Spiral balance - tilt or non tilt?

Handy Person from Tucson, AZ

May 15, 2020 6:28 pm

I have a spiral balance here. Windows are original, house was built in 1987. Uncertain on brand of window, and uncertain on anything regarding the spiral balance. Has nothing printed on it. It was red tipped. The shoe is in the picture, it is a long thin rectangular shoe. It's 1-3/4" wide. Metal piece is 30", the spiral piece is 30-1/2". Can I get some help on identifying the proper replacement? Thank you.

6 Replies

Tom from SWISCO

May 19, 2020 9:37 am

I'm afraid your pictures didn't come in. Can you try submitting them again?

Handy Person from Tucson, AZ

May 19, 2020 6:55 pm

Sure, hopefully this works this time.

4 user uploaded images

Tom from SWISCO

May 20, 2020 7:32 am

Perfect, thank you. Looks like a balance for an old wood window. Can you confirm the diameter? It looks like it's over 3/8", so that rules out one option, but I can't tell if it quite reaches 9/16", which is the only other size for this type of balance.

Assuming that it is 9/16", which is fairly common for heavy wood windows, then I would recommend a new Series 500 along with a 17-012 bottom bracket. Let me know if you had any questions, or if my assumption is off.

Handy Person from Tucson, AZ

May 24, 2020 10:44 am

They are aluminum windows, original windows house was built in 1987. I believe they are 3/8" - the rods have become a little disfigured, I assume from age. I have no idea if these were ever changed or if they are original rods.

Will the balance you linked work for these windows?

Tom from SWISCO

May 26, 2020 7:52 am

Perfect, thank you for confirming! Since the tube is 3/8" then I think our Series 400 would be better suited for the job. I would also recommend the 17-031 bracket this time, which looks a lot closer to your original anyway.