Garage Goops and Freezing Question

[Greatwhitewing]

Of all the various types of goop we have in our garages (car waxes, sprays, cleaners, sealants, penetrates and such) can it be easily determined which CANNOT or should not get frozen? I am referring mostly to permanent damage to the goop or dangerous explosions from expansion.

I have an unheated detached garage and bring inside a number of items (by guessing) but I really have little idea what cannot or should not be frozen.

Item by item is not what I am hoping for but general rules based on type of product if it's possible.

I know it's early to think of freezing but it will be upon us sooner than we want..
Thanks for your help

 

[psychob0b1977]

My father has an unheated detached garage, when i was useing his garage as my own, i never took anything inside the house for the winter.

as a general rule nothing went "bad" from freezing. but some metal aerosol cans developed scary looking bulges.

other than that, the olnt thing that ever happened is plastic containers got brittle and would sometimes break.

 

[Outlander]

Great questions. Same situation here, I bring in paint and a few other liquids and store them in the basement for the winter. I also wheeled in my compressor thinking it should not freeze. I was too late, I guess becuase the darn thing won't shut off so I assume some valve or switch was damaged.

 

[Mastermind]

paint. thats about the only thing i've seen ruined by freezing, as said above, cheap plastic gets brittle, i tend to bring in my detail kit too, had a few spray bottles break open and make a mess (or really clean spot)

 

[malibu101]

I've had problems with some "goop" (like that coverall term ) that has a plastic sprayer like windex, wheel cleaner, spray detailer, etc, freeze and break the sprayer head.
Except for paint and some wax that I keep in the house to aviod temperature extremes, all my goop stays in the garage from 20 or less in the winter to 100 in the summer. I can't really say that anything has been damaged by the temp extremes.

 

[Carguy99]

I had a thought about using a light bulb in a cabinet to keep stuff from freezing. but the thought of starting a fire seems worse than having some stuff freeze.

 

[Outlander]

I've had problems with some "goop" (like that coverall term )

We use the term 'gorp' for thick messy caked on slimy oily stuff.

Temp swings down to -40c once or twice a year here, so goop has no chance. Then again, I am not doing much sparay painting in the winter, either!

 

[TwoInch]

paint products, spray cans usually stop working after freezing a couple times in my experience(spray paint that is) penetrants seem to not be effected so much.

one thing most people dont know is that new motor oil should be kept inside if you plan on buying in bulk, and keeping it for any extended length of time. warming and cooling is what deteriorates motor oils, develops waxes and such. any oils that have been in the shed for more than a couple years are not worth using, 2 stroke, 4 stroke, trans and gear oils, all of them. people tend to believe that oil is millions of years old, so how could it go bad. its bad logic.

 

[malibu101]

paint products, spray cans usually stop working after freezing a couple times in my experience(spray paint that is) penetrants seem to not be effected so much.

one thing most people dont know is that new motor oil should be kept inside if you plan on buying in bulk, and keeping it for any extended length of time. warming and cooling is what deteriorates motor oils, develops waxes and such. any oils that have been in the shed for more than a couple years are not worth using, 2 stroke, 4 stroke, trans and gear oils, all of them. people tend to believe that oil is millions of years old, so how could it go bad. its bad logic.

Don't take this as being confrontational, but I wonder.......

I agree that large and regular temperature swings are not the best for anything. Period. A properly climate controlled storage area would be ideal.

I also agree that motor oil is a refined product with various additives and is not the same as million year old crude pumped out of the ground.
BUT
I wonder what can happen to it assuming it is in a sealed container.
Do you have a storage reccomendation on this from any oil manufacturer?

I only use 2 stroke oil for the few little yard machines that I have. I barely go through a gallon of oil/gas mix a year. I have a quart of Havoline 2 cycle oil that I've been tapping on for about 5 years.
My small engines run very well. Maybe I'm just lucky.

 

[Gary S]

Oil based products aren't going to freeze unless you live on the North or South pole. Just sort out your water based products and take them into a heated building. Car waxes are water based, but freezing doesn't hurt them.
I keep all my auto related products in my garage where it freezes, and nothing gets hurt.

