The following are things you can check on your garage door to see if parts are fatiguing or failing. Garage Doors have working parts that need to be serviced, adjusted, and lubricated on a regular basis. I will review a few things that you can check, on your own, to see if parts are fatiguing, failing, or the door needs service.
When diagnosing a garage door issue, I will start with checking the condition of your torsion springs on a residential sectional garage door. The torsion springs are one of the main components for the operation of your garage door. They carry the weight of your garage door, it is critical that your springs are in good working condition to preserve the life of your garage door and garage door opener. There are different garage door applications to locate the torsion springs. There is a low headroom application and the standard garage door application. In either of the applications, generally, the range to locate the torsion springs would be from approximately 4 inches to 12 inches above and around the top center of the door. On occasion they can be located on the far left or far right above the garage door as well.
The following procedure is how you check to see if your door is balanced correctly or your torsion springs are fatiguing, and the door is out of balance.
First, you need to disengage the garage door from the garage door opener for manual operation. Release or pull the red rope hanging from the garage door opener trolley, it is located at the top of the door arm and attached to the garage door opener rail system.
Once you have the garage door disengaged for manual operation, lift the door with both hands manually. If the garage door is heavy or you have to labor to lift the garage door, your garage door is out of balance. Also, if the door will not stay in the opened position when lifting 1/4 to 1/2 of the way up or off the floor, it is potentially out of balance and would need to be serviced and balanced by a licensed and insured garage door professional.
I do not recommend trying to rebalance your garage door or adjust the torsion springs yourself, unless you are experienced, have the knowledge, skills, and correct tools to complete the job. Torsion springs are extremely dangerous and the slightest mistake when working with them could be fatal.
Lastly, there is also a torque master spring system which is unique to the torsion spring system. Remember, with torsion spring systems, all the parts and springs are external and can be visually and clearly seen above the door. With the torque master system, it is unique in regards that the springs and other parts are internal. To identify the torque master system, there would be a long tube or pipe approximately 3 inches in diameter that runs above the top of the garage door. This application is also approximately 4 to 12 inches above the door, the entire length of the door. You cannot see the spring on this system, they are internal to the tube above the door. You would follow the same procedure to check the balance of the garage door the same way as described above with the torsion spring application.
