Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How I replaced deadly garage door torsion springs (2002)

truetex.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 344 posts

Re: How I replaced deadly garage door torsion springs (2002)

#111

Post by supportengineer »

the__alchemist wrote: post #20
levocardia wrote: post #5

I had a teacher in high school who was blinded (I think only in one eye) trying to do this repair. You could not pay me enough money to do this repair. >This work is risky, but the risk is comparable to doing your own car repairs, or climbing on the roof of your house to clean your gutters. Notably, "unintentional fall" is the #1 cause of emergency department visits for adults [1], which is why I'd hire a professiona…

Thank you. I agree on all examples. Absolutely not worth the risk. Not even close. I wince thinking about when I changed my own oil in my 20s... Potentially throwing away so many good years, for so little gain. The car danger can be mitigated if the work is done under a professional lift.

I started changing my own oil when I was 16. We only used ramps, never jacks.

Re: How I replaced deadly garage door torsion springs (2002)

#112

Post by elzbardico »

elzbardico wrote: post #105

At my home country we used counter-weights, pulleys and cables. Took more space, it is arguably uglier (but who cares how it looks on the inside?) but the cable usually lasts for ages and fixing it is not a life-threatening procedure.

Torsion springs are BMWs, the expensive, over-engineered, beautiful, high performance style of doing this.

Most of use would be just fine with a Toyota instead.

Re: How I replaced deadly garage door torsion springs (2002)

#113

Post by birken »

shiftpgdn wrote: post #32
MiguelHudnandez wrote: post #23

I was hoping this was going to be a new technology making these springs obsolete.

I don't entirely understand why you can't just have a motor move the door for newer aluminum doors. They aren't that heavy.

Coincidentally I just had a professionally done garage door spring replacement today, and I asked the repairman this question, and here is what he said:

1. The springs lift the door from the bottom, and from each side, which puts less load on the door itself as compared to if the entire weight were being lifted from the top middle every time.

2. The motors can be smaller, quieter and use less power

3. In case of power failure, the door is much more functional and safer the less apparently weight it has.

Also the springs themselves are very unlikely to be dangerous (as long as you don't try to replace them yourself), because he said they almost always break when the door is at the closed state, because that is when they are under the most tension. Therefore on the whole, the springs in practice offer no practical safety risk, while greatly increasing the safety of the door in it's normal operation while also reducing wear and tear on the door. They also allow people to have heavier types of doors if they want them.

Re: How I replaced deadly garage door torsion springs (2002)

#115

Post by ajb »

derekp7 wrote: post #67
ajb wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The alternative is counterweights. Not exactly new, but there looks like there is enough space for them in this case. The ones in the house I grew up in were a pair of concrete cylinders on either side of the door, maybe 10-15 cm in radius and 1m in length, mounted vertically. Not sure why they're not more common - seemed a completely reliable system.

The door needs less counter weight as it goes up. In order for weights to work you either need several weights, with different weights bottoming out as the door rises. Or have the cable on a spiral pulley may work.

I don't think that's true of the mechanism I saw, which I believe was quite common, but it's 20 years since I looked at the mechanism.

Ok I've found a video with one in: https://m.youtube.com/shorts/zLuJYlHBSkU

The counter weight is always taking the full weight of the door, there's just a linkage which rotates the door on the way up. So, not the same as the spring ones, which follow a curved channel.

This makes me less keen on them as in theory it's going to fall when it wears out, albeit with only 50% of the weight. Unless there's another failsafe.

Re: How I replaced deadly garage door torsion springs (2002)

#116

Post by XorNot »

therein wrote: post #109
buescher wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They typically fail when wound (closed), not unwound (open), because that's when they're stressed. Cables can fail when winding the drum (open), but you have two.

That doesn't instill any peace of mind. So they are normally under stress and might explode at some random moment? Edit: Okay, that [0] doesn't look too violent. [0] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4qTIpspUik

What gets you as I understand it is that the turning handles for the springs. If you lose your grip on them its a rod of steel that's going to flung around at high speed with enough force to counter-weight an entire garage door.

Re: How I replaced deadly garage door torsion springs (2002)

#117

Post by mzs »

therein wrote: post #109
buescher wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They typically fail when wound (closed), not unwound (open), because that's when they're stressed. Cables can fail when winding the drum (open), but you have two.

That doesn't instill any peace of mind. So they are normally under stress and might explode at some random moment? Edit: Okay, that [0] doesn't look too violent. [0] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4qTIpspUik

There is a rod that contains the broken spring. If an installed spring were to break when the door was open the most likely cause of danger is a few hundred pounds of garage door coming down on whatever was under it, so wait for the door to fully open before driving through.

Re: How I replaced deadly garage door torsion springs (2002)

#118

Post by adrr »

riversflow wrote: post #88
adrr wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like there should be something better that can last longer and not kill you if you try to fix it.

Why does it seem like there should be something better?

Our garage doors openers are better. No more loud chain and they last longer too.

Re: How I replaced deadly garage door torsion springs (2002)

#119

Post by grepfru_it »

HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #42
levocardia wrote: post #5

I had a teacher in high school who was blinded (I think only in one eye) trying to do this repair. You could not pay me enough money to do this repair. >This work is risky, but the risk is comparable to doing your own car repairs, or climbing on the roof of your house to clean your gutters. Notably, "unintentional fall" is the #1 cause of emergency department visits for adults [1], which is why I'd hire a professiona…

Right? One of my garage door lifting cables broke, and although I knew how to replace it, the $150 or so that it cost to have an actual professional fix it was money well spent. I've done car repairs for decades, and climbed up on roofs when I had to, but I'm not dicking around with garage door springs.

It’s not that it’s a hard job, the labor cost comes in at around $100-$150/hr as you said. It takes about an hour to do.. But why am I going to do this when my time could be better spent elsewhere?

Saving $1000 tiling your shower? That makes sense. Saving $100 and potentially maim yourself in the process? Hello garage door repairman.

Re: How I replaced deadly garage door torsion springs (2002)

#120

Post by nighthawk454 »

sbelskie wrote: post #33
giantg2 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Notably, "unintentional fall" is the #1 cause of emergency department visits for adults" Most of these are not from DIY, but age realted

How is it age related if it is the number one cause for all ages? Am I misreading the chart?

meaning elderly people falling due to mobility/balance issues vs some guy falling off his roof
Post reply on HN