Ask Doors Done Right - Answers to Questions About Your Garage Door Or Opener

[Guzzle]

this original spring lasted right around 7-8 years, which was about the expected life according to the tech. He said that size spring was rated for maybe 10k cycles.
>Someone paid $X for 8 years.

He recommended a torsion conversion, which included 1 spring, 1 tube, 2 drums and 36 month warranty on parts and labor. He said this much larger (maybe 2" or 2.5") spring was rated to 20k cycles. But this whole process cost me $463.
>You paid $463 for possibly 16 years.

On top of that, I seem to have lost the ability to do my own repair in the future.
>I don’t see this.

I wonder if I could have just had him replace the same smaller 3/4" spring that's good for 10k cycles for maybe $100.
>Unknown.

And now knowing what spring failure looks like, if the builder was capable of installing the internal spring, then I could probably figure it out from some youtube videos too.
>Maybe.

Please help me understand what I gained by the torsion conversion.
>longer spring life at $29 per year.

Because right now, with the benefit of hindsight, I feel like I paid ~4x (or more) as much for 2x the life.
>Uncertain.

And there is a risk to this job. You paid him to assume the risk.

 

[Mancolt]

Thanks for the replies, makes me feel a little better about the decision.

In regards to risk, the same could be said for pretty much every repair around a house. I can change out a toilet, or I can pay a plumber to do it. If you do anything yourself, aren't you assuming the risk?

As for losing the ability to repair it myself: The torsion spring requires special tools (and is apparently more dangerous to attempt to DIY) so I can no longer do my own repair. Granted there is no guarantee I could have replaced the internal spring on my own, but according to the tech, the internal spring does not require special tools and is a simpler install, which is why the home builders use them in the first place. They don't have to pay for a qualified/specialized garage door tech to do do a torsion install.

Don't get me wrong, if I were building a house, I'd almost certainly go torsion from the beginning. I was wondering if there was some other element to torsion that I was missing...For example, the garage door is able to be opened faster, or there's less wear and tear on the garage door motor (meaning that also lasts longer), it's safer, etc. Something other than 2x the life for 2x (or more) the money.