If torsion spring breaks on metal garage door

[Doug]

Hypothetically, on a metal garage door, if the torsion spring breaks,
can you disengage the garage door from the garage door opener (track)
and open and close it?

Suppose there are 2 torsion springs and only one spring breaks, same
question?

[Tony Hwang]

Hi,
When it happened to me, I temporarily joined broken spring together with
small U bolt and rewound it to just open the door once to bring
cars outside. Then I closed the door down, called the service guy.

After watching him do it, now I can work on door problems myself.

[Ralph Mowery]

"Doug" <do...@noemailaddress.com> wrote in message
news:bd37b8h2m0b979gdt...@4ax.com...

The release if for the opener. The springs are to make the door light
enough so the opener has to do only small ammount of work. If the springs
break the opener will not have enough power to open the door.

With the springs working, the door is light enough to lift by hand when the
opener quits working and the release is pulled.

You can pull the release and lift the door when the springs break IF you are
strong enough. It may take two or three people depending on the weight of
the door.

[Smitty Two]

In article <bd37b8h2m0b979gdt...@4ax.com>,

I have some experience with a single broken spring on a 2-spring door.
No problem lifting and lowering the door by hand. But, I could only lift
it so high, and it wouldn't stay in that position. So I clamped a vise
grip on the rail to hold the door open. Did that for a few months, a
couple of times per week as needed.

[Danny D.]

Hi Doug,

Q: Can you disengage the garage door from the GDO with a broken spring?
A: Yes. There is no relationship to the spring whatsoever for disengaging.

Q: Can you then open & close the door manually (with a broken spring)?
A: Yes. But.

The torsion spring was counterbalancing the door - so - now YOU need
to lift the weight of the door which 'was' handled by the broken
spring. My single-car door is 127 pounds. A double-car door can easily
be double that.

BTW, "closing" the door will be easy (gravity does the work for you).
But think about how you would go about 'stopping' two to four 50-pound
bags of cement falling 7 feet along the tracks.

Q: If one of two torsion springs break, can you manually open the door?
A: The answer is the same. The only difference is that half the weight
of the door is on you, the other half is on the matched unbroken spring.

There are two (and only two) web pages you need to fully understand
garage door torsion springs. I've read dozens, and I've watched every
youtube video out there - but you only need these two pages:

1. Richard Kinch (background material)
2. Dan Musick (DDM Garage Doors DIY info)

[Danny D.]

On Mon, 26 Nov 2012 08:55:47 -0700, Tony Hwang wrote:

> I temporarily joined broken spring together with a

> small U bolt and rewound it to just open the door

I've seen the youtube videos and web pages where they
actually weld the spring together temporarily and they
also use a u-shaped spring clamp.

Seems to me the u-shaped spring clamp is the easiest
for a homeowner to get the car out of the garage.

The only thing is that I winced when I saw the video
of the guy winding the temporarily repaired spring.

I kept thinking to myself "what if that spring clamp
broke?"

So, its' probably slightly more dangerous to wind a
temporarily fixed spring - but it will work for sure.

[Doug]

Thank you Danny for the help / explanation. Appreciate it !!!

[Doug]

On Mon, 26 Nov 2012 08:55:47 -0700, Tony Hwang <drag...@shaw.ca>
wrote:

Tony, you're brave. I don't think I want to attempt it. I've seen a
video to replace a torsion spring but still hesitate on trying it. I'm
game for many things but not all :( . I once watched my dad
replace a garage spring (parallel to the track) and I know he had a
job doing it alone but he did manage to get it correct. Well, bottom
line is.... you did good !!

[Doug]

Gotcha. Thanks !!

[Doug]

On Mon, 26 Nov 2012 08:28:29 -0800, Smitty Two <notpub...@cox.net>
wrote:

Clever... I'll have to remember that in case. Thanks.

[Tony Hwang]

Hi,
Using U bolt is only one time deal to get the cars out of garage.
I have pair of winding bars I made of steel rod in 2 feet length.
I wear work gloves, safety goggles when I work on springs. Have done it
only couple times over the years. Springs last long time.

[Danny D.]

On Mon, 26 Nov 2012 19:09:43 -0600, Doug wrote:

> I don't think I want to attempt it.
> I've seen a video to replace a
> torsion spring but still hesitate on trying it.

There are scores of videos of common people just
like you and me replacing our torsion springs.

Winding a spring is "almost" trivial.

The only thing that makes it decidedly not trivial is
the dire consequence of something going wrong.

