What is the Purpose of Garage Door Springs?
The garage door is a heavy piece of your house, and your operator | opener needs to be able to lift it. Springs are the counterbalance to your garage door's weight. This helps the motor (and you) to be able to lift the garage door easily. There are two different styles of springs that you will see on garage doors; Torsion and Extension Springs. Both of these springs act as the counterbalance to your garage door’s weight but may have different purposes, functions and costs related to each.
All about Torsion Springs
The most common style of spring is the Torsion Spring and is located above the garage door opening. Torsion springs use torque to store energy and counterbalance the garage door weight. Torque is the twisting motion that allows these springs to coil tighter when the door is closing, or looser when the door is opening. Wire Gauge, Inside Diameter and Length of these springs all play a role in the physics of making sure the spring is correct for your specific door weight and size.
Different Styles of Torsion Springs
Standard Torsion
Profession installation is recommended, as it is difficult and dangerous to wind up the torsion on these springs. However, standard torsion springs are sturdier and potentially last longer than other styles of springs. These springs can quickly become confusing on what side and wind you need for your door. Read our blog Right Wound Vs. Right Hand to better understand which side springs are on. Service companies will often convert your door to this system as it is their bread and butter.
Wayne Dalton TorqueMaster
Wayne Dalton has entered the world of DIY with their TorqueMaster Spring Systems. These springs are concealed in a tube and are much less noticeable than other torsion spring systems. The cost of these springs is significantly lower due to not needing an installation professional. The TorqueMaster Original (TM1) parts are discontinued but the new TorqueMaster Plus (TM3) is the current spring system that has everything to fix your Wayne Dalton Spring.
EZ Set
EZ-set springs are the offspring (pun intended) of the Standard Torsion and TorqueMaster spring systems. You can easily use a drill to wind the torsion on these springs to level out the balance weight of the garage door. They do require initial set up but the goal is to make the winding of the spring easy and safe.
All about Extension Springs
Extension Springs are fairly less common than Torsion springs but offer benefits when it comes to cost and available headroom. These springs are typically installed above the horizontal track when low headroom makes installing torsion springs difficult. Extension springs do exactly that; extend. When the door is closing the springs extend and retract when the door is closing to counterbalance the garage door weight at a constant speed. As all springs are dangerous these are by far the most dangerous. A safety cable is required to prevent damage or an injury in case of a spring malfunction or broken spring. The safety cable stops the spring from shooting freely and causing serious harm.
What style of Spring is Best?
You will get many different answers to this question based on who you ask. DIY’s and Service companies will tell you different things. I will lay out the facts in a table below for you to decide what is best for you.
|
Cost |
Quality |
DIY Difficulty |
Winding Tool Needed |
|
|
Standard Torsion |
$$$$ |
5/5 |
Professional Installation Recommended |
Winding Bar |
|
$$ |
4/5 |
Easy DIY (10 - 60 Minutes) |
Drill |
|
|
EZ Set Springs |
$$$ |
4/5 |
Medium DIY |
Drill |
|
Extension Springs |
$ |
3/5 |
N/A |
