Aluminum frame window won't stay up, falls down.

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Sliding aluminum frame glass windows are the modern replacement for the old wooden ones held up with counter balances and sash weights. They can be single hung or double hung. Mine are double hung.

My metal ones don't stay up, and this repair is totally different from all the DIY help available on the Internet.

In the trade, the mechanisms that holds the window in place are called balance tubes. They are metal tubes, one per track (left and right), variable length. At the bottom end of each tube is a color coded gasket, the code referring to the spring weight tension inside the tube. In my double wide mobile home, they are 3/8ths inch in diameter. As you raise and lower the window, a spiral rod slides in an out of the tube.

These tubes wear out, that is, the springs break. When they break, the window falls down. There is no fix, and the whole assembly has to be replaced. The replacement tubes are available at http://www.robertbrooke.com/ for $8 each plus shipping. Click on window parts in the pull down tab, and call the number at the bottom. You cannot order this part over the Internet.

http://www.homewindowrepair.com/window_bal...s/85_series.pdf

Replacing the tube is simple, for my double hung window.

Pivot out the bottom window by releasing the left and right latches located on top of the window frame, after raising the window a couple of inches.

Now you can see the spirals, extending down from the tubes in the tracks, which should be snapped in place at the bottom of the track, in the same piece of plastic slider that holds the window pivots, just above the pivots. My spirals have two notches to hold it in place.

Up top, there rectangular, custom fit rubber bumper. Slide the bumper down and remove.
Remove the half-round plastic valence that covers the tube (it should fall out).
Unsnap outwards, by hand, the spiral rod from the plastic slider.
Remove the Phillips screw holding at the top of the tube that holds the tube against the track.

Reverse the procedure to install your new tube.
The supplier needs to know the following information:

Tube diameter. Exactly.
Tube length. Exactly.
Color of the gasket at the bottom of the tube.
Number of notches at the end of the spiral arm.

If this information applies to you, print this out and put it someplace. It is very difficult to find googling.