How Long Do Garage Door Springs Last? When to Replace Them

A standard garage door spring is rated for about 10,000 cycles, and one cycle is the door opening and closing once. At four cycles a day, that is about seven years. Amarr rates standard residential springs at 10,000 cycles. How long yours actually last depends on how often your door runs and on how the springs have been installed, used and looked after, which is what the rest of this page works through.

Springs Are Rated in Cycles, Not Years

Every time the door goes up and comes back down, the spring winds and unwinds (torsion) or stretches and relaxes (extension) once. The rating is how many of those cycles the spring is built for, so the years depend entirely on your household.

To work out your own:

1. Count a normal day. Every time someone leaves and comes back through the garage is two cycles: one when they go, one when they return.
2. Divide. Years ≈ the spring's cycle rating ÷ (cycles per day × 365).

For a 10,000-cycle spring:

That is arithmetic on the rating, not a promise: the factors in the next sections can shorten it. If your springs have been replaced before, the invoice may name the rating. If you do not know it, count from the day the door or the springs went in.

A torsion spring is wound tightest when the door is closed, so a worn one can give out with the door down, and you find out when the door will not open. That is the reason to replace a spring that is near the end of its rating on a day you choose, instead of the morning it snaps with the car inside.

Types of Springs

Torsion Springs

These mount on a steel shaft above the door and twist to store energy, with a cable drum at each end of the shaft. They are the common type on newer doors.

Extension Springs

These run alongside the horizontal tracks on each side and stretch to store energy. Each should have a safety cable running through its middle, so a spring that breaks stays on the cable. Not sure which your door has? Here is how to tell.

High-Cycle Springs

High-cycle springs carry a higher cycle rating than standard ones. Run the same arithmetic: a 25,000-cycle spring at four cycles a day works out to about 17 years. They are an upgrade on the written quote when springs are replaced; the spring replacement page has the current price range.

What Shortens Spring Life

The cycle rating assumes the spring was handled, installed and used the way the maker intended. DASMA Technical Data Sheet 190, from the door and opener manufacturers' association, lists what cuts that life short once a spring leaves the factory.

Rust and Corrosion

Rust eats into the spring wire, which leaves less steel carrying the load, and the pits it leaves are where fatigue cracks start. DASMA calls out damp storage, salty coastal air and corrosive chemicals. Lubrication, done the way the door maker's instructions say, keeps rust off.

A Spring That Does Not Match the Door

A spring has to match the weight and height of the door it lifts, and a torsion spring has to be wound the right number of turns and stretched the right amount. DASMA lists each of those as an installation mistake that shortens spring life. Get them wrong and the spring works harder on every cycle.

Weight Added to the Door

Paint, an insulation kit or anything else added to the door after the springs were sized makes it heavier than the springs were chosen for. If you add insulation or other weight to an existing door, have the springs checked and rebalanced afterwards.

Weather, With the Door Left Open

DASMA advises keeping doors closed where possible in extreme heat or cold, frequent rain or snow, and salty coastal air. A door left open for long stretches exposes the springs to all of it. Massachusetts winters and the North Shore's salt air both qualify.

Skipped Maintenance

Springs that are never lubricated, on a door that is never balanced, have nothing working for them. DASMA says the counterbalance system should be maintained the way the door maker's instructions describe. A yearly maintenance visit covers the balance check, the hardware and the lubrication.

Signs Your Springs Are Wearing Out

A door that feels heavier than it used to, will not stay halfway open, or rises unevenly, and new creaking or popping from above the door, are the early signs. The full list, including how to tell a spring that has already broken, is in How to Tell If Your Garage Door Spring Is Broken.

Should You Replace One Spring or Both?

Both. If one spring broke or is failing, the other has the same number of cycles on it. It is the same age, the same material, and it has been through the same conditions, so it is worn the same way.

Replacing both at once saves you a second visit, and it spares the opener from running a door balanced by one good spring and one dying one.

How to Get More Life Out of Your Springs

1. Lubricate as the door maker says. Follow the schedule in the door's instructions, using a garage door lubricant on the full length of each spring.
2. Get a yearly tune-up. A professional tune-up covers the balance check, the hardware and the lubrication together.
3. Keep the door closed in bad weather. Do not leave it open for hours in freezing rain, heat or salt air.
4. Rebalance after adding weight. New insulation, overlays or heavy paint mean the springs need checking.
5. Ask about high-cycle springs. If you are replacing springs anyway, a higher rating means more years for the same use.
6. Don't ignore a noisy door. Squealing, grinding or popping often means parts are under strain. The noise guide matches each sound to its cause.

What Replacement Costs

The price depends on the spring type, the size and weight of the door, and whether one or both springs are replaced. The current range and recent spring jobs, by town and month, are on the garage door spring replacement page.

Think your springs might be on their way out? Call Murray's Garage Door Services at (978) 758-0690 or schedule an inspection online. We'll check your springs, tell you where they stand and give you a straight answer. No pressure, no upselling.