2026-03-16 7 min read
If you've lived in Victor long enough, you already know what a real upstate New York winter feels like. Temperatures regularly drop into the teens and single digits, and the area sits close enough to Lake Ontario that lake-effect snow events can bury a driveway overnight. That combination of deep cold and repeated freeze-thaw cycles is genuinely hard on garage door hardware. and nothing feels that stress more than your springs.
Every year, the pattern is the same: a homeowner heads out to the garage on a cold January morning, hits the opener button, and hears a loud bang. The door doesn't move. That bang is almost always a broken torsion spring, and it's one of the most common calls we get here at Victor Garage Doors all winter long.
Garage door springs are made of tightly wound steel. Steel has a straightforward relationship with temperature: cold contracts it and makes it more brittle. When the temperature drops below freezing. which in Victor happens frequently from December through March. the steel coils in your springs tighten and lose some of their natural flexibility.
If your springs are already worn from years of daily use, that loss of flexibility can be the final straw. The door system is demanding more from the spring at the precise moment the material has the least amount of give. That's why so many springs don't fail in the fall or summer. they fail on the coldest mornings of the year.
There's a second factor: lubrication failure. Standard lubricants can thicken in cold temperatures, increasing friction throughout the door system. This forces your springs (and your opener motor) to work harder with every cycle, accelerating wear.
Most modern homes in Victor. whether you're in Gypsum Mills, one of the newer subdivisions off East Victor Road, or a Colonial Revival closer to the village. have torsion springs mounted above the door on a horizontal shaft. Extension springs, which run along the sides of the door, are more common in older homes.
Both types are rated for roughly 10,000 cycles. If you use your garage door twice a day, that works out to about 7,10 years of life. If your door is pushing that age and you've never had the springs replaced, this winter could be the one that catches you off guard.
Springs rarely snap without some advance warning. Here's what to pay attention to:
- The door feels unusually heavy. Disconnect the opener and try lifting the door manually. A well-balanced door should stay at about waist height on its own. If it falls, your springs aren't doing their job. - Squeaking, creaking, or grinding during operation. especially on cold mornings. - The opener strains or hums louder than normal, which means it's compensating for a weak spring. - The door moves in jerky motions rather than smoothly. - A visible gap in the spring coil above the door. that's a broken spring. - The door closes faster than normal or appears crooked, which can indicate one spring has failed on a two-spring system.
If you're noticing any of these signs, don't wait. Check out our frequently asked questions for more detail on what to expect from a spring inspection.
This is important: do not attempt to replace a garage door spring yourself. Torsion springs are under enormous tension. they hold 150 to 200 pounds of force year-round. A spring that snaps or uncoils while you're working on it can cause severe injury or serious property damage. This is not a DIY job.
Also, don't keep running your opener with a broken spring. Your opener is not designed to lift the full weight of the door on its own. Doing so can burn out the motor, turning a $200 spring repair into a $400,$600 opener replacement.
Keep the door closed, stay clear of it, and call for professional service.
While spring replacement itself requires a professional, there are a few things you can do to extend spring life and catch problems early:
1. Lubricate the right parts. with the right product. Apply a silicone-based lubricant (not WD-40, which is a solvent, not a lubricant) to the hinges, rollers, and bearing plates. Avoid spraying the springs directly. they're factory-treated and extra lubricant attracts dirt.
2. Test your door's balance twice a year. Disconnect the opener, lift the door manually to about waist height, and let go. It should stay in place. If it falls or shoots up, the spring tension is off.
3. Schedule a professional inspection before winter. A trained technician can spot springs that are nearing the end of their cycle count before they fail. Our guide on preparing your garage door for fall walks through the full seasonal checklist worth following every year.
4. Consider upgrading to high-cycle springs. Standard springs are rated for 10,000 cycles, but high-cycle springs rated for 25,000 or even 50,000 cycles are available. For a busy household, the upgrade pays for itself.
If you're just over the line in Canandaigua or Farmington, the same cold-weather spring risks apply. Ontario County winters are no joke, and the freeze-thaw cycling between day and night temperatures is particularly tough on aging hardware. The good news is that the same preventive steps. lubrication, balance testing, and proactive inspection. work just as well regardless of which side of the town line you're on.
For spring repair, replacement, or a full system tune-up, contact our team to schedule a visit before the next cold snap catches you off guard.
The clearest sign is a loud bang from the garage, followed by a door that won't open or feels extremely heavy. If you look at the spring above the door and see a gap in the coil, it's broken. A door that won't move at all with the opener but lifts fine manually usually points to an opener issue. not a spring.
Technically, some openers can force the door open on a broken spring, but this is a bad idea. It puts major strain on the opener motor and can cause the door to drop unexpectedly, which is a safety hazard. Keep the door closed and schedule a repair.
For a professional technician, a standard torsion spring replacement typically takes 1,2 hours. If both springs are being replaced at the same time (which is recommended, since they wear at similar rates), expect the same general timeframe.