guardian window - top sash pops out of left channel when i close the window

Thanks for reaching out to us. I'm not certain that I understand the issue entirely. Can you describe exactly what's happening when the top sash pops out? It doesn't sound like any common issue regularly associated with a channel balance, and I see no damage on your pivot shoe that would cause the sash to fall out. 

Would it also be possible to see a photo of the pivot bar at the bottom corner of the sash?

Yes, what you're showing here is exactly what I wanted to see.

The bend in your existing pivot may indeed be the reason why the sash is popping out, though truth be told I don't see a bend in these photos. Either way, if they're not aligned then that would mean that the sash isn't seated properly in the window, which would indeed lead to it coming out on accident.

Seeing a photo of the bent pivot would allow me to judge just how bad it is. Seeing one removed from the sash would also allow me to make a recommendation from our inventory. These are very simple to replace and I'm confident we have one that will work.

That's not okay, unfortunately. The shoe needs to connect to the balance, otherwise it's not serving any purpose.

At this stage I'm not really sure what the issue is, so I'm going to do my best to break down how these assemblies function. Hopefully that will help you zero in on the problem and figure out exactly what's going wrong here.

The reason your window stays up when it's raised is because the balance counteracts the weight of the sash. The springs provide enough tension to equal the sash weight, which provides constant tension that works against gravity. The sash connects to the pivot shoe using the pivot bars, the shoe connects to the balance using the cord, and the cord is constantly being pulled up by the spring. They all work together for that one single purpose.

If any of these components stop functioning, or fall out of alignment, then the window won't stay up when raised. If only one side is connected, then only one side will be held up, resulting in a lopsided operation.

Concerning your pivot bar, the bend is not severe enough, in my opinion, that it would make any difference in how it seats in the pivot shoe. The shoe not being connected to the balance is a much bigger deal. Your next step should be to reconnect those two pieces and see if that fixes the issue. 

That sticker unfortunately doesn't tell me who made the window. 

As for the pivot bar, I do see the bend more clearly now but I'm still not sure if that would be enough to cause the issues you're having. I suppose it's possible that if this bent pivot bar is seated properly in the pivot shoe, it would mean that the pivot bar on the other side would stick up a little higher. 

Consider our 26-433 as a possible replacement. This looks like a match for your original but please review its dimensions--including its hole placement--to confirm that they're the same.

Alternate image for 26-433

Yes, that is exactly right. You can pull that cord down and anchor it in the pivot shoe once more. Just make sure to keep a firm grip on it; these are typically under a lot of tension so it's going to want to shoot back up into the channel.