Spring repair in Sandy, Utah

Sandy sits at roughly 4,429 feet, and the 93.1 annual freeze–thaw crossings that come with that elevation fatigue spring steel independently of how often the door runs. Each crossing contracts and expands the coil; the damage accumulates whether the door cycles twice a day or ten times.

There is a second cold effect: freezing temperatures make spring steel more brittle, so the fatigued spring picks the coldest lift of the day to fail. With 94% of Sandy's freeze–thaw days packed into November through March, the failure season is not a mystery.

half the homes in Sandy were standing by 1985; the stock is a mix of originals and replacements, which staggers the failures street by street rather than season by season.

Upgrading to 25,000-cycle springs costs $80 to $150 more and roughly multiplies life by 2.5. With 93.1 freeze–thaw cycles a year working on the steel in Sandy, the upgrade turns a 5–7-year spring into one most owners never replace again — one invoice instead of two.

Whatever the rating, it goes on as a pair and it gets sized to the actual door weight. Cut-price undersized springs fail fastest exactly where winters are hardest.

For context around Sandy: Draper runs 94.8 freeze–thaw cycles and 5–7 years of spring life; Cottonwood Heights runs 93.8 freeze–thaw cycles and 5–7 years of spring life; and Midvale runs 88.2 freeze–thaw cycles and 5–7 years of spring life.

This page runs on Sandy's numbers (93.1 freeze–thaw cycles, 1985 median build, 4,429 ft of elevation) — close to the neighbours', never identical, which is exactly the point of measuring per city.