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How I replaced deadly garage door torsion springs (2002)

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

#281

Post by mnw21cam »

epcoa wrote: post #193
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…

> Notably, "unintentional fall" is the #1 cause of emergency department visits for adults [1] The vast majority of those are the mundane falling down the stairs or the elderly in bathtubs, not anything to do with roofs.

But also "unintentional fall" from roofs is the reason that solar power has more deaths per energy produced than nuclear power.

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

#282

Post by bradfa »

mnw21cam wrote: post #280
j-a-a-p wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never replace the brake fluid. I do flush each caliper when changing summer and winter tyres. This means a selected offspring presses the brake twice for every tyre and the caliper has fresh fluid in it. The fluid only degrades in the caliper, no need to replace it entirely, and no need for a computer when you do it like I described it.

It depends. Brake fluid absorbs moisture, which lowers its boiling point. You don't want it boiling from brake heat when you're really trying to stop. If you live somewhere humid then the whole reservoir can slowly absorb too much moisture and make the fluid unsafe.

Correct. Brake fluid absorbs moisture but the key is that DOT 3, 4, and 5.1 fluid then spreads that moisture evenly throughout itself, so that you never have a pool of water in your brakes but instead a dispersed low percentage of moisture in the fluid.

So even if water only enters the system at the caliper or reservoir, that moisture still spreads through all the fluid in the entire car. That's why you flush it all out when changing brake fluid.

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

#283

Post by Retric »

MadnessASAP wrote: post #239
Retric wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The risk isn’t just what the spring does but what happens to something caught in it. Springs can release energy a lot more quickly than a counterweight which can only accelerate a 9.8m/s/s, and therefore more risky to disable.

A few hundred points accelerating at 1g is still plenty of energy. It also comes with it's own challenges when it comes to releasing it. It also provides a constant force, whereas the force required to raise a garage door linearly decreases the higher it gets. With the consequence that a garage door with a failed motor would slam into its stops over your head rather then into the ground. Followed shortly thereafter b…

Counterweights don’t need to take a straight path to the ground. The force a weight pulls on a surface is based on the tangent.

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

#284

Post by weinzierl »

"Phew! The hazardous torsion is all removed from the old spring. Now the disassembly can begin, with our old friend gravity as the only acceleration threatening personal safety."

Haha, also reminds me of how *"The Actions In This Video Are Performed by Professionals" became completely meaningless, because most of the time they very obviously aren't.

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

#285

Post by elzbardico »

alliao wrote: post #258
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.

Brazil.

Actually I found out that now the more popular system for this kind of door there doesn't even use counterweights or springs, but an endless screw inside a rail or a linear gear.

https://ppa-rp.com.br/item/motor-de-portao-basculante-ppa-ho... max door weight = 250kg

https://ppa-rp.com.br/item/motor-de-portao-basculante-ppa-bv... max door weight = 500kg

For reference: 5.0 R$ ~= 1.0 USD 250 kg ~= 550 lbs

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

#286

Post by b3lvedere »

mildchalupa wrote: post #198

People think garage door springs are like diffusing a bomb. It's not that bad if you are competent and have the correct equipment.

People who nickel and dime everything usually do not have the correct equipment and most of them are hardly competent as well.

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

#287

Post by b3lvedere »

1970-01-01 wrote: post #147

Excellent example of safety third. If you know how to be careful, don't be afraid to do the job.

Or if you know it is going to be a huge pain in the.. then hire someone.

Recently i had all the central heating connections in my house replaced by smart thermostats. I could have done that myself given enough time, but i knew the old current system was from around 1970/1980 and i would face major problems. So i hired some guy to do it for me. Agreed upon a fixed price as well. It took him around 11 hours to get everything working.

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

#288

Post by shawabawa3 »

BenFranklin100 wrote: post #244
cruffle_duffle wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s amazing and honestly kind of sad how risk averse some people are. The reason I don’t change my oil anymore is it just isn’t worth the time and hassle. The “unsafety” of such a task doesn’t even register on my things to be worried about: at all. Jack it up, remember to put on gloves(!!!!) put the fucker on stands and go. The actual scary thing is I’m pretty sure way back when I was a kid we’d just dump the oil do…

I’m baffled too. Changing oil in a car is dead simple and effectively zero risk with a proper pair of jack stands and a modicum of common sense and mechanical aptitude.

Of course it's safe if you jack it correctly

The problem is if you've only used a jack 0-1 times in your life, you won't know you haven't done it correctly until there's a car crushing you

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

#289

Post by mattmaroon »

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…

One of my friends attempted this repair and smashed his hand so badly that the doctor told him it might not be functional ever again. It did mostly recover, but still. NFW am I working on this and the tech can have my $300 once every 15 years.
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