Having worked in the garage door industry for years, you hear plenty of stories from both customers and industry professionals. One of the common stories we hear are injuries occurring during spring changeovers. Extension and torsion style springs are both dangerous and can cause damage or injury in different ways, but both can end up being quite severe.
Extension springs, generally found on tilt doors, have a habit of shooting off and can cause damage to parked vehicles or people who may be unlucky enough to be standing in its way. However, it is just as dangerous when removing an unbroken spring. These springs are quite tightly wound and when trying to stretch them further to remove them from their hooks they can snap back quite quickly. We have heard of several stories of the spring hooks gashing arms, or being put through hands.
Torsion springs, on the other hand, are attached to a pole, so they can’t fling off and harm you. The main way they cause damage is when people are taking the tension off of them using the tensioning bars. We’ve heard of all sorts of injuries from broken eye sockets, broken knuckles, concussions and secondary injuries from being knocked off of the ladder. What tends to happen is people either pull out the tensioning bars too early or slip when inserting it into the hole. This can cause the spring to rapidly unravel and if one of the pairs of bars is still in there it can come down on your hands or head with significant force.
What you have to remember is that these springs are stretched or twisted tightly enough to make a 150kg door liftable by children. This means when that force is released, it can do some major damage. It is for this reason that most people will hire professionals to change these springs over. Although it may cost a small fee to have it done, it may save you from some pain and medical bills.
If you’re interested in having your springs changed, call the professionals and chat to them about the best way to go about getting your door up and running again.