Selecting the Right Balancer

Home Owner from Cambridge, Ontario

Jan 19, 2021 8:25 pm

I have a 60s bungalow with wooden sash windows. The sashes are grooved for a spriral balance but none were ever installed. How do I know what length to order?
Also, how do I know what mounting bracket to order?

8 Replies

Tom from SWISCO

Jan 21, 2021 2:15 pm

Without the old balances to use as a reference, it will be difficult to be sure what you need. I have a couple ideas, though. Before I recommend anything, can you tell me if this is the bottom of top sash? Can you also tell me the height of the visible glass? Finally, how much does the sash weigh?

Home Owner from Cambridge, Ontario

Jan 23, 2021 5:36 pm

We are talking the bottom sash here. The dimensions of the sash are 39-1/2"W and 29-1/4"H. Wt is 16 lb. The upward travel of the sash is 24-1/2" Not sure what you mean by visible glass.

The bathroom has a smaller sash 33-1/2"W 29-1/4"H. Wt is 12 lb. Upward travel is 14-1/2".

Both sashes are grooved for 5/8" balancer.

Tom from SWISCO

Jan 25, 2021 8:32 am

Thank you! I still need to know the height of the visible glass. That's literally just measuring the height of the glass, as you see it. The length of these balances is determined by that detail, not the overall size of the sash. Please let me know if you can get that measurement to me.

Home Owner from Cambridge, Ontario

Jan 25, 2021 8:02 pm

Getting back to you. The height of the visible glass in both sizes of lower sash is 24 inches.

Tom from SWISCO

Jan 26, 2021 8:28 am

Perfect, thank you so much! So, for old sashes we usually recommend using the Series 500 spiral balance along with a bracket like our 17-012. As for length, the rule of thumb for the bottom sash is to add 3" to the height of the visible glass. That means I recommend an S500-27 in both cases. A Red Tip color option indicates a spring that carries 7 through 29 lbs for this size, so you want a Red Tip for both sashes.

Let me know if you had any questions.

Home Owner from Cambridge, Ontario

Feb 15, 2021 4:32 pm

Got my new balancers installed and working nice. Now thinking about doing my basement rec room windows.
Those have a weight of only 6 lbs, with a visible glass of only 9-1/2 inches. Sashes are grooved for a 5/8 trade size balancer. What model/length do you recommend?

1 user uploaded image

Tom from SWISCO

Feb 16, 2021 8:34 am

Assuming that this is the same type of window, then you'd follow the same steps we did before. You'd use a Series 500 and add 3" to the visible glass for the bottom sash, or only 1" for the visible glass for the top sash. If your bottom sash glass is 9-1/2" then you could consider our S500-12. The Red Tip option for this carries 6 through 12 pounds.