What Is Going On
A torsion spring breaks because steel fatigues
And fatigue speeds up once the temperature drops. Cold steel is less elastic, so the same wind-and-unwind cycle that a spring handled fine in July puts more stress on the coil in January. You'll usually hear it: a bang from the garage, then the door won't move or moves unevenly, with one side sagging. Nothing is wrong with your opener motor in that moment - the opener is just doing its job against a door with no spring tension to help lift it, and it will trip or strain trying.
Most of the houses we get called to in Mooresville were built somewhere between 1959 and 2005
With the bulk going up through the 1980s and 90s. A spring installed when a house was built in, say, 1988 has had over three decades of cycles on it. If that spring has never been replaced, cold weather doesn't cause the failure so much as it's the final push on a part that was already near the end of its life. We don't replace springs before they break - lifespan is cycles, not a date on a calendar - but we do see more calls once temperatures drop and stay down.
