The spring weight is designated by a color code on the end of the springs. As far as trades go, I still amazed that professional licensing isn't a requirement for overhead door mechanics.The light is emitted from one side of the garage door to a receiving unit on the other side of the door. Thankfully his wife was home and heard his screams for help. He was trapped between the weight of the door and the pull of the spring. His hand got wedged in the pulley at the end of the spring halting the door in its descent. When he unhooked the cable the door started to close. He didn't realize that the spring was still under a bit of tension, tension that was holding the door up. He had the door in the up position and decided to disconnect one of the stretch springs. The lady of the house told me she had to call the fire department the previous day to have her husband extricated from the door. One day I was sent to repair a large double door. I still avoid standing in line with stretch springs. This was long before safety cables became a requirement. A mechanic suffered a fatal head injury when a stretch spring broke and he happened to be standing directly in-line with the spring. Stretch springs are just as dangerous, and probably more so. Many times I had torsion springs break while I was winding them up. A poor fitting torsion spring winding bar can get thrown across a room with tremendous force. We all knew of mechanics and others who had suffered injuries for not being careful, not having the right equipment or just not knowing what they were doing. I worked as an overhead door mechanic full-time for many years and several family members did as well. Working with torsion springs and overhead doors in general does require great caution. This all assumes that the correct springs have been supplied with the door. An 8 foot high door would require approximately 8-1/2 to 9 turns on the spring(s). For each turn on the spring the door will lift 12' or one foot. For example, if the cable drum measures 4' in diameter, it's circumference is approximately 12'. An additional 1/2 or full turn will be necessary to supply sufficient tension to the cables to keep the door in the up position. Each turn on the spring it will raise the door the circumference of the cable drum. An easy way to do this is to measure the diameter of the cable drum and multiply it by three. When the spring is wound to the correct number of turns, you tighten the setscrews without trying to change the length of the spring.įor an overhead door with standard tracks, that is not high lift or vertical lift, the approximate number of turns for the torsion spring(s) can be determined by measuring the circumference of the cable drum. As the spring is wound, it will lengthen. Are you concerned about where the winding cone tightens down to the torsion bar? It doesn't matter.

Clopay garage door weight chart