However, the spring-winding task, in and of itself,
is quite trivial for a man of normal strength.

[Danny D.]

On Mon, 26 Nov 2012 18:39:24 -0700, Tony Hwang wrote:

> Using U bolt is only one time deal to get the cars out of garage.

I understand.

There are at least THREE temporary repair options,
two of which were not initially obvious to me:
1. Use a grooved spring coupler to connect the two pieces
2. Clamp the two pieces together with a spring clamp
3. Use the shortened spring with the GDO disconnected

Here's a video where a supplier of the grooved spring
couplers (DMATools.com) shows how the moon-shaped
spring coupler is used to repair a broken torsion spring:
http://www.veengle.com/s/spring%20coupler.html

Here's a supplier of the cable clamps who also provides a
detailed DIY for how to temporarily repair broken torsion
springs: http://www.prodoorsupply.com/category-s/192.htm

Here's a video where they used a 'spring clamp' to
temporarily fix 3 3/8" and 6" torsion springs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHu3JtoUhV0

Personally, if I had to temporarily repair a garage
door torsion spring, I would probably disconnect the
garage door opener and remove the winding cone from
the broken end and insert it onto the long end.

Then I would manually open the garage door, with the
shorter spring counterbalancing 'most' of the weight,
but not all.

Since torsion springs are so inexpensive (less than
fifty bucks in most cases), I wouldn't bother with
either the grooved spring coupler or the U-shaped
spring clamp unless I happened to have them in the
garage already.

The beauty of those two methods is that the spring
retains its strength - but the beauty of the shorter
spring method is that you don't need anything to
temporarily fix the torsion spring.

Of course, winding either a repaired torsion spring,
or winding a shorter (but old) torsion spring has its
dangers - so - when mine broke a couple of weeks ago,
I simply hefted the door open, and then left the garage
door down until the new spring arrived by UPS.

Installing the new torsion spring takes less time than
it took me to watch all the youtube videos! :)

[22h...@gmail.com]

What if you have both Springs broke. How do I open my door?

[Don Y]

On 4/4/2016 10:22 AM, 22h...@gmail.com wrote:
> What if you have both Springs broke. How do I open my door?

Get some extra muscle!

If all else fails, you can isolate each individual panel
(beginning with the topmost) and raise each separately.
I.e., the opposite of when the door is assembled/installed.

Do *not* play with the torsion springs! You are likely
to lose a finger (or three).

[gfre...@aol.com]

On Mon, 4 Apr 2016 10:22:44 -0700 (PDT), 22h...@gmail.com wrote:

>What if you have both Springs broke. How do I open my door?

You are probably best off if you can just leave it closed until you
get the new springs installed. Like Don says, a lot of muscle or
separate the panels. I know my 150 MPH rated door is not going up
without the springs, even if you have a couple weight lifter friends.
This thing is hundreds of pounds.

[Stormin Mormon]

On 4/4/2016 1:22 PM, 22h...@gmail.com wrote:
> What if you have both Springs broke. How do I open my door?
>

The one time I saw a garage guy open a door
with broken spring, he used a come along
"cable hoist" tool from the door frame to
the lower roller. Seemed to work fine for
him. You might need two workers and two
come alongs.

--
.
Christopher A. Young
learn more about Jesus
. www.lds.org
.
.

[DerbyDad03]

2 Torsion springs stories:

1 - A coworker got out of his car and pressed the GDO button next to the
door into his house. The door started to close when the spring on his side
broke and smacked him upside the head.

His wife, who saw him pull into the driveway, got curious when he didn't
come into the house and went out to the garage. She found him lying on the
floor, semi-conscious, with a bloodied face and head.

He spent a few days in the hospital after getting sewn up and was out of
work for a few weeks. When he came back his face look like...well, I guess
it looked like he had been hit by a torsion spring.

2 - My door has a single spring across the top. I tried to close the door
with the GDO and when it got about halfway down I heard a loud bang and
door stopped. I looked above the door and saw that the spring had broken
and the cable around the pulley was loose, kind of half on and half off.

Not quite knowing what the deal was, I decided to pull the emergency release
on the GDO. As soon as I pulled the release, the door dropped violently
another 2 feet or so, when the cable got tangled up on something and stopped
the door - just as my 2 year old daughter ran from the porch and into the
garage. Holy crap!

I don't know if I had ever hugged her as hard as I did that day.

[dpb]

On 04/04/2016 1:59 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
...

