Install Safety Cables for Safety
04/09/2014 Back To BlogDon't get confused! Safety cables are completely different parts from the regular garage door cables. They are installed for an entirely different purpose and play a major role to your safety. Regular cables are part of the mechanism and help to the lifting of the door. They are actually necessary components of your overhead door. Safety cables do not necessarily come with the system but installed independently. They actually go through the extension springs and keep them in place in case they break and this is the best way to ensure safety.
Why safety cables are necessary
Just because torsion spring garage door systems store massive energy, it doesn't mean that extension springs cannot be dangerous, too. Don't forget that they extend and retract every time you open and close the door and eventually lose their flexibility and might break. They can also break during a bad thunderstorm or due to a car accident. In similar cases, you wouldn't want anyone from your family to get hurt or to get scratches all over your car. Safety cables will actually protect you.
The safety cable is nothing more than a simple wire, which resembles the regular cable. It goes through the extension spring and is secured against the wall. It actually holds the extension springs for garage doors from snapping and flying against the wall or your head if it breaks. At older times, safety cables didn't exist. For this reason older garage systems with extension springs do not have safety cables. In fact, some would use similar wires to run them through the extension springs in order to have peace of mind.
Today, things have certainly changed. Manufacturers realized that extension garage door springs can still be dangerous and cause accidents and try to prevent them with new additional parts. The safety cables will constrain the broken extension springs and, thus, apart from having to replace them, you won't worry about being hurt.