Anyone using a Bendpak Lift Below 40 degrees temperature

[mslisaj]

I have a new Bendpak twin post lift that is working fine but I live in the Northwest and my shop sometimes get below 30 degrees in the winter. Bendpak says their seals in the lift could fail in temps below 40 degrees. I raised the possibility of putting a heat lamp on the pump and reservoir and getting the pump and oil to maybe 50 degrees and Bendpak just falls back to heat the shop to 40 degrees. I put Dexron III oil in the reservoir as I figured I never saw a car with an automatic transmission that couldn't be used in 40 degrees or less but Bendpak holds to their recommendations of 40 degrees. I was amused at their comment that if I got a car up in the air and couldn't get it down because of a seal failure their Tech Support guys cold help me get it down but I wanted to ask all you experts out there that have been using automotive lifts for many years what your thoughts on this was. At this point I would trust your recommendations far more then the weak answer I got from Bendpak. I understand their liability concerns and all but all advice and comments on this would be appreciated....................

 

[walrus]

I have a new Bendpak twin post lift that is working fine but I live in the Northwest and my shop sometimes get below 30 degrees in the winter. Bendpak says their seals in the lift could fail in temps below 40 degrees. I raised the possibility of putting a heat lamp on the pump and reservoir and getting the pump and oil to maybe 50 degrees and Bendpak just falls back to heat the shop to 40 degrees. I put Dexron III oil in the reservoir as I figured I never saw a car with an automatic transmission that couldn't be used in 40 degrees or less but Bendpak holds to their recommendations of 40 degrees. I was amused at their comment that if I got a car up in the air and couldn't get it down because of a seal failure their Tech Support guys cold help me get it down but I wanted to ask all you experts out there that have been using automotive lifts for many years what your thoughts on this was. At this point I would trust your recommendations far more then the weak answer I got from Bendpak. I understand their liability concerns and all but all advice and comments on this would be appreciated....................

I know where there 2 bendpaks, they are outside in Ellsworth Maine. Gets way below 40 here. I noticed the tanks and pumps are wrapped with insulation, not sure how much they do in the winter but I saw 2 cars on them the other day, was around 40

 

[mslisaj]

Thanks Walrus for the reply. My lift works fine at 30 degrees but I get spooked as I'm one that reads the warnings. I called Bendpak to see what they say and apparently they are worried about "seal failures". When I asked what seals in particular they said "all seals were subject to failure below 40 degrees". So I thought I would ask the men that use automotive lifts every day and I find it hard to believe they are all in heated garages or even all inside for that matter. But thanks for the input and the insulation idea sounds good and I think my idea of a simple heat lamp or bulb with a reflector would work too. But we'll see what others offer up here in this discussion...............

 

[krooser]

I use my old Weaver at below zero temps on occasion... I don't heat that area of my shop... I use 10W hydraulic oil.

 

[mslisaj]

Thanks Kooser for your feedback. I would say Dexron III's viscosity is about the same as a 10 weight hydraulic oil. I would hate to say this about my lift but maybe Bendpak uses an inferior seal? As I mentioned I have used the lift when it's in the hi 20's and it does everything just fine I was just concerned about the warning and when I asked Bendpak about it they wouldn't offer any advice except to heat everything to at least 40 so I thought I would put the question out there. So far no one has had any difficulties with cold weather but we'll just have to wait and see what more people say...........

Thanks again Kooser.........

 

[JSK]

I thought I could take a few days off and enjoy some pre-turkey time with the family until I got a PM from a GJ follower saying "Jeff, I think you need to reply to this post."

mslisaj - I hope you'll accept my personal apology for the misinformation.

As many of you know our re-designed website has instant on-line chat capability - pretty neat stuff. As a forward thinking company we make it policy to take advantage of what technology offers to improve service and customer experience whenever and wherever possible. The bad is that I seldom have the opportunity to review all of the chat correspondence that travels through our chat-line airwaves. Our service department employs a dozen specialists that take part in answering on-line chats during non-regular calls. I'm not sure all of them really understand how influential their keystrokes could be in customer interpretation and perception.

Regarding our hydraulic cylinder seals - we use energized U-Cup seals for optimum sealing function and significantly improved performance. The seals have a max pressure rating of 6,000 psi and a temperature range of -50 °F to +250 °F. Power unit seals employ same materials. Your lift will be fine.

Happy Thanksgiving guys and gals.

