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As the weather is getting colder I was wondering what all products I need to bring in at night to protect from freezing. All of them? And, theoretically, if I had already left the chemicals out one night would they be totally useless if they froze?
Bring them all him, including most of your equipment that can freeze, this includes your buffer, when I first started I did not bring in the buffer, I had a job one morning and the temp outside dropped to -15 and the buffer did freeze, when I started to use it I blew a capacitor, it ruined my day to say the least. Take no chances bring it all in, as for chemicals that may have froze up on you only one way to find out try them! An at home test would be the smart way to go.
It’s far less work to set an electric heater in your van!!
Amen. I just bought a small heater and plug it up on nights that get below 30 degrees or so. I do know that at 15 degrees your stainless steel sprayer will freeze and burst at the metal handle. Only one way to know that. Ha Ha
Heater is the way to go if you can do it. I’ve been in a situation before where I couldn’t use a heater and had to bring stuff in. If it is liquid, or holds/sprays liquids, bring it in. Never had a problem with my buffer staying out in the cold other than having a really stiff buffer cord on my first job until it warmed up. Maybe I just got lucky there though.
heater
we have used heaters down to about 20F or so, then bring inside. The problem for us is that the buffer should be brought in as well when relly cold …here’s why.
The motor windings will get cold outside to whatever the ambient is and when taken inside the customer’s house, any humidity will be instantly attracted to the motor windings and could cause immediate or long term problems…we have never seen a problem with this, but could easily happen and we bring in mostly on super cold days. An electrician or electrical engineer might shed more light on this…
Dave
😆 You want to talk about cold……… My first winter up here we didn’t have a garage. Luckily though my van has eurathane foam sprayed on the interior, so it moderates the temperature alot better, but even when it is 40 to 50 below I was still able to leave everything outside. I ran 2 large space heaters in the back. My electric bill went up about $200 for 4 months. There have been many jobs that I have left the van running with the heat on. In fact I have changed my technique in the winter so that when I am loading after a job, I always load the sprayer last, because when it is really cold, the hoses will freeze if it takes me longer than 10 minutes to load everything up. My suggestion, if you can possibly afford a garrage, it is soooo worth it. I store all of my chemicals on shelves out there too. Also, since it is heated, I don’t use space heaters anymore.
Wow…. now that is what I call COLD folks!!! When your sprayer hose freezes on the way to the van!! Baden, without a doubt the rest of us are wimps when it comes to understanding what you guys go through on a daily basis!!! ha! I think I’ll throw another log on the fire – it’s all the way down to 46 degrees 🙂 (summertime weather for some of ya’ll!)
Baden, I can only imagine the cold there. For many years here in NH I brought everything into my basement each night, i.e. all sprayers, uph unit and all chemicals and hoses. I have lost some pumps overnight accidentally when the temp dipped below normal in September. Expensive lesson. Thankfully, I never had the buffer freeze on me. I now live in a home with a heated garage so don’t have to haul it all in. If you are spending $200/month on heating with space heaters you may want to look into a wall mounted gas heater if you have a garage. Ours is energy efficient and I can keep it just above freezing and after 8 years so far so good. Denis live even farther North in NH so I’m sure he’s gotten a good amount of snow already. We’ve had a covering but not much more yet. We welcome it here for the NH economy! Best Wishes for success this winter.
There is a propane heater made by “Mr Heater” that has a single or double ceramic burner depending on your desire. With the price of gas today I lite the burner instead of running the van. Many times I spend 2, 3, 4 hours per job. That would burn a lot of gaseline. Now i burn up about 1 to 2 16 oz bottles per day if needed. If your worried about fumes, they are minimal. When you load the equipment back into a warm van the doors are opened up allowing fresh air within. This particular unit is indoor safe anyways according to its literature. I wouldn’t leave it running while I was driving around tho. But then again it does have a “tip over” safety shutoff.
The bottles cost me $2.50 per. I paid 67.00 at my local LOWES for the single burner unit. Works just fine…
I’m sorry these things are happening to you guys. I worry about stuff like this to, but during the summer. Most or our products have a high flash point according to MSDS sheets so I don’t worry about that. I have never known what below freezing feels like. Just to give you an idea. The temperature in Mission, TX (South Texas) was 89 degrees. We will get to the 30’s if we are lucky.
Mike Nowlin
I have a big cooler that I put in the van that holds most of my products. I don’t have a garage and can’t always get a close parking spot to our house. I also would have to have a long extension cord that would go over and side walk. I can see some dork tripping on it and wanting some money. The cooler will keep things from freezing down to about 20 degrees. It works well some far we have a fairly warm season. If it gets really cold I can just bring in the cooler. I just had a friend come over and blow out the pump on the upholstery mate. I talked to John about this and in theory it should work. I will then just have to use that sprayer instead of the pump. I’m pretty sure it will all be okay.
I’m not sure about all of the products but I do know that the protector won’t work after it freezes and the 101 will still work you just need to let all of it thaw out. Fresh scent will still work as well.
Matt,
Could you explain what you mean by blowing your u-mate pump out. And why would you do it?
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