Whitco Spiral Sash Window Balances

Absolute Rubbish – We had the whole house replaced professionally in every window 5 years ago. 3 have failed and now have to open windows and hold them up with some sort of support. A few others won't stay all the way up and will suffer the same fate as the others.

Poor design causes failure of the spiral balance – Like most of the reviews, I have found that many of the Whitco spiral balances in my Trend double hung aluminium windows have failed. It seems that the spirals get "gummed up" due to the lubricant used by Whitco congealing after time and binding up the mechanism. On one or two, the mechanism had not actually failed, the spiral had just jammed… Read more

in the open position so I was able to lubricate it and make it operate freely again. I used Lanox as the lubricant, as a locksmith once told me it was the best lubricant to use to free up door lock mechanisms. Since there is no simple way of lubricating the balances "in situ" I decided to improvise. I drilled a 2.5mm hole in the outer plastic casing of working balances, about 100mm below the top fixing screw. Then taking the spray tin of Lanox, with the small tube attached to the spray nozzle, put the end of the tube in the drilled hole ands spray Lanox into the tube. It will then run down inside and some will find its way on to the spiral and free it up. It seemed to work for me. Good luck!

They are rubbish – I have 28 double hung practically all have stuck or feet broken ,contacted whitco would take no responsibility , said open windows every two weeks would be spending a lot of time at my windows up and down ,what ever they use as a lubricant goes hard and leaks out all over window , contacted Trend who were the supplier again did not want to know ,… Read more

we built the house so windows were new and started to failed about 12 after installation, was told by trend sales person that he did not know why did still used this system , it is an expensive exercise to replace them , my husband has drilled a hole in each one that we have managed to save and sprayed a lubicant in side that seems to free them up , we still have to replace 10 feet and balance as they snap. Ours are all pop riverted on so makes it harder again to replace , It is very dissapointing that windows that were brand new were just rubbish and Whitco or Trend does not care about their product or customers, seems like these balances have a serious design problem , that they need to rectify, if anyone knows of another brand that we can use it would be good to hear about as I am going to start replacing mine, thanks in advance

Same problem, failing spiral sash balances – We have 23 double hung cedar windows in our house. 21 window Whitco spiral sash balances have now failed. Granted it was slowly over 15 yrs but cost to replace is excessive.Now not keen to replace as they could fail again .Appears by these reviews that it could be common problem. Guess a stick or brass stays may be in order.What alternatives?? Regards

They're OK generally – I've installed plenty of these and the failure rate is low so I can't say they all fail as suggested here, but some do unfortunately. I don't know how they stack up against other brands as the white ones have no branding on them and I don't purchase them. I tend to purchase the Whitcos with the removable foot as I like my eyes and fingers just… Read more

the way they are. The ones with fixed feet can spin out when you release the foot screws and give you a good slice if you're not careful.

Inferior product – We have 54 double hung Stegbar Cedar Windows in our home over the years the Whitco spiral sashes have failed with 4sashes required per window at approx $18 per sash we are up for a small fortune to get fresh air into the home. The grease slowly leaks out of the unit and eventually fails.

Product alert - WHITCO Spiral Sash Window Balances - Not Tensioning - Batch Problems – Having purchased a WHITCO spiral sash balance, this brand new unit would not tension during installation. When I returned the unit to the distributor, they confirmed this problem was not isolated and that there has been batch problems with WHITCO and the supply of this product. A simply test after factory assembly should have alerted WHITCO to… Read more

the problem with my unit and stopped it leaving the factory floor. Clearly WHITCO is having or has had issues with managing its own quantity control and product inspection processes.

If you intent to buy this product, my own advise is to test the unit for tension before purchase.

Not fit for purpose – Have replaced these on many occasions to the stage where we do not rely on the balances, but use a stick to hold the window open as we cannot trust them due to their failure to hold the bottom window up. Agents I spoke to said "if you have had them for 18 months you are doing well". At around $20 per unit and 4 per window, I do not consider that… Read more

to be "fit for purpose" even though Whitco have replaced many of the failures at no cost to me other than the fitting of them. I was also told that the windows should be opened and closed every 2 weeks to lubricate the spiral. Cannot find a replacement so we just use a piece of wood to hold the bottom window up, just for peace on mind in case they fail while open. The result cold be devastating especially if little ones are in the house. The window manufacturer (Trend) do not want to know about the issue.

Whitco Spiral balances only a short term solution – We bought our house in 2011, it was built in 2003. Unfortunately it wasn't until we moved in that we found every aluminium double-hung window was very difficult to open and close. Trying to open and close some caused the footplate to bend releasing the spiral, with the window then not staying up at all. It seems the lubricant that Whitco used was… Read more

designed to adhere to the spiral in a vertical position, but unfortunately over a short period of time it transformed from a lubricant to an adhesive. I have started to replace them and initially bought another pair of Whitco. They now seem to have a different grease. When I was fitting them, I tensioned them 4 turns which wasn't enough. I released one to re-tension it but it then just kept winding either way with no resistance. The Whitco installation manual was a bit vague as it says to wind anti-clockwise to tension, but is accompanied by a diagram with arrows in a clockwise direction. I am now ordering an alternative brand and just hoping they're not from the same factory, and just re-branded.

Whitco spiral balance Fail – within 6 years of installation, one by one each window would get harder and harder to open until it would completely jamb up and the spiral would break at the bottom end or the foot would break causing the window sash to crash down, no one will take any responsibility for a product not fit for purpose, my own observations suggest there is a problem with the grease used as it has gone hard on all spirals.

Whitco Spiral Sash Window Balances Began Failing Within 12 Months – We have 18 cedar windows in our home ranging from small to large. Each window has 2 Whitco spiral balances which allow the window to be opened to a set position. The Whitco spiral sash window balances, installed by a professional, began failing within 12 months of installation. Within 6 years most of the Whitco spiral sash window balances had… Read more

failed and were replaced. The lubricant/grease used to lubricate the spiral, drips out preventing the spiral balance from operating smoothly. The spiral balance, housed within the black polymer outer casing, either snaps loose or buckles. This prevents the windows from being opened. Two thirds of the Whitco spiral sash window balances have now broken a second time.