If you are already used to having a garage door with a couple of torsion springs it may come as a bit of surprise to learn that there are actually garage doors with just one torsion spring.
As strange as it may sound to you, garage doors with a single torsion spring are quite common. However, there are considerations that you will need to make when deciding if two torsion springs or just one would be ideal for your garage door.
For starters, if you have a garage door using a single torsion spring and you want to convert this to two torsion springs you should consider the following two parameters:
- Diameter identification
- Wire sizes
In a situation where the Inside Diameter (ID) of the single torsion spring you intend installing for your garage door is between 1-¾” and 2-¼”, you should consider installing two torsion springs. If the wire size of the torsion spring is between 0.250 and 0.283 it would be advisable to install a couple of torsion springs instead of just one.
If you have a garage door with a large wire size you could stand the risk of the steel portions of the cable drum being damaged, the cable drum peeling off, or the breaking of the cables itself. These all have very serious implications, not just for the life span of your garage door, but also to your well-being as well as to those within your household.
The major headache with a torsion spring having a large wire size installed for your single torsion spring garage door, is that as the garage door opens up and closes, the spring will pull on the shaft. The pulling of the shaft by the spring is what could lead to the cable drum being damaged or the breaking of the cables. If this happens you can try buying a garage torsion spring kit.
Is It Cost-Effective Converting to Two Torsion Springs?
The initial overhead of upgrading to two torsion springs may seem a bit costly to some people. However, the benefits of converting to two torsion springs in both the short and long run far outweighs the initial costs of installation. In effect, you would save yourself a whole lot of scarce funds in the future.
In addition, you would not require a second bearing when you install your second torsion spring. With the bearing, the stationary cone is centered directly on the shaft. This is done to ensure that the torsion spring is also centered right on the shaft.
The truth is, the stationary cones for the two installed torsion springs are going to be secured together during the perfection of the torsion springs to the spring anchor bracket. With a second bearing added to the mix, the chances of one of the stationary cones or even both breaking is increased tremendously.