Jeff Kritzer
BendPak

 

[mslisaj]

Well Jeff, thank you for your response. You have posted replys to my BendPak questions on this forum before and I so appreciate it. As I mentioned in my post here, I feel I have one of the best lifts in the industry and it pained me to say that "maybe the seals were inferior". So I'm glad you have straightened this out. I have a beautiful shop and your lift (BendPak) is part of it. I throughly research everything that I do and I just found the 40 degree part hard to take. As I mentioned I used Dexron III as I felt this would overcome the cold and flow at these cold temps. But above all I want to be safe with the use of this lift and this is why I ask these questions. I have lifted my 66 Chrysler with temps in the 20's without any difficulty but again my sole interest in using this lift is safety. Thus I ask these questions......... Thanks again Jeff for weighing in here and settling the question in BendPak's favor and all your users that may have questioned it. As far as you Chat goes, your folks provide a wonderful service and there is no fault to be placed there. They can only work off the manuals and that is the way it should be for them. But I needed the engineer's answer and now I have it.........

Thanks Jeff........

Lisa

 

[krooser]

You could always use a magnetic heater on the oil reservoir (if it's steel!)...

 

[ryno]

I thought I could take a few days off and enjoy some pre-turkey time with the family until I got a PM from a GJ follower saying "Jeff, I think you need to reply to this post."

mslisaj - I hope you'll accept my personal apology for the misinformation.

As many of you know our re-designed website has instant on-line chat capability - pretty neat stuff. As a forward thinking company we make it policy to take advantage of what technology offers to improve service and customer experience whenever and wherever possible. The bad is that I seldom have the opportunity to review all of the chat correspondence that travels through our chat-line airwaves. Our service department employs a dozen specialists that take part in answering on-line chats during non-regular calls. I'm not sure all of them really understand how influential their keystrokes could be in customer interpretation and perception.

Regarding our hydraulic cylinder seals - we use energized U-Cup seals for optimum sealing function and significantly improved performance. The seals have a max pressure rating of 6,000 psi and a temperature range of -50 °F to +250 °F. Power unit seals employ same materials. Your lift will be fine.

Happy Thanksgiving guys and gals.

Jeff Kritzer
BendPak

thanks for the reply and reinsurance on the matter jeff.
sounds like you may need to be talking to your support typers soon!
happy turkey day.

 

[mslisaj]

No, it has a plastic reservoir, but I think a 100 watt bulb with a reflector will do the job. But that was a good thought if I had the steel reservoir....

 

[c39er]

I have a new Bendpak twin post lift that is working fine but I live in the Northwest and my shop sometimes get below 30 degrees in the winter. Bendpak says their seals in the lift could fail in temps below 40 degrees. I raised the possibility of putting a heat lamp on the pump and reservoir and getting the pump and oil to maybe 50 degrees and Bendpak just falls back to heat the shop to 40 degrees. I put Dexron III oil in the reservoir as I figured I never saw a car with an automatic transmission that couldn't be used in 40 degrees or less but Bendpak holds to their recommendations of 40 degrees. I was amused at their comment that if I got a car up in the air and couldn't get it down because of a seal failure their Tech Support guys cold help me get it down but I wanted to ask all you experts out there that have been using automotive lifts for many years what your thoughts on this was. At this point I would trust your recommendations far more then the weak answer I got from Bendpak. I understand their liability concerns and all but all advice and comments on this would be appreciated....................

Have you ever bought a chinese electric powertool with one of those hard rubber electric cords that won't coil up easily? Well maybe Bendpak is using chinese rubber seals that are not soft enough or won't conform 9seal cracks/splits) in the cold! I'm looking for another lift and this scares me as to getting a Bendpak-my 6 year old Rotary has no restrictions in the cold.

 

[mslisaj]

Jeff from BendPak has put my mind at ease as the real word is the seals are good from -50 to +250 degrees. So apparently I got some bad information from their new Chat Tech Service people. The lift works just fine in the cold. I just wanted clarification and it's the main consensus here that no one has had a problem with the cold. So the lift is just fine............ and it's a great addition to my shop.

 

[Nutty 5.0]

Great post Lisa as I never put much thought but use mine below 40 at least until it gets up to temp anyhow in the garage. Thanks Jeff for the reassurance. FWIW, I've been using my several years with no issues and Dexron 3 as well.

 

[mslisaj]

Hi Nutty and thanks for your input here. I gathered from the pictures of your Conestoga with the snow on the ground that it gets cold there too. So you have used your lift when it's been below 40. Yes I wish I could wait 'till it got to at least 40 to do some of the work in the shop that I have to do, but I'm not retired yet and when my pickup needs to be serviced, and it's winter time, I have to do it. This question came up for me because there is a "warning" in the BendPak operating instructions that gave a temp range and the bottom end was 40 degrees. It can get into the teens in my shop in the winter time. I also have a coal fired stove in there to take the frost off me but it doesn't heat the metal building at all. So my equipment is working in the sever cold. Yes Jeff put my mind at ease and so have all the posts like yours that have "been there done that" with the cold..............

Lisa