Hi everyone,
I am writing this email because I’d like to inform you about your garage door so that you won’t make the same mistake we did.
There are two springs (coils) at the top of your garage door that enable it to open. They act as a counterbalance to the weight of the door which allow you to open the door manually and allows a less powerful motor to be used.
These springs have a finite life, and when one breaks, it makes a LOUD snapping noise. If you look at the springs (see attached photo; look at the two springs on the right, formerly one spring), you will see that one of the springs has broken into two pieces.
About a month ago I heard such a noise coming from our garage. I went to investigate, but knowing NOTHING about the garage door mechanism, I didn’t even look carefully at the door and found nothing out of place in the garage in general. So I shrugged, thinking, “that was weird. “
A garage door with two springs can continue to work for a little while with only one working spring, but it is hard on the motor. (This has been confirmed by both the technician and the internet.)
Since we didn’t know there was anything wrong, we continued to use our garage door, until this past Sunday, when the door wouldn’t go up more than a couple inches. It took three people to open the door so that we could get one of our cars out of the garage.
I googled garage door problems and one of the possibilities was a broken spring. I finally looked at the door mechanism and found the two springs at the top. I saw that one was broken.
It is a dangerous job to replace the springs, and a garage door specialist should do it. We called Overhead Door company and the guy fixed it in less than 1 and ½ hours. It cost 293 dollars to have both springs replaced and the door serviced. The technician recommended that we have our door and motor serviced every so often (ideally annually) just like we have our cars and furnace tuned up periodically.
At any rate, now you know a LOT more than I did about what to do if you hear a LOUD snapping noise coming from your garage, or if your door is operating sluggishly, you will know to look for a broken spring. See attached photo.
Best wishes,
Jennifer