Cold In The Shop

Yep, it's positively tropical here at +5°F outside and I'm not about to be puttering around in the garage ;)°°
 
Last edited:
RalphG said:
Been too cold to do much in the workshop lately but I did shoot a little video the other day. Temp was around -5F indoors so the old fingers on the camera freeze up pretty quick.

https://youtu.be/cVZgySTkE60
Click to expand...

Yea it's in the 40's this morning and not expected to get much of 70
today down here in Florida. I'm dreading going over to the COLD shop
this morning. G.M.
 
-20 here, heat went out in my shop Sat, so I had to build a fire in the wood stove and work on the furnace instead of my cars. :(
 
-20 Saturday night. We've got pipeline protesters who are whining about the cold and three blizzards they have endured. Perhaps if they went home and found employment they wouldn't have to complain about the temps here. Some were on the news expressing shock about a northern plains winter. They must have believed in gorebal warming.
 
Supposed to be -40 this weekend, I'm crossing my fingers the furnace holds out!
I figured out summer time is the best time to work on furnaces, but they never seem to break down in the summer! :)
 
Aint that the truth Ralph. been around -5F to -10F at night around here and about +5 t0 +15F in the day. I had to have the furnace on thew house repaired just before Christmas on a Friday night emergency call out. these new furnaces are all electronic, and I can't do anything with them. turned out to be the electronic ignitor. call out labor and parts was about $650. the part alone was $260 + a $300 call out fee, +labor. but on a brighter note the shop heater is working fine. I got that Merc. carb. freed -up, and will probably take it apart this weekend and check it out. Keep warm , my friend.---Jim
 
Temps here in the 40's. but LOTS of heavy rain. Over 9" in the last 3 days here in the foothills of Norcal. Supposed to last thru Friday.
Better than snow, tho. Power was out for 8 hours. Ran the generator. But generator doesn't power the shop. No lights, no fun
Jim
 
Hey Ralph and Jim , Temps in Anchorage have been here on the south side in the zero degrees range and up to +19 yesterday. My shop is nice and toasty warm. Getting some projects done.
Vic
 
My shop electric heater usually keeps the shop comfortable. But last week, I stepped into a cold shop.
The electric circuit breaker in the sub panel started arcing between the breaker and the buss bar in the back of the panel. It burnt off one buss bar and one connection on the breaker. I guess I got off easy, only lost one position in the panel and a $30 breaker.
...Terry
 
Bright sunshine and blue sky here on top of the 5 inches of new snow. At -10F I hear there is quite a wind chill factor out in the open spaces. Doing nothing more than the essentials outside today. I could fire up the oil furnace or space heater in the shop where the Merc is parked but considering the cost of fuel I only run it for emergency repair jobs. Warming up to the thawing mark next week. :-)
 
Good video Ralph! You must have hands of cold steel! I did some hands on electrical work in 30*F and my hands were numb!
 
Ralph - I noticed in the video, two car batteries on the garage floor. Unfortunately, while they are on cardboard, the cardboard isn't sufficient to insulate the batteries from the colder concrete which is colder than surrounding air, typically 5-7°F.

Voltage between plates depends upon their temperature and the temperature difference from top-to bottom of battery plates induces self-discharge. You need at least 3" of wood or equivalent to keep the battery plate temperature differential to be near zero and prevent charge from leaking off. In addition the temperature induced acid flow will cause the lower portion of the plates to deteriorate, lessening both their capacity (CCA) and their life.

If anyone is still reading and has a weather/insulation expertise ... QUESTION is there a decent inexpensive way to treat one's garage door soas to get the garage perhaps to 50 degrees. I can't conceive how to manage the cracks around the door before going to the next step of adding a safe heater to the 12x20' work area. With my Merc on jackstands, I've a host of things to do but my aged body unable to cope with the temperature including laying on the concrete.

Using my newly acquired (we just got a Harbour Freight store in town - one of those new ones every 3 days) $15 HF IR gun. The ground outside is 19°F, (no wind) inside garage doors measure 32°F, concrete floor is 35°F and everything else in the garage is 37°F. House is 69°F with baseboard heaters on full time. Ahh Costa Rica. Back to the IR gun, it calibrates pretty close going from ice cubes to boiling water. Worth $15 anyway.
 
Paul
I used some strips sold by a garage door company that seal the edges & tops of my garage doors. Keeps out the draft very well. My doors are metal & kinda roll up in sections
Hard to describe.
There is also styrofoam insulation sold by garage door vendors and similar products are available from HD & Loews.
Another option that a fellow showed me is using plastic sheeting (Visqueen) on the interior of each door, secured with tape. I guess the dead air space helped insulate each door. Said it worked well & was inexpensive.
You will still need a heater of sorts to get that temperature up.
I have a pellet stove in my shop that will keep the temp at 60+. I can't work in any lower temp than that. I'm old
Jim
 
Paul Bennett said:
Ralph - I noticed in the video, two car batteries on the garage floor. Unfortunately, while they are on cardboard, the cardboard isn't sufficient to insulate the batteries from the colder concrete which is colder than surrounding air, typically 5-7°F.
.
Click to expand...
I have no worries about cold weather and battery storage. I have batteries on tractors and combines that sit all winter on steel getting full benefit of the cold. Yet they fire right up in the spring and I've had up to 15 years out of a set of batteries with virtually no maintenance. Good batteries or good luck?
I got one of those little I.R. temperature deals too last year. Interesting to check the temp on various parts of the flathead during and after running. I should really try it out on my fingers after working on cold cast iron for a while :-) -22F out there tonight. Hope the anti freeze is strong in the engines.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top