Garage doors often have 2 springs, so naturally a commonly asked question is, “Can I just replace the one spring that broke?” Technically, you can replace just the broken one, but should you? It is certainly not recommended and a professional door company would not advise you to. To understand why this is, let’s talk a little bit about the springs.

The springs of the garage door are there to counterbalance the weight of the door. Garage doors can be extremely heavy, weighing up to approximately 350 pounds. Each spring is responsible for managing half of the weight and evenly distributing it across the entire door. When a spring breaks, the remaining intact one will try to compensate and take on more weight but it is not meant to handle the additional load which will strain it. The door will become unbalanced. Oftentimes the door will not even be able to open with only one spring. In some cases the garage door opener may still be able to function but you should never use it knowing that a spring has broken.

Using the garage door with a broken spring can be dangerous. It could cause the door to come slamming down. It could also cause the door to be thrown off of its tracks due to the uneven weight distribution. If either of these happen, it could cause very serious injuries.

Now that we have talked a bit about the function of the springs, we will get into why replacing both of them at the same time is ideal. First of all, when one spring breaks, it is usually a sign that the other one is about to break as well. Springs most of the time will break from wear and tear. A typical spring will last roughly 10 000 cycles, or about 7-10 years with average usage. Changing both at the same time will prevent you from the headache of changing one and then a short time later, needing to do the other.

The next reason for changing both springs together is that if the springs are not in the same condition, it can create other problems with your door and opener. Springs work together so if one is weaker than the other it will put a strain on the stronger one. This could cause the new spring to last for a shorter amount of time than it should. Also, the weight distribution could still be off and this can cause strain to other components of the door and opener. This can lead to the opener motor burning out or causing the opener rail to bend.

You may want to save the money on the second spring, especially in current times with inflation being so high and the prices of essentials having gone up incredibly, but know that it could end up costing you quite a bit more in the future if you end up with additional problems.

If you are in need of a spring replacement, call The Door Master. Our expert technicians will take care of it quickly for a reasonable price. Remember, never change garage door springs yourself. The amount of tension can cause serious injuries so it is important that it is done by an experienced professional who knows what they are doing.