A loud bang from the garage overnight, then a door that will not open on the coldest morning of the week: that is a spring that has reached the end of its life. It is one of the most common Massachusetts winter calls, and it is almost never something you should try to lift, lower or unwind yourself.

This page is the winter version. The signs of a broken spring in any season are in how to tell if your garage door spring is broken. What follows is why the cold morning is when it happens, how to tell a snapped spring from a door frozen to the floor, and what to do with the car still inside.

Why it snaps on a cold morning

A standard residential spring is rated in cycles, not years. Amarr rates a common spring at 10,000 cycles (one open and one close). At about four cycles a day, that is roughly seven years. The arithmetic, and what shortens that life, is in how long garage door springs last.

A spring near the end of that rating already has fatigue in the steel. The cold morning is the extra load that finishes it:

  • Grease in the rollers, hinges and opener rail thickens, so the door is stiffer to move.
  • The bottom seal can freeze to the slab, so the first press of the button is asking the spring to break that bond as well as lift the door. See garage door frozen shut.
  • A torsion spring is wound tightest when the door is closed. It can let go overnight with nobody using the door. You hear the bang, then find out in the morning that nothing happens when you press the button.

Cold does not snap a healthy spring. It snaps one that was already worn, on the day the door is hardest to move. That is why a spring that is seven years old or more going into winter is worth checking on a day you choose, instead of waiting for the first hard freeze to choose it.

Bang, then nothing: confirm it is the spring

Stand inside the garage with the door closed, and look. Do not touch the spring, the cables, the drums or the brackets.

  • A gap in the coil on the shaft above the door is a broken torsion spring. The two halves may have unwound away from each other. That is the surest sign.
  • A slack or dangling spring along one of the horizontal tracks is a broken extension spring. Stay clear of it. Each one should have a safety cable through its middle; if yours does not, keep people away from that side of the garage.
  • Ice along the bottom seal and no gap in the spring is a frozen door, not a snapped spring. Stop pressing the button and follow how to free a frozen garage door.
  • A slack cable, or a door that sits crooked, can mean the lift cable came off when the spring broke. Treat that as a spring and cable job. Do not try to put the cable back on the drum.

If you heard the bang and you can see the gap, you do not need a second test. Leave the door closed.

What never to do

  • Do not keep pressing the button. The opener is built to move a door the spring already balances. Every extra press against a dead spring strains the motor and can strip the drive gear, which turns a spring job into a spring and opener repair.
  • Do not lift or lower the door by hand. Without the spring you are holding the whole weight of the door. Set it down if you have already started, and stop.
  • Do not pull the red release if the door is open or partway open. Nothing will hold it up. Keep people, pets and cars out from under it.
  • Do not loosen brackets, cables, set screws or the spring itself. Torsion springs store enough energy to cause serious injury. Replacing a spring yourself is not a DIY job in July, and it is not one in January either.
  • Do not assume ice and a broken spring are the same problem. Chipping ice will not help a door whose spring has a gap in the coil. Forcing a frozen door with the opener can break a spring that was only worn.

If the car is still in the garage

Leave the door closed and do not try to raise it enough to sneak the car under. A door with a broken spring that comes off the opener, or that you force partway up, can drop.

That is an emergency garage door repair call: the page lists the hours and what an emergency visit costs. If you can leave through a house door or a side door, do that and wait. If you cannot get a vehicle out and you need to, say so when you call.

If the door is stuck open or partway open, the same emergency page applies. Stay out from under it.

After the spring is replaced

  • Replace both springs if the door has two. They went in together, they have the same number of cycles, and the one still working is worn the same way. Doing both now saves a second winter-morning visit. The spring replacement page explains torsion and extension, and has the current price range.
  • Listen to the opener on the first few cycles. If it ran against the broken spring all morning, the drive gear may already be stripped. A motor that runs without moving the door is an opener repair, not more spring work.
  • Ask about the cables and drums if the door sat crooked after the bang. A cable that jumped its drum is a separate part; leaving it saves a return trip the next time the door binds.

Before the next freeze

A yearly maintenance visit covers lubrication, a spring tension check, safety testing and hardware tightening, including the spring work that needs the right tools. Lubricating the springs helps a spring with life left in it. It will not save one at the end of its rating.

If you know the springs are around seven years old, or you do not know how old they are and the door is original to a house of that age, have them checked in the fall. Replacing a worn spring on a scheduled visit is the same repair as an emergency snap. The difference is that you pick the day, and the car is not in the way.

The rest of the pre-winter list (seals, tracks, opener, safety reversal) is in the cold-weather guide.

Heard the bang, or the door will not open on a cold morning? Call Murray's Garage Door Services at (978) 758-0690 or book online. See garage door spring replacement for prices and recent jobs. If a car is trapped or the door is stuck open, go to emergency garage door repair.