2026-04-07 7 min read
If you live in Glastonbury long enough, you already know the drill: temperatures can swing from the low 20s on a January night to the mid-80s in July. That kind of thermal stress doesn't just affect your heating bill. it wears down the mechanical components of your garage door in ways most homeowners never think about until something snaps.
Garage door springs are one of those components. They're under constant tension every single time your door moves, and in a climate like ours, that stress adds up fast. Understanding when they're failing. and what to do about it. can save you a costly emergency call and keep your family safe.
Your garage door is heavier than it looks. Most residential doors weigh between 150 and 300 pounds, and the springs are what make them manageable. Torsion springs mount horizontally above the door opening, using torque to lift the door. Extension springs run along the sides of the door tracks and stretch to provide lift.
Both systems are rated by cycles. one cycle being one complete open and close. Most standard springs are rated for around 10,000 cycles. If you use your garage door four times a day (a common number for Glastonbury families who commute into Hartford), that works out to roughly seven years of life. High-cycle springs can push 20,000 cycles or more, which is worth asking about when you replace.
The freeze-thaw pattern Glastonbury sees each winter. temperatures dropping below freezing at night and climbing back up during the day. accelerates metal fatigue in springs, especially those without protective coatings. That's why spring failures here tend to cluster in late winter and early spring, right when you'd least expect them.
Knowing what to look for can be the difference between a planned replacement and a door that stops working at 7 AM on a Monday.
If your opener hums and strains but the door barely lifts. or lifts only partway. a spring is likely broken or severely weakened. If one side of a two-spring system fails before the other, the door may rise at an angle. Don't force it open. Operating a door with a compromised spring puts strain on every other component, including your opener motor, cables, and rollers.
Many Glastonbury homeowners describe this as sounding like a gunshot inside the garage. That sudden snap is a torsion spring breaking under tension. If you hear it and your door stops working, that's exactly what happened. Don't attempt to manually operate the door. learn more about safety protocols before touching anything.
With the door fully closed, look up at the spring mounted above the opening. If you see a gap in the coil. a space where the tightly wound metal has separated. that spring is broken or near the end of its life. On extension springs running alongside the tracks, watch for visible stretching or uneven coil spacing.
A properly balanced garage door should feel nearly weightless when you lift it by hand. maybe 10 to 15 pounds of resistance at most. If your door feels like you're lifting a refrigerator, the springs are no longer counterbalancing the weight. This test is part of the seasonal maintenance checklist every homeowner should run twice a year.
When springs weaken, your opener compensates by working harder. You might notice the motor running longer than usual, the door moving more slowly, or the opener giving up partway through the cycle. This kind of wear doesn't just indicate spring trouble. it can shorten your opener's lifespan too.
Most homes built in Glastonbury Center and East Glastonbury in the 1990s and 2000s use torsion springs. the single or double spring system mounted on the bar above the door. They're more durable and tend to last longer than extension systems.
Older homes, particularly the Cape Cods and split-levels built in the mid-20th century throughout Buckingham and South Glastonbury, are more likely to have extension springs running along each side of the door. These are easier to spot but more prone to imbalance if one side fails while the other is intact.
Knowing which system you have matters because replacement parts, labor, and the urgency of the repair differ between the two types.
This is one of those cases where the honest answer is: please don't try it. Garage door springs store an enormous amount of mechanical energy under tension. When released improperly. even by experienced DIYers. they can cause broken bones, facial injuries, or worse. Proper replacement requires specialized winding bars and the training to use them correctly. Even if you find tutorial videos online, the risk simply isn't worth it.
This is especially true in a town like Glastonbury or neighboring Manchester, where many homes have two-car attached garages with bedrooms directly above. A door that falls unexpectedly can cause serious structural and personal injury.
If you're seeing any of the signs above, the right move is to stop using the door and contact a qualified technician as soon as possible.
A professional spring replacement is typically a straightforward job. A technician will assess both springs (even if only one is broken. when one goes, the other is usually not far behind), remove the failed hardware safely, and install new springs calibrated to your door's specific weight and dimensions. The job usually takes under two hours for a standard residential door.
When getting a replacement, it's worth asking about high-cycle springs. Standard springs are rated around 10,000 cycles; high-cycle options can reach 25,000 or more. Given how much Connecticut winters accelerate wear, investing in higher-rated hardware upfront often pays for itself. You can review all the services we offer to understand what a full inspection and replacement involves.
Planned replacements. scheduled before a spring fully breaks. typically cost significantly less than emergency callouts, and you avoid the safety risk of a door that fails mid-cycle.
Disconnect your opener by pulling the red emergency release cord, then try to lift the door manually. If it's extremely heavy or won't budge, the spring is likely the culprit. If the door lifts smoothly but the opener still won't run, the problem is with the motor or electrical system.
No. Operating a door with a broken spring puts excessive strain on the opener motor and cables, and creates a real safety hazard. The door may fall unexpectedly or cause other components to fail. Stop using the door until the spring is replaced.
Costs vary based on spring type, cycle rating, and whether one or both springs need replacement. As a general rule, torsion spring replacement runs higher than extension spring replacement due to the hardware involved. Getting a quote from a local technician is the best way to get an accurate number for your specific door.