Rusting Spiral Balance and Pivot Shoe

Landlord from Oak Island NC

Aug 5, 2011 11:02 am

I am working on an oceanfront beach house house has windows with rusted pivot shoes and Spiral balances. We want to replace all of the pivot shoes and balances but fear they will just rust again in a few short years. The window are kept open during the spring and fall and so much salt air gets to them. Are pivot shoes and balance available with stainless steel parts or something that will not rust. We have identified the parts we need as the 15-015 pivot shoe and the S900-21 spiral balance. Thanks for your advice.

3 Replies

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Paul from SWISCO

Aug 8, 2011 2:47 pm

EXPERT

Good Afternoon,

I understand your concern. Unfortunately, the spiral balances do not come in stainless steel. You are correct about the salt air, many ocean-front homeowners have this problem. One suggestion would be to use a silicone-based spray when installing the new items. You could continually give them a spray in the Fall and Spring as well.

Quick Learner from Oak Island NC

Aug 8, 2011 10:06 pm

Thanks for your advice! I am planning to order the S900-21 spiral balances and the 15-015 pivot shoes for 13 windows that enclose the porch. If I want to replace all of the items in the window that allow it to be raised and tilted, will I need to order anything else? Are the S900-21 spiral balance sold in pairs? Do the pins that go into the bottom of the window and then into pivot shoe come with the pivot shoe. Thanks.

Paul from SWISCO

Aug 10, 2011 8:27 am

EXPERT

The S900-21 spiral balances are not sold in pairs, they are sold individually.

The pivot pins are sold separately. You may be able to reuse your old ones (unless they have rusted too). You can find pivot pins in our sash pivot bar catalog section. If you need help choosing the pivot pin from our catalog, please feel free to submit a picture here for us to look at.

You may need new installation screws if your old screws have rusted. See our 33-016, these are stainless steel screws used to fasten the balance to the window frame.

You will want to purchase a charging tool if you do not have one already. See 75-006 for the standard tilt-window charging tool or 75-033 for the deluxe contractors version. Here is a guide on how to charge a tilt-window spiral balance.

Guide: How to adjust a spiral balance on a tilt window