Today, I want to talk a little bit about the Garage Door balance. What is it and why is it important? So basically when we check to see if a garage door is balanced. We’re asking how heavy or how light it is with the springs.
A garage door properly balanced should go up and down, nice and easy by hand. If you have to use too much strength to lift it up, it’s too heavy. If it wants to fly out of your hand when you try to lift it up, it’s too hot. You want to find that perfect balance for the door. Where it’s nice and easy to move.
How do I know if my garage door is not balanced?
To test your door’s balance pull the release cord to put the door in manual. As you bring it down it should come down nice and easy and go up nice and easy. It should not be fighting me and I’m not having to try too hard to lift it. A good way to tell if it’s balanced is if you bring it down with the first section sitting in the opening and the second section just beginning to transfer through the turn into the verticles. With the garage door in that position, it shouldn’t want to go up or down at that point I would consider that properly balanced.
Why is it important?
So why is it important? The main issue with it being too heavy or too light is it’s going to put a huge strain on your opener. The opener is meant to lift it, just like you’re meant to lift it with your hand. Nice and easy, it goes up, comes down. If it’s struggling too hard, you’re going to prematurely hurt your opener and you need to replace it sooner than you should have to.
A door opener should last 8 to 12 years, maybe even longer depending on usage. That’s what gets most parts is age and use. If you want to get the full life out of your opener periodically, feel your door by hand, make sure it’s balanced and goes up and down nice and easy, and there’s nothing causing the garage door to bind and not operate smoothly.
What does it mean?
If the door does feel too heavy or feels like it wants a rocket up out of your hand, then it’s probably got the wrong springs, or the springs on there just getting old and they’re getting weaker.
So if you’re garage door opener is struggling or the door seems to be going a little bit slower than normal or it goes up really fast but then goes down really slow, Check the balance of the door. You might need us to come out and do an evaluation. You might need new springs or there might be something else that we can do to get the door to balance and operate smoother.