 2:
If one torsion spring broke - would installing two be better?

QUESTION 3:
Some Internet posts intimate it's a do-it-yourself job;
others provide dire warnings. ...

I simply ask that someone who has done the job themselves, please
advise me on the three questions above.

I haven't done it myself BUT one spring on my door just broke last week
too. My wife watched the guys who fixed it and she thought it really
did take more than one person to do it. They sent 3 guys and it took
them about an hour. They readjusted everything too and it is REALLY
smooth in operation now, much better than before.

As for why they break, well, they're a big spring doing fairly heavy
work in possibly nasty weather. Stuff weakens and breaks under those
conditions.

The spring(s) should be sized to the door.

Do-it-yourself? You might want to search on +injuries +"garage doors".
If I remember right from a past discussion there are tens of thousands
of people injured every year and the serious ones are from when the
torsion stuff fails.

"Bill Seurer" wrote in message ...

As for why they break, well, they're a big spring doing fairly heavy
work in possibly nasty weather. Stuff weakens and breaks under those
conditions.

Sure, metal fatigue.

Prove to yourself. Take 2 pairs of pliers and bend a thin strip of
metal back and forth until it breaks.

Don

I just finished installing a torsion spring single garage door.. I purchased
it from a business that really wanted to do the install for me, but I lived
about 60 miles from their shop, so they just sold it to me with some
warnings about the dangers of setting up the torsion spring..

The manual that came with the door also gave additional cautions and advice
to have the professionals do it..

As a Life Long DIY, I did it myself, following the step by step
instructions. When I was finished, I was a nervious wreck. As the spring got
tighter, the more I became aware of the dangerous situation I had gotten
myself into. Towards the end of the process, it is necessary to lock the
spring and do some trial lefts on the door to see now much more torsion is
required.. As might be expected, I needed a few more turns.. This I did and
again it was scary, releasing the lock screws while holding that bar. This
time I took several turns, just to make sure I wouldn't have to release it
again..

As it turns out I never got hurt, however the spring has just a little bit
too much torsion, but I just force the door all the way down and hope the
spring will relax in time..

Even with this experience under my DIY Belt, I don't think I would want to
do it for a living..


--
My opinion and experience. FWIW

Steve

Bill Seurer wrote:

The spring(s) should be sized to the door.

Does a garage door with an electric opener need a spring?

What ever happened to counterweights?

Nick

Yes it needs the spring. It is the counterweight.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Keep the whole world singing. . . .
DanG


wrote in message
...
Bill Seurer wrote:

The spring(s) should be sized to the door.

Does a garage door with an electric opener need a spring?

What ever happened to counterweights?

Nick

When the door is up, the spring is not bearing any of the weight.
But as the door is being lowered, the spring takes more and more
weight, so that the door opener and its associated portions aren't
carrying the total weight on the chain or worm drive. Also, it allows
the opener to be changed, disconnected, etc, and the door to be
raised by hand. Since it should be able to be raised to about 4 feet
and sit there without rasing or falling more on its own. So the springs,
of whatever configuration, are adjusted to cause that to be able to
be the door position at rest. Below that point, effort should be needed
to raise it, and effort to raise it higher. But by making that midpoint the
'quiescent' point, most doors should be able to be opened with a
half-horsepower motor. Including my 16 foot wooden door that weighs
in at over 400 pounds.
Part of what I'm considering is to counterbalance at least part of the
weight of my door, so that I don't have to have 3 extension springs
on each side. Counterweights went away as an accomodation to
convenience and modernization, rather like electric trolleys.

wrote in message
...
Bill Seurer wrote:

The spring(s) should be sized to the door.

Does a garage door with an electric opener need a spring?

What ever happened to counterweights?

Nick

wrote:
Bill Seurer wrote:

The spring(s) should be sized to the door.

Does a garage door with an electric opener need a spring?

What ever happened to counterweights?

Nick

Not a question of having an electric opener or not; same deal with a manual
door. A spring takes the weight of the door and acts as the counterweight.
Sure a chain, pully system, and the right weight will do the same thing, but
setting them up in an unobstrusive place may be a problem. You don't want
the weights to come down on you car or your kids standing in the garage when
you open the door.

Electric openers can be made to overcome the door weight, but then they
become more expensive. Then their is the safety factor of h aving a heavy
door come down if the link breaks and no spring or counterweight is in
place.
--
Ed

http://pages.cthome.net/edhome

DanG wrote:

Yes it needs the spring. It is the counterweight.

A Sears salesman told me that some people use their
garage door openers to pull boats out of the water.

Nick

Bill Seurer wrote:

I haven't done it myself BUT one spring on my door just broke last week
too. My wife watched the guys who fixed it and she thought it really
did take more than one person to do it. They sent 3 guys and it took
them about an hour. They readjusted everything too and it is REALLY
smooth in operation now, much better than before.

BTW, we just got the bill and it was under $90.