High-cycle torsion spring conversions
A torsion spring is rated in cycles, not years. A door that runs all day on a multi-shift dock burns through a standard rating fast, and a spring failure on a heavy sectional door is a safety event, not just downtime. A high-cycle conversion fits springs matched to the door’s weight and its real cycle count, so the repair stops repeating.
Why the same spring keeps breaking
Spring life is set by the spring’s wire size, inside diameter and length relative to the load it carries, and by how it is installed and maintained. The Door & Access Systems Manufacturers’ Association sets these factors out in DASMA Technical Data Sheet 190, Factors Affecting Spring Cycle Life. A door specified for an ordinary duty cycle that ends up running twenty or thirty times a day will use up its rated life in a fraction of the time the building expected.
Replacing a broken spring with the same spring resets the clock but not the rate. A high-cycle conversion changes the spring so the rated life matches how the door is actually used.
Springs are identified against a standard rather than by eye: DASMA Technical Data Sheet 171, Official Color Codes for Torsion and Extension Springs is how a replacement is matched to the original wire size.
What a conversion involves
We weigh or calculate the door, count or estimate its daily cycles from how the bay operates, and specify springs rated for that load at a high-cycle life. Drums, cables, bearings and the centre bracket are inspected and replaced where worn, because they carry the same cycles the spring does. The door is balanced and the operator force settings re-checked after the conversion.
Signs a door needs a high-cycle conversion
- The same door has needed a spring repair more than once in the past year
- The door runs 20 or more times a day, or on more than one shift
- Visible gaps or stretching in the spring coils between failures
- Door has become noticeably harder to open manually
- The bay is one the operation cannot afford to lose for a day
What a visit looks like
- Door weight and cycle countWe measure the door and ask how the bay runs. The spring spec comes from those two numbers.
- Spring and hardware specSprings matched to load at a high-cycle rating, with drums, cables and bearings checked against the same duty.
- Conversion and balanceInstalled, balanced at mid-travel, operator settings re-checked, safety reverse tested.
- LoggedThe new rating goes into the door’s record, so the next inspection knows what it is looking at.
High-cycle spring conversions are available in Hamilton · Stoney Creek · Burlington · Oakville · Milton · Grimsby · St. Catharines · Niagara Region.