Ditch that garage door spring - or not.

Thanks jeff72,

Your answer is pretty much what I thought it would be. I'm scared of that spring unit to no end as a neighbor of mine was hurt trying to adjust one himself. Had mine adjusted by a pro, who made it look easy. Just was wondering if anyone out there had tried what I was thinking and if it worked or not. I figured if your opener had a battery back-up system that worked if you lost power that the spring MIGHT NOT be required.

 My plan was to buy a new garage door unit to replace the old Raynor door, as it is 20 years old and does not meet current Florida wind code, but, they want $1250.00 to replace my old door and hardware with a very simple, like I have now, door. Thanks to your input I'll buy the door I want and do all the installation myself, except for the spring adjust part. They will still charge me $60.00 just for the service call. Labor costs in this area is horrible, up to 60-70% of the total job cost. By the way, I'd have to rate that Sears Craftsman door opener a 5 star. Easy to install and very, very quiet. With the dual lights, up to 100 watts each, the garage is as bright as day when the door opens at night plus they come on automatically whenever you enter the garage.

Thanks again for your answer.

Tony Franceschi of Spring Hill, FL

All advice was NOT to mess with the garage door spring. Since mine had been serviced several months ago, for a lift cable that had gotten out of alignment on the pully, the door was well balanced when I went to install the new door opener. I heeded this advice and had no problems with the new door opener installation. Thanks to all who gave me the good and solid advice. The new opener, Craftsman top of the line belt drive with battery back up, was well worth the few extra bucks it cost, IT"S SO QUIET! Price was good too, Regular $279.99, on sale for $229.99 and with my Craftsman Club Card an additional $30.00 off the sale price. Too many neat features to talk about. I'll post a review on the Sears online site if anyone is interested in this opener. Thanks again for all your advice. 

From the answers I've received I'm not going to tinker with the spring. I was just thinking that in the "old days" before powered garage door openers became common, that the spring was there so that a person could open/close the door using only human power. With a half to two-thirds horsepower garage door opener it seemed feasible to me that the spring MIGHT not still be necessary, unless you lost the use of the door opener. Thanks for the reply and I think I'll put this horse idea out to pasture. I was really just wondering if anyone had tried using a door opener without the door spring. Since the door opener instruction book wants the door to balance at about waist high, without the door opener hooked up, I see that you HAVE to have that spring.