Strength of Milgard Balancer

Question

My tenants managed to disassemble my Milgard single hung window. The sliding, not tilting, lower sash is small, only maybe 16 inches high and a couple feet wide and weighs just a few pounds. I found ONE balancer on the sill but there are no numbers stamped on it and I've scoured the surface several times. It is exactly like the 15" SERIES 385 CHANNEL BALANCE, ENDS and all, but I'm not sure of the balance strength. I had my wife weigh herself on a balance beam scale and then used the balancer to "lift" her to about the midportion of the spring travel and the single balancer seemed to supply about 4 pounds of "balance" at that point. Can you give me an estimate on which balancer number I would be needing? I'm guessing, with friction in play, a 1420 on each side would be plenty but what are your thoughts?

Paul · Accepted Answer

Thanks for posting. You would need to weigh the sash itself on a scale. If there are no stamps at all, that is the only way to find out what option would be best. Based on your description, the 1420 may be best, but I would still recommend getting the exact sash weight to be 100% sure.