My beer goes in the house in the winter. Frozen beer tastes like light beer. The water separates out of it.

 

[malibu101]

My beer goes in the house in the winter. Frozen beer tastes like light beer. The water separates out of it.

Obviously the water freezes before the alcohol.
Throw the ice away and drink what's left.
Distillation by freezing instead of by vaporization.

 

[Greatwhitewing]

My beer goes in the house in the winter. Frozen beer tastes like light beer. The water separates out of it.

Keep it in the nice warm fridge like the Eskimos do...

 

[TwoInch]

Don't take this as being confrontational, but I wonder.......

I agree that large and regular temperature swings are not the best for anything. Period. A properly climate controlled storage area would be ideal.

I also agree that motor oil is a refined product with various additives and is not the same as million year old crude pumped out of the ground.
BUT
I wonder what can happen to it assuming it is in a sealed container.
Do you have a storage reccomendation on this from any oil manufacturer?

I only use 2 stroke oil for the few little yard machines that I have. I barely go through a gallon of oil/gas mix a year. I have a quart of Havoline 2 cycle oil that I've been tapping on for about 5 years.
My small engines run very well. Maybe I'm just lucky.

surely. most manufacturers have a use by date nowadays on the bottles. some believe it to be because they want you to buy more oil, which might be some of it. but if you research refined oil products, specifically oils containing VIs and detergents, the info is out there. heating of oil has little or no effect on VIs, its the cooling back down that breaks them down. years of daily, and seasonal warming and cooling most definitely breaks down oils. not the base stock, but the finished product. viscosity changes are the biggest factor. like mentioned oil doesnt "freeze" in the sense of water freezing, but it turns to a near solid. grab a quart and stick it in your deep freezer for an hour or two.

im not saying your ****** or weedwhacker engine will know the difference. what im saying is, if you want an oil that is of 8cst at 212*f in your $10,000 engine, dont use oil thats been sitting in a shed for a few years... if that makes sense. it wont be the same oil it was new, sealed container or not. oxygen and moisture contamination is not what im talking about.

edit - i have old oil containers, unopened from the 80s and 90s, found in peoples sheds and under garage benches, etc... if you can come across an old one, open it up and pour it into a glass jar or similar.

 

[djjsr]

I have a somewhat large cabinet with 2 light bulbs in it. When it gets near freezing, I turn on 1 bulb. When it gets near 10 degrees, I turn on the second bulb.

It's been working ok for about 10 years. One of these days I want to insulate the cabinet and install a thermostat to control the lights.

I keep things about 10 inches away from the bulbs.

 

[canuckian]

For me, Unless it has "do not freeze" or something similar on the label It stays in the shop for the winter. Only exception is that i roll my detailing cart in the heated garage for the winter. In my experience, Some waxes and detailing products dont like extreme cold temperatures. I buy oil as needed so I don't have to worry about it's shelf life or how heat/cool cycles would affect it.

 

[TwoInch]

I wonder what can happen to it assuming it is in a sealed container.
Do you have a storage reccomendation on this from any oil manufacturer?

exxon-mobil claim a shelf life of 5 years. im assuming that they are taking into consideration that most people that are going to store oil, are going to store it in less than climate controlled environments, or a good portion at least. they cant guarantee an oil to be of its original specification after extended lengths in heating and cooling cycles.

 

[TwoInch]

also, here is AMSOILs recommendations on engine oil storage, unbiased and not based on selling their product. the oil storage info is at the bottom half of the page, the top half is about a plymouth belvedere tulsa buried in 1957, with a case of schlitz, can of gas, and engine oil in the trunk.... neat story.

http://www.amsoil.com/articlespr/2007/article_tulsarama.aspx

 

[Greatwhitewing]

Some great info here. I keep a little oil for topping off but buy as needed.

I was more concerned with waxes, sealants, thread lockers, detailing sprays etc.

Thanks all for the vigorous replies...

 

[malibu101]

Well I learned something about storing oil products.
Thanks for all the info!

 

[Jim C.]

Paint and stain should not be allowed to freeze. They don't work as