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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)

#71

Post by nullhole »

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…

I knew someone in high school who had started work at an auto repair place, and he described the process - and danger - of replacing car springs to me once.

I'm sure there are various types of car spring, the kind he was talking about was the stereotypical coil-of-metal spring. There's so much energy in there that a small slip up can be deadly.

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

#73

Post by willcipriano »

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…

Looks like you have to use a bolt to deload, replace and then load a spring. With the risk being you overload it and it snaps in your face?

A chainsaw is scarier to me.

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

#75

Post by arh68 »

> but the risk is comparable to doing your own car repairs

"Comparable" in that it's way, way greater, sure. Unless we're talking dangerous car repairs, like using a spring compressor to disassemble a strut &c. Or using harbor freight jack stands..

When my spring broke, I thought someone crashed their car into my house. It's an incredible amount of energy.

Garage door springs are up there with lathes & table saws, in terms of danger (IMO).

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

#77

Post by sfilmeyer »

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.

I question whether it's actually true that they "aren't going to do it any safer than you would". I'd expect the typical person I hire to have a lot more experience than me which would give them a chance to be safer, to the point I'd expect it to overcome even the fact that they're probably not taking their time as much as I would.

Separately, being liable for something happening to someone else and that same thing happening to me are not equivalent. Macabre as it is, I'd rather pay out (or have my insurance pay) the lawsuit for a professional hired for a particular task ending up grievously injured than end up grievously injured myself. In a lot of cases, I'd doubt you'd even be financially liable. From a moral standpoint there's still some culpability, but in the case of garage springs I think your obligation is more to stress to the professional that you're happy for them to take their time and you're willing to pay accordingly than it is to subject yourself to the risk instead. From a societal standpoint, a few repairpeople building up expertise at a particular task is safer than everyone doing it individually.

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

#78

Post by bitfilped »

VincentEvans wrote: post #39

Reading some of the comment section here makes this veteran DIYer sneer. Ya’ll need to “grow some” and unlearn helplessness. Pay someone else who learned the simple steps to do the simple work and save yourself the time for more productive activities, but stop congratulating yourself on “avoiding a disaster” - too much drama for the task at hand here.

It also only takes one mistake to severely injure yourself and permanently reduce your quality of life, it's worth considering the value you put on that when deciding these things. I like DIYing as well, but sometimes the risk vs reward isn't worth some extra money. People who get injured doing DIY work often have a similar attitude as yours until they make a critical mistake taking on something they "understand" and haven't done before.

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

#79

Post by rootusrootus »

nullhole wrote: post #71
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…

I knew someone in high school who had started work at an auto repair place, and he described the process - and danger - of replacing car springs to me once. I'm sure there are various types of car spring, the kind he was talking about was the stereotypical coil-of-metal spring. There's so much energy in there that a small slip up can be deadly.

It used to be worse. Lots of cars today use a coil-over-strut design that captures the spring. There's still a lot of energy, but it's much easier to manage safely, by the time the nut at the top runs out of threads there's generally little to no force left in the spring.

Way back (like... 30 years ago) when I was working on my Mustang, the spring was separate from the strut. You had to drop the control arm enough to unload it and remove it, and there wasn't anything to contain it. I always tied it with a chain or a seat belt, and tried to not be directly in front of it during the unloading process. I knew a kid who got hit in the chest by a spring popping out; he did not make it. Removing it or installing a new one were both quite dangerous for the careless.

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

#80

Post by unglaublich »

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.

I rather pay for a dead person than be the dead person. Also, you might expect some professionalism from a person advertising themselves as capable of doing the job, so not sure how your liability assumption holds up.
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