>Date: Mon, 18 Oct 1999 06:11:55 -0700 (PDT)
>From: Chris Mottram <c_mottram@yahoo.com>
>Subject: Sunbeams abused at home
>
>My Alpine and Tiger room together in the same bay of
>my garage (snuggled about 5 inches apart). I am
>always very careful when I move them in and out.
>Sunday night while they were asleep, the entire
>electric garage door opener assembly dropped down onto
>both of them denting each. #%$@&!!!!
>My garage has a concrete ceiling and the expansion
>plugs pulled right out. On Saturday I was just
>staring at those rust garage door springs and
>wondering if they my break and damage the cars. Moral
>of the story - there is over 100 lbs of nasty metal
>stuff hanging over your cars, make sure it is secure
>and check it periodically. I am going to run safety
>cables through my springs and run a cable though the
>opener too in case it decides to let go again.
Replacement springs now have a safety rod running through them. I've
had these spring break on me a couple of times. The first time the
springs pre-dated the requirement for the safety rod. That one put one
helluva dent in the sheet rock ceiling. The next time the rod pretty
much confined the pieces. They're not that expensive to replace, and
not too difficult. With the garage door open I was easily able to
unhook and hook them up. Before removing the springs, block the door
open. I used a 6 foot step latter and wood to block mine open. It's
close to impossible to open the door and block it open with just one
spring in place, so get some help if you need to do this. DON'T try
removing a spring in the close position.
When buying new springs, be sure to take an old one with you since they
come in a wide variety of lengths and diameters. Also be sure to
replace both. No matter how well a spring appears to match the old
ones, it's bound to have a different spring rate. If they aren't
matched, you risk skewing the door so that it won't open squarely or
maybe not at all.
Roland, who has been there a couple of times.
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