> 2 Torsion springs stories:
>
> 1 - A coworker got out of his car and pressed the GDO button next to the
> door into his house. The door started to close when the spring on his side
> broke and smacked him upside the head.

...

Don't doubt the guy got hit but can't see how it could've been a
_torsion_ spring that did it...if the linear spring wasn't installed
correctly with the cable thru it to keep it from going somewhere when it
broke yes...but the torsion springs are wound around the solid bar;
there's nowhere for them to go flying to off of it.

Replacing them isn't _that_ tough; done it several times. One does need
to ensure have the proper toolset/skillset to rewind one w/o letting it
get away from you, though.

--

[DerbyDad03]

OK, linear spring. My error. His pain. ;-)

[Terry Coombs]

Bullshit . With reasonable caution and the PROPER tools most handy men can
replace tham . One caveat - tension both sprinngs at the same time ,
alternating between them to avoid problems caused by the tension rod being
twisted by spring torque .

--
Snag

[gfre...@aol.com]

On Mon, 4 Apr 2016 11:59:54 -0700 (PDT), DerbyDad03
<teama...@eznet.net> wrote:

>On Monday, April 4, 2016 at 2:30:13 PM UTC-4, gfre...@aol.com wrote:
>> On Mon, 4 Apr 2016 10:22:44 -0700 (PDT), 22h...@gmail.com wrote:
>>
>> >What if you have both Springs broke. How do I open my door?
>>
>> You are probably best off if you can just leave it closed until you
>> get the new springs installed. Like Don says, a lot of muscle or
>> separate the panels. I know my 150 MPH rated door is not going up
>> without the springs, even if you have a couple weight lifter friends.
>> This thing is hundreds of pounds.
>
>2 Torsion springs stories:
>
>1 - A coworker got out of his car and pressed the GDO button next to the
>door into his house. The door started to close when the spring on his side
>broke and smacked him upside the head.
>
>His wife, who saw him pull into the driveway, got curious when he didn't
>come into the house and went out to the garage. She found him lying on the
>floor, semi-conscious, with a bloodied face and head.
>
>He spent a few days in the hospital after getting sewn up and was out of
>work for a few weeks. When he came back his face look like...well, I guess
>it looked like he had been hit by a torsion spring.
>

How did he get hit with a torsion spring, They are captive on the
pipe. That used to happen with the old style tension springs until
people started threading a steel cable through them to hold the end
when they broke. I know I did that when I put in my door in the 70s in
Md and I retro fitted the one here.
Now I have torsion springs on the replacement door.
.

[Paint...@unlisted.moo]

On Mon, 4 Apr 2016 10:22:44 -0700 (PDT), 22h...@gmail.com wrote:

>What if you have both Springs broke. How do I open my door?

My garage door is an older wooden 9 foot wide. I had one of the coil
springs break (not torsion, but the long springs alongside the door
track). [is there a name for those springs?]

Anyhow, while the door was up, I removed the other spring, because I
could not get the door to lower with only one spring because it was
pulling sideways. I knew if I left the door open, I'd have raccoons in
there making a mess.

I lowered the door onto some junk tires (off the rims), so it would not
crash against the floor and possibly break something on the door. Then I
raised the door a half inch with my floorjack to remove the tires.

When it came time to open the door, (you cant install those springs with
the door closed), I got a prybar under it, then a 2x4, and raised it
enough to get my floorjack under it. I jacked it as high as it would go
(about 16"), then using a second floorjack, with blocks of wood stacked
on top, I got the door up so it was about 3.5 feet from the floor.

At that point, I was able to raise it the rest of the way by hand, but I
had someone there to put 2x4s under the raised door, to make sure it
stayed up. Then I replaced the springs.

You cant lift them doors by hand when they are all the way down, but
once they are halfway up, you can. Either way, I'd put a prop (2x4)
under the door so it dont come crashing down on you.

With that said, "Torsion Springs" are a different matter. I'm thinking
you'd lift the door the same way, but I dont know how you work on those
springs with the door UP. I have never had torsion springs, and really
would not want them. If I did have them, I'd probably hire a
professional to do the work. Those springs are dangerous!

I did once remove a garage door from a garage that was going to be
demolished, and it had torsion springs. This was many years ago, so I
cant recall all the details. I just remember taking the whole door
apart, piece by piece, and I didn't take the spring. I just converted
that door to use the side springs, since I already had the door tracks.
I just wanted the door itself.

