Non-spring garage door counterbalancing?

[NeverDie]

I have 15 foot tall garage ceilings, so I'm planning to migrate my garage doors to a "high lift" track to make better use of space and lighting. Doing it with torsion springs is what's common, but that always seemed like a bad idea due to ongoing adjustment costs plus the very real threat of a spring breaking on a high-lift track and dropping the door like a guillotine. So, I was thinking of doing it with simple counterweights and pulleys (much like you can find in old vintage vertical slide windows), but I find no kits for that aimed at the residential market. I did find one for industry, and sure enough, its selling point is "extremely high reliability and little or no maintenance." So, is there simply a lack of demand for this in the residential market, or just a lack of supply because installers look forward to selling tune-ups and replacing broken springs after warranties have expired? I do understand that track home builders would just use whatever is cheapest (i.e. torsion springs), but it's a large market, and at least some people do understand the concept of "Total Cost of Ownership" vs. up-front cost.

With no kits (which I would prefer), it looks like I'm trending toward doing it as a one-off custom DIY.

By the way, there actually is potential relevance to home automation: it provides an easy way to measure not just whether your garage door is open or closed, but also how far open/closed it is by using a distance sensor to measure the height of the weight. If someone wanted to just partially open their garage door, it could offer them fine grained feedback and control. That might also enable, for example, smarter, more accelerated opening/closing, thereby saving time.

[mbdirtfarmer]

My vintage 1956 wooden one piece garage door uses this method. Simple pulleys and cables on each side of the door tracks at the door with home made "cans" of small rocks. Still functioning, but I am going to replace with a new door next summer, likely replace with a torsion spring, unless I can't squeeze it in above the door. The headroom is pretty tight.

I can take some photos, if you want to see an example of a vintage counterweight system. I'm storing our third vehicle in there right now so would have to wait until I get it out for a rip.

[NeverDie]

Yes! Thank you. I would definitely be interested.

[NeverDie]

Were you able to take some photos? If not, I could try posting some sketchy photos I found from somebody's blog, and maybe you could indicate whether yours has any differences. His photos weren't great, but I get the gist of how his works. I'd like to see an additional example, but I can probably muddle through regardless.

[mbdirtfarmer]

Sorry, haven't got any pictures yet. Probably won't happen untill Saturday.

[NeverDie]

No problem. Meanwhile, below are two photos of someone's homebrew solution.

[NeverDie]

And here's a video snapshot from http://hanoverdoors.com/pages/page.aspx?pid=44 of a less scrappy looking commercial grade solution.

[mbdirtfarmer]

That hanover door looks pretty sweet.

[NeverDie]

mbdirtfarmer,

FYI, I did receive a brief email from you, but because it was sent through homeseer I don't have your email address to reply to you directly. Also, I was not able to reply to you via homeseer either, because when I tried, it said you don't want to receive emails.

[mbdirtfarmer]

mbdirtfarmer,

FYI, I did receive a brief email from you, but because it was sent through homeseer I don't have your email address to reply to you directly. Also, I was not able to reply to you via homeseer either, because when I tried, it said you don't want to receive emails.

I sent you a second email with my address. I also turned on email options on my account if you want to use that vehicle.