2026-03-27 6 min read
Your garage door springs do something remarkable every single day: they counterbalance a door that weighs anywhere from 150 to 300 pounds, making it feel almost weightless when you open it. Most homeowners never think about them. until one breaks. In Claremont, where garage doors take a beating from freeze-thaw cycles all winter and damp conditions year-round near the Connecticut River, spring failures are one of the most common repair calls we get. This post covers exactly what you need to know: how springs work, the warning signs that yours are failing, and why this is one repair you should never attempt yourself.
There are two main spring systems you'll find on residential doors in this area. Torsion springs run horizontally above the door opening and use torque to lift the door. they're more common on newer homes and heavier doors, and they tend to last longer. Extension springs run along the sides of the tracks and work by stretching. you'll often find these on older garage setups, including many of the ranch-style and Cape Cod homes throughout West Claremont and the South End.
Both systems store mechanical energy to offset the door's weight. That stored tension is what makes springs so effective. and so dangerous when they fail.
A standard spring is rated for approximately 10,000 cycles, which works out to roughly 7 to 10 years for a household that opens and closes the garage door a few times a day. High-cycle springs rated at 25,000 cycles or more are available and cost more upfront but pay off over time. something worth considering if you're doing a full replacement anyway. Here in New Hampshire, the additional stress of temperature swings can also shorten spring life faster than the cycle count alone would suggest.
Don't wait for a complete failure. These are the signs that something is wrong:
If your opener is straining noticeably or the door feels like dead weight when you lift it manually, the springs are likely losing tension or one has already failed. Springs are designed to carry most of the door's weight. when they weaken, that load shifts to the opener motor or to you. Continued use in this condition can burn out the opener.
When a torsion spring snaps under full tension, it releases stored energy all at once. The sound is sharp and sudden. many homeowners describe it as a gunshot or a car backfiring. If you hear this and your door stops working afterward, a broken spring is almost certainly the cause. Stop using the door immediately.
If your door tilts to one side as it opens, rises unevenly, or gets stuck partway, one spring may have failed while the other is still functioning. This uneven tension puts stress on the tracks, rollers, cables, and opener. and can cause the door to jump the track entirely if you keep operating it. You can check for this yourself: watch the door from the side as it opens and see if the bottom edge stays level throughout the motion.
Take a look at your torsion spring above the door opening. A visible gap in the coil means the spring has snapped and needs immediate replacement. Rust and discoloration are also serious warning signs. a rusty spring is more brittle and far more prone to snapping. In Claremont's climate, with its damp springs and wet falls, moisture-related spring corrosion is a real issue.
If your opener runs but the door barely moves, or it stops partway through the lift, it's likely compensating for a failed spring. Openers are not built to lift a door's full weight unassisted. overworking them in this way can strip gears or burn out the motor.
For more context on how mechanical problems in one part of the system affect others, see our overview of garage door services and what each repair involves.
This point is non-negotiable. Garage door springs are under extreme tension. we're talking about hundreds of pounds of stored mechanical energy in a tightly wound coil. When that energy releases unexpectedly, it can cause broken bones, facial injuries, or worse. Professional technicians use specialized winding bars, clamps, and techniques that simply aren't available to the average homeowner, and they know exactly how to handle the tension safely.
Beyond the safety risk, there's also the matter of getting the spring sizing right. The right spring must be matched to the specific weight and size of your door. An incorrectly sized spring won't just fail faster. it'll force your opener to do more work than it was designed for and can cause the whole system to become unbalanced. If one spring breaks, it's also standard practice to replace both at the same time, since the surviving spring has experienced the same wear and is likely to fail soon after anyway.
A professional spring replacement is typically a straightforward job. A technician will inspect not just the springs but the cables, rollers, and opener to make sure nothing else has been damaged by operating on a failing spring system. They'll match the replacement springs to your door's weight and size, install and tension them properly, then test the door balance and opener performance before finishing up. Most replacements take under two hours.
Homeowners in Lebanon and Hanover sometimes ask us whether they should upgrade to high-cycle springs during a replacement. For most residential doors in this area, it's worth the modest price difference. especially given how hard our local winters are on hardware.
If you're also noticing issues with how the door moves along its tracks after a spring problem, our post on track alignment and what causes it is worth reading alongside this one. Spring failures and track problems often go hand in hand.
Garage Door Claremont handles spring replacements throughout the greater Claremont area, including Springfield, Charlestown, and New London. If you're seeing any of the warning signs above, schedule a service call before the problem becomes an emergency. spring failures rarely give much warning, and being caught with a broken spring on a cold morning is a situation worth avoiding entirely.
For most residential doors in the Claremont area, standard torsion springs last roughly 7 to 10 years at average usage. However, New Hampshire's seasonal temperature swings. cold, metal-contracting winters followed by wet springs. can accelerate wear beyond what the cycle count alone would predict. If your springs are more than 7 years old, it's worth having them inspected proactively rather than waiting for a failure.
You should not. Operating a door with a broken spring puts the full weight of the door on the opener motor, which it's not designed to handle. This can cause the opener to fail, strip its gears, or allow the door to drop unexpectedly. It's also a safety risk if you try to operate it manually. Stop using the door and call a technician.
Yes. and any reputable technician will recommend this. Both springs were installed at the same time and have experienced the same amount of wear. If one has failed, the other is close behind. Replacing both at once saves you a second service call in a few months and ensures the door is properly balanced.