[gfre...@aol.com]

On Mon, 4 Apr 2016 15:13:33 -0500, "Terry Coombs" <snag...@msn.com>
wrote:

Agreed. I did mine when I installed this door but you do have to be
careful and have the right rods to crank them up (typically 1/2" cold
rolled steel). You can make up a nice set out of a 30-36" stick of
steel rod, cut in half. As you say, it is handy to have 2 sets, so you
can bring the springs up evenly. Do one turn on one, then go do a turn
on the other. Once I got a few turns on each I raised the door enough
to put an old bathroom scale under it and used that as a guide to how
close I was. It did take a little fine tuning to find the sweet spot,
where up force on the closed door was about as much as residual force
against trying to close the open door.

[Don Y]

fix their own computers, rebuild their own automobile engines,
blow their own glassware, rewire a home, dig out their own crawlspace,
fell their own trees, etc.

Yet, amazingly, few people do these things -- and few do so without
also injuring themselves (or damaging some collateral property)

You get slightly *less* than ONE mistake when tensioning a torsion
spring. Belatedly discover that you need to take a breather or
that one of the "sockets" for the tightening bars is a bit
buggered and you can't "press pause".

far less risk in changing your own motor oil -- yet amazing how few
folks will go to that "extreme"!

[DerbyDad03]

Read my previous post.

[Terry Coombs]

Doing it myself instead of paying someone with probably less knowledge and
damn sure cares less about my ass has enabled us to live a lifestyle
otherwise out of our reach . I figure if I can do it I should . About the
only thing I won't tackle is automatic transmissions .
Today a neighbor and I laid the Advantech flooring on our new 24 x 24 foot
kitchen ... by the end of the week I expect to be standing up some walls ,
next will be building the 6/12-3/12 scissor trusses , then on to decking the
roof .
And on and on , until ...
--
Snag

[Vic Smith]

I was working in my garage one day when I heard some yelling I
couldn't make out. It continued, so I investigated. A neighbor two
doors down had tried adjusting his torsion spring and dropped the
door. His index finger got squashed between the top 2 panels and was
still stuck there. I lifted the door with a wrecking bar and freed
him, then took him to the hospital - he was a nurse there. The broken
finger had to have the meat stitched back on.
OTOH, I've adjusted them using screwdrivers to crank them.
Of course, that's with the damn door closed.

[Don Y]

Isn't that the motivation behind *most* DIY'ers? My car hasn't seen a
shop in more than 10 years. SWMBO's last vehicle only saw a shop when
the timing belt had to be replaced.

One of the five 40+ ft trees on the property was felled commercially
(because a large bough passed *through* a neighbor's tree meaning that
tree, at the very least, would likely see damage if I tried to fell
it from below). None of the stumps for the four felled trees were
ground -- I dug them each out!

No one has ever touched any of my PC's in the 35 years I've been running
them. No one has fixed a piece of electronic kit that I owned *ever*.

The roof here has ~25 years on it. The neighbors' have all been replaced
in that time period.

We don't "buy on time", carry balances or pay late fees. We can live without
cellphones (though SWMBO has an "emergency phone" for those times when she
is out and runs into difficulties). We don't need to "pay for TV" -- or
other "entertainment services" (library can supply us with more media than
we've time to watch).

Etc.

BUT, we *can* do these things. I'd be very reluctant of recommending to
<22h...@gmail.com> (no "history" on which to base my assessment of his/her
capabilities) that they even APPROACH the "both springs broke", let alone
try to dick with them!

[Don Y]

On 4/4/2016 7:11 PM, Vic Smith wrote:
>> You get slightly *less* than ONE mistake when tensioning a torsion
>> spring. Belatedly discover that you need to take a breather or
>> that one of the "sockets" for the tightening bars is a bit
>> buggered and you can't "press pause".

> I was working in my garage one day when I heard some yelling I
> couldn't make out. It continued, so I investigated. A neighbor two
> doors down had tried adjusting his torsion spring and dropped the
> door. His index finger got squashed between the top 2 panels and was
> still stuck there. I lifted the door with a wrecking bar and freed
> him, then took him to the hospital - he was a nurse there. The broken
> finger had to have the meat stitched back on.
> OTOH, I've adjusted them using screwdrivers to crank them.
> Of course, that's with the damn door closed.

I tend to operate on the premise that I can always get more
*money* (or, can choose to live without something for some period of
time to "make up for" money spent) -- but can't always get another hand,
foot, eye, etc. This is particularly true for things that can go
"very wrong" in an instant!

