Most of the spiral balances in my house in South Carolina are broken at the top, which looks to be made of plastic rather than metal. I am very familiar with old spiral balances installed on house built in the '40's and refurbished most of the ones in my house that had wooden double hung windows. Those, of course, were attached to the bottom of the window.
I would like to replace quite a few of mine, which are almost impossible to lift. I'm concerned about the bottom part, which the window clip fits into. I don't see any in your on line catalog that look like mine. I have the yellow tip and I think they are 28 inches, but with the plastic hanger broken off, they are just under 28".
I would appreciate any help. As I say, I'm pretty familiar with the installation of these balances. I had a bottom section completely out of one window yesterday and discovered the moveable metal piece that fits into the pivot lock shoe although mine doesn't look like any of yours.
I'm going to be selling my house and probably wouldn't have to make these upgrades, but the previous seller got dinged on inspection for all the windows that had broken balances.
Sincerely,
Pam
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Emily from SWISCO responded:
August 16, 2022
Hi, Pam. It appears you have a tilt window spiral balance like our 3/8" diameter Series 900 or 5/8" diameter Series 600. You also want to measure the outer tube, not the spring, when it comes to determining the length and diameter. If there's an identical window in the house with an intact outer tube, you can use that as a reference. As for the pivot shoe, I believe yours was discontinued but we may have an alternative. I would just need to see an undamaged pivot shoe removed from the window along with the written out thickness and width dimensions to help narrow down some options. |
The pictures show a 3/8" tube, 28 inches long with yellow for sash weight. I'm going to have to make a cut as suggested in one of your videos to remove the pivot shoe. As you can see, I messed up the track trying to get it out before I watched the video. As far as I can tell before I remove the pivot shoe, it is 2" tall. 1/2" deep, and 15/16ths wide. I have 8 windows that need spiral balances, 2 each, bottom window only can be removed.
I hope with this information, you can tell me the next step.
Sincerely, Pam
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Paul from SWISCO responded:
August 18, 2022
Your balance system was made by Unique window company that is no longer around. We suggest our 3/8" S900-28 with a red tip option that carries a sash weighing 10 to 22 pounds. If you need new pivot shoes, our 15-179 should work fine. I notice in your first photo, it looks like someone was bending the window track to remove the pivot shoe. We don't recommend doing so but for bottom sashes, you remove it at the top of the track. See the videos related on this page on removing pivot shoes. |
Thanks so much for that information. Yes, I bent the track before watching the video about the cutout method, which I watched and will do for the rest.
I will be ordering in the near future. The pivot shoes seem to be in working order, do you think I will need new ones for the new balances?
Pam
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Paul from SWISCO responded:
August 18, 2022
No, there's no need to replace them if your pivot shoes are in good shape. You can re-use them if they're in working order. |
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Paul from SWISCO responded:
March 6, 2023
I'm sorry to hear that you're having trouble installing the balances that you ordered. If your original spiral balance tubes measure 28-1/2" long, then you have two options. You are welcome to send the rest of the unused balances back to us and purchase the 29" long S900-29 (red tip) spiral balances instead. If you want to go that route, our return policy can be found here. Another option would be to try installing the 28" long balances 1/2" to 1" lower in the track, which may compensate for the difference and allow you to close the window properly. |
Thank you, Paul for your suggestion of using the lower hole in the track. I successfully installed a pair of balances for the window in which they broke yesterday. So far, I've been able to keep the charging tool from slipping away from me. So I will install the rest of the balances I have and see if I need a couple more or not.
If necessary I will order a couple more and will check the window tracks to see if they are drilled for that second hole, if not I will drill one.
You don't know what a relief this is to know everything is not my fault.
Sincerely,
Pam
