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

251–260 of 344 posts

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

#251

Post by jakogut »

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…

> you also could not pay me enough to crawl around under a poorly jacked-up car

Absolutely, I agree. However, like any work, there's a safe way and a million unsafe ways to perform it. Crawling under a car on a jack is unsafe. Crawling under a car properly supported by jack stands is perfectly safe.

I replaced my own garage doors, not just because of the cost, but also because I could not find a contractor to do it inside of four months. I did my research, took my time, and got two 9x7' doors replaced in a weekend and a half at a leisurely pace for a third of the quotes I received from the pros.

The FUD spread online around garage doors is unreal.

If you don't know how to do it safely, don't attempt it. If you can spend a few hours learning how to do things properly and safely, go for it. It's not black magic. Garage door installers are people too, and it's not like the training is some dark arts ritual imbued upon them by shadowy figures. It's basic physics, geometry, and hand tools.

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

#252

Post by xyzelement »

chasd00 wrote: post #76

the people you pay to do it aren't going to do it any safer than you would and if they get hurt you're liable. You may as well watch some youtube, take your time, and do it yourself.

This makes no sense as others pointed out.

There are times to make repairs yourself - such as when you think you can do a better / more nuanced job than a "pro" or when acquiring the skill can pay dividends over a long period (eg once you learn to change your oil and rotate your tires, you will have the option to never pay for it.)

Taking on the injury instead of letting a pro handle is is explicitly NOT the reason to DIY! Presumably the pro has done that thing many times and survived, and even if he fucks up that's the risk of his job.

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

#253

Post by ethbr1 »

mhb wrote: post #242
ethbr1 wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See sibling comment above about the variable counterbalance needed for a normal right-angle tracked garage door. You'd have to match the counterweight to the varying load (i.e. garage door effectively gets "lighter" the more its raised).

Counterweight = a length of chain that lands in a bucket as the door goes up.

That'd be feasible for new-build uninsulated steel doors, but 200+ lbs of chain for wood doors is a lot.

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

#256

Post by kmoser »

jakogut wrote: post #248
amluto wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t understand why it’s even considered safe to have one of these springs in one’s garage without a solid shield of some sort. While the energy involved is small on the scale of energy storage devices ( Which brings to mind some rather different designs. A rather small motor with a lot of mechanical advantage can easily open a close a garage door, and if a DC or low voltage AC motor is used, it could do so quite…

> I’m honestly not sure why springs are common at all in this application. Properly adjusted springs effectively cancel out the weight of the door. This makes it easy to open and close with and without an opener, and greatly limits the danger of a door falling closed under it's own weight, which can seriously hurt someone.

One of my garage door springs snapped unexpectedly while my housemate was opening the garage door. I'm glad nobody was under the door at the time since it slammed so hard it put a bend in the bottom section.

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

#257

Post by alliao »

LeifCarrotson wrote: post #142

The reason it's not expensive to have someone else do it is that if done properly it's not dangerous. Otherwise culture would be lumping garage door repairmen with emergency responders who take dangerous jobs but keep society functioning. You couldn't get it done for $200 if the career killed people frequently. The "if done properly" is critical, yes, if done wrong it's incredibly dangerous, but if you understand and…

if you know it well enough to keep yourself safe then I'd usually say yes. The thing that differs between say... dealing with residential mains power vs spring is I can measure and have quite a bit of trust in materials used. springs I just don't know enough, if it's of good material, metal fatigue? and a mishap means a good chance of disablement. I just don't like springs. Same thing with car suspension and those spring clamps? No SIR.

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

#258

Post by alliao »

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.

oh that is cool what country is that? I'd like to check them out. Honestly sounds really good.

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

#260

Post by [deleted] »

kmoser wrote: post #256
jakogut wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I’m honestly not sure why springs are common at all in this application. Properly adjusted springs effectively cancel out the weight of the door. This makes it easy to open and close with and without an opener, and greatly limits the danger of a door falling closed under it's own weight, which can seriously hurt someone.

One of my garage door springs snapped unexpectedly while my housemate was opening the garage door. I'm glad nobody was under the door at the time since it slammed so hard it put a bend in the bottom section.

[deleted]
Post reply on HN