[Stormin Mormon]

On 4/4/2016 10:11 PM, Vic Smith wrote:
>
> I was working in my garage one day when I heard some yelling I
> couldn't make out. It continued, so I investigated. A neighbor two
> doors down had tried adjusting his torsion spring and dropped the
> door. His index finger got squashed between the top 2 panels and was
> still stuck there. I lifted the door with a wrecking bar and freed
> him, then took him to the hospital - he was a nurse there. The broken
> finger had to have the meat stitched back on.
> OTOH, I've adjusted them using screwdrivers to crank them.
> Of course, that's with the damn door closed.
>

That fellow is quite fortunate to have you for
a caring neighbor. I'm not sure he said thank
you, but I am, and will: Thank you.

[Vic Smith]

I think he did say thanks, but it's something any normal person would
do. But I didn't like that he insisted he be taken to the hospital
where he worked, which was at least a half hour farther than a number
of local hospitals. Understandable, I suppose, for insurance reasons.
Nor did I enjoy waiting at least 3 hours while he was treated.
It was a terrible day for him, just a bad day for me.

[TimR]

Robert Heinlein:

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

[Stormin Mormon]

On 4/5/2016 1:14 PM, Vic Smith wrote:
> On Mon, 4 Apr 2016 23:36:41 -0400, Stormin Mormon
>>

>> That fellow is quite fortunate to have you for
>> a caring neighbor. I'm not sure he said thank
>> you, but I am, and will: Thank you.
>
> I think he did say thanks, but it's something any normal person would
> do. But I didn't like that he insisted he be taken to the hospital
> where he worked, which was at least a half hour farther than a number
> of local hospitals. Understandable, I suppose, for insurance reasons.
> Nor did I enjoy waiting at least 3 hours while he was treated.
> It was a terrible day for him, just a bad day for me.
>

That's my general experience with such things. The
folks who need help often put a lot of conditions.
And it's seldom fun or convenient for the helper.

Still, it shows and speaks well of you as a person.

[Doug Miller]

"Terry Coombs" <snag...@msn.com> wrote in news:ndv2f2$u81$1...@dont-email.me:

> Doing it myself instead of paying someone with probably less knowledge and
> damn sure cares less about my ass has enabled us to live a lifestyle
> otherwise out of our reach .

Ditto here.

> I figure if I can do it I should .

Agreed.

> About the
> only thing I won't tackle is automatic transmissions .

I've done two. And I'd do a third one before I'd replace a torsion spring on a garage door.
I'm not as young as I used to be, and the healing process takes a lot longer than it used to.
It's just more risk than I want, and the amount of money I'd save by doing it myself does not
IMO justify the risk.

[Colonel Edmund J. Burke]

On 4/4/2016 10:22 AM, 22h...@gmail.com wrote:

> What if you have both Springs broke. How do I open my door?
>

Call Aladin, and he will say the Magic Words of Opening: "Open Sesame!"

[Tekkie®]

Paint...@unlisted.moo posted for all of us...

You could have used a pair of vice grips to hold the door open.

--
Tekkie

[Don Y]

On 4/5/2016 10:14 AM, Vic Smith wrote:

> I think he did say thanks, but it's something any normal person would
> do. But I didn't like that he insisted he be taken to the hospital
> where he worked, which was at least a half hour farther than a number
> of local hospitals. Understandable, I suppose, for insurance reasons.
> Nor did I enjoy waiting at least 3 hours while he was treated.

Three hours seems blazingly fast! I've had two ER visits in the
past 20+ years, was "#1" coming out of triage -- yet spent 5 hours
there, in each case.

> It was a terrible day for him, just a bad day for me.

We've stopped acting as ambulance for folks. They can call 911 (or, I
can call FOR them). The ambulance is parked less than 2 miles up the
road and there are at least two hospitals within 3 miles of here.

OTOH, if I put someone in my (or their) vehicle, then I assume liability,
have to address traffic, lights/etc. ("officer, we're on our way to the
hospital -- which is why I ran the light -- and would have been there
by now had you not stopped us"), can not monitor the "patient" to see if
their condition is deteriorating, can not render aid (and still operate the
vehicle) if the "patient" takes a turn for the worse, etc.

The EMT's can be here in 5 or 6 minutes. My time is better served
observing the patient and taking direction from the 911 operator
(who is, undoubtedly, relaying my observations to the ambulance crew).

Some things really aren't worth "saving pennies". A friend was found dead
in her car on the side of the road cuz she opted to drive herself to the
hospital. A lot of good those savings did *her*, eh?