How cold is too cold?

[Jimmie Mayfield]

My attached garage/shop is unheated and on a day where the outdoor temperatures approach 0F, it drops to the mid-30s (empirically, the garage temp sits midway between the outdoor temp and the house temp...at least in the winter). Since the interior door goes to the laundry room, I've been known to reroute the dryer vent into the garage and run a cycle with an empty dryer (hence, no moisture). This warms the garage enough to work without a jacket but the tools themselves (and the wood also?) probably need much longer to warm up.

I'm particularly interested in the cold's effect on my belt-driven tools. My tools appear to have two types of belts: The BS and compressor have "normal" fan belts while the TS and Dewalt planer both use what appears to be a yellow, rubbery belt. Seeing what happened to the Shuttle Challenger's rubber O-rings, am I asking for trouble by using these two tools while cold? I didn't find any mention of operational temperature ranges in either manual.

Jimmie

[Myk Rian]

You can't really compare your shop tools to the shuttles' o-rings.

If the tool turns on and runs, use it. I might hesitate if it was 0 in the garage.

[David Keller NC]

While true that the shuttle's o-rings were made of a special fire-resistant polymer compound to withstand the high temperatures and pressures, it wasn't just the o-rings stiffening up that caused the disaster, it was also a problem of differential expansion of the metallic parts in the rocket booster seal.

On you power tools, most of them have a belt-tensioner device that will take up/give up some degree of slack in use, and the kinds of silicone rubber normally used in newer power tool belts will stay flexible down to just above liquid nitrogen temperatures (let's hop your garage never even approaches that (-277 degrees!)). You should be fine.

[John Keeton]

...newer power tool belts will stay flexible down to just above liquid nitrogen temperatures (let's hope your garage never even approaches that (-277 degrees!)). You should be fine.

I am pretty much out of the shop when the ambient temps get to about
-150 I'm just afraid to push my luck on those belts!!

[Jimmie Mayfield]

Thanks for the quick responses!

[Joe Chritz]

If you use the dryer sometimes to heat it a hanging electric heater would be likely reasonable to use. With the added bonus of being able to leave it set at 34 so the garage never freezes.

Northern tool has several starting at just over $100.

To answer the original question, the cold shouldn't hurt any electric tools. The swings in temp may cause condensation which could but I found this to only be a problem in the summer when the shop is much cooler than outside.

Joe

[John Lucas]

While true that the shuttle's o-rings were made of a special fire-resistant polymer compound to withstand the high temperatures and pressures, it wasn't just the o-rings stiffening up that caused the disaster, it was also a problem of differential expansion of the metallic parts in the rocket booster seal.

On you power tools, most of them have a belt-tensioner device that will take up/give up some degree of slack in use, and the kinds of silicone rubber normally used in newer power tool belts will stay flexible down to just above liquid nitrogen temperatures (let's hop your garage never even approaches that (-277 degrees!)). You should be fine.

Liquid nitrogen is -320°F. (I was cryogenic "expert" in one of my lives.)

[David Keller NC]

"Liquid nitrogen is -320°F. (I was cryogenic "expert" in one of my lives.)"

Indeed - that's a "whoops" on my part. We used vapor-phase nitrogen at the condensation point to cool our apparatus in grad school, but our set point was -277F. Grad school was a long time ago, and everything has sort of blended together...

[Matt Meiser]

Regarding that dryer vent--is it a gas or electric dryer? I'd be careful about pumping CO into your garage.

[Jimmie Mayfield]

If you use the dryer sometimes to heat it a hanging electric heater would be likely reasonable to use. With the added bonus of being able to leave it set at 34 so the garage never freezes.

Northern tool has several starting at just over $100.

Funny you should mention that! I've had my eye on one at Northern Tool that seems to get pretty good reviews. I've also toyed with the idea of getting a small 15-30k BTU propane heater but the electric one has the benefit of not having to worry about CO or depleted oxygen at the expense of a lower BTU rating.

[Jimmie Mayfield]

Regarding that dryer vent--is it a gas or electric dryer? I'd be careful about pumping CO into your garage.

It's an electric dryer so no worries on the CO front. However, I -did- manage to allow a mouse into the house the first time I did this. Haven't decided if it got in through the open door or if it came in via the (unblocked at the time) dryer vent hookup. Lesson learned.

A standalone heater is definitely a preferable solution but an electric dryer works in a pinch so long as it's empty.

[Frank Drew]

Jimmie,

Be careful that any water based finishes, dyes or glues don't freeze.

I really don't like working in a very cold workshop.

[John Sanford]

If you do decide to keep it warmed up in there, you want to keep it slightly above the minimum working temperature of the glues that you use. Of the normal "yellow" wood glues, Titebond III has the lowest temperature, 45f. Gorilla Glue (and likely other polyurethane glues) are good down to 40f. I have no idea what sort of temperature considerations hide glue may have. When you're going to be finishing, you'll want to take the finish's temps into consideration as well.

The upshot is, the chemicals we use in woodworking are more temperature sensitive than we are, and we are more temperature sensitive than the tools.

[Andrew Joiner]

In Oregon last I checked electric heat was cheaper than oil. Maybe cheaper than propane too. Electric is 100% efficient.

Your TS a planer are made to be used in cold construction sites, so your fine.

You could screen the dryer vent and call it done! Or you could put a sign on the vent in very tiny letters saying " No Mice Allowed "

[Andrew Joiner]

You can also hang a few clear 250 watt heat lamps above you main work area. Light and heat for one price.