A broken spring is one of the more common garage door issues. Any garage door spring has a limited life span and can only open and close the door so many times before it eventually breaks or wears out. A broken spring will usually make it so that you can’t automatically open and close your garage door, but you may still be able to open the door by hand. In this article, we’ll explain all you need to know about garage door springs, what purpose they serve and what to do if you need to open a door that has a broken spring.
The Role Springs Play in a Garage Door System
The springs are one of the most important components of a garage door system since they are what allows the door to easily glide up and down when you use the automatic opener or move the door by hand. The purpose of the spring or springs is to carry most of the weight of the door so that it opens and closes easily. The way it works is that the spring is under an extreme amount of tension when the garage door is closed. When you use the automatic opener or open the door by hand, the spring then releases all of the tension to help pull the door upward along the tracks.
Garage doors use either extension springs or torsion springs. If your door has extension springs, there will be one spring on either side of the door just above the two tracks. Extension springs are just metal coils that expand and contract as the door closes and opens. The springs are fully extended and under tension when the door is closed, and they then lift the door as they contract.
Torsion springs work in a similar way except that the coil contracts by spinning instead of stretching out. Smaller or lighter doors typically have just a single spring located on the header directly above the door. Larger or heavier doors instead usually have two torsion springs above them to help carry the additional weight.
What Happens If a Garage Door Spring Breaks?
If a spring breaks, there won’t be anything to help lift the weight of the door. That means the automatic opener typically won’t be able to open the door since its motor isn’t powerful enough to lift all of the weight on its own. You can often still use the door by lifting it manually from inside your garage, but it can depend on the type and size of the door as well as how strong you are and if you have someone to help lift all of the weight. If you have a wooden door or a heavier two-car door, you may not be able to lift it by hand. No matter what type of size the door is, you should never attempt to use your opener if the door has a broken spring or else there’s a high risk its motor will burn out.
Another issue that you’ll encounter if your garage door has extension springs or two torsion springs and one of them breaks is that the door may not open evenly. That’s because the remaining spring will support the weight on one side but the other side will be unsupported, leading to the weight being unbalanced.
How to Safely Open and Close a Garage Door With a Broken Spring
In general, we’d recommend not using your garage door if it has a broken spring until you can get the spring replaced. However, we also understand that this may not always be feasible, especially if the spring breaks when your car is inside your garage. If you do need to open the door to get your car out, you need to be extremely careful since there isn’t anything supporting all of the weight. That means the door will instantly come crashing down if you lose your grip or if it’s too heavy for you to open all of the way. The only way to get the door to stay open is to roll it as far up as it will go until it is fully horizontal.
The first thing you need to do to open the door by hand is to disconnect it from the opener trolley by pulling down on the red emergency cord. If you don’t disconnect the door, the opener will lock it in place, and you won’t be able to lift it manually. When opening the door by hand, you normally want to lift it from the center. However, if the door has two springs and one is broken, you’re better off moving slightly to the side where the broken spring is so that you can open the door evenly without it getting bound up.
When opening the door, you want to make sure you bend down and lift with your legs and not your back or else you could easily end up seriously injuring your back. You also need to make sure your feet don’t end up under the door just in case it comes crashing down. If possible, you should get another person to help you open and close the door just to lessen the chances of injury and ensure the door doesn’t come crashing down and potentially suffering more damage.
Once you’ve opened the door all the way so that it is sitting horizontally on the tracks, you should immediately close it as soon as you’ve pulled your car out of the garage. You don’t want to leave it open since there is still a slight chance it could come slamming down and suffer major damage or seriously injure or kill anyone standing underneath it. When closing the door by hand, you also need to be extra careful and close it slowly to prevent any of the other components from getting damaged. After you’ve got your car outside and closed the door, we’d recommend parking outside until you can get the spring replaced. You also need to make sure to reconnect it to the opener trolley so that the door is again locked and no one can potentially open it from outside.
Signs That Indicate a Garage Door Has a Broken Spring
The most obvious sign that your garage door likely has a broken spring is if the opener struggles to open it or can’t open it at all. If you can hear the opener running and the door isn’t moving, you should immediately press the button on your remote or keypad to close the door again. The longer the opener keeps running, the greater the chance there is of it burning out and forcing you to install a replacement.
If you have a lighter, single-car garage door or a more powerful opener, the opener may still be able to lift it up even if it has a broken spring. Nonetheless, you’ll usually notice that the door opens slowly and sluggishly. In some cases, the door may only open part of the way before it gets bound up and stops moving as a result of it not opening evenly.
One other sign you should always watch out for is if you hear a loud popping or banging noise inside your garage. Torsion springs won’t always make a loud noise when they break, but an extension spring usually will since it typically comes instantly flying off when it breaks. This is why extension springs are more dangerous than torsion springs since the spring can cause severe or fatal injury if it hits someone or cause major damage to your vehicle or belongings.
With over 50 years of experience, Door Pro America is the company to trust for garage door repairs, maintenance and installation. We have locations in New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Illinois, Maryland, Colorado, Oregon and Washington and are ready to help with all of your garage door needs. If you’re dealing with a broken spring on your garage door, contact us today to get the issue repaired promptly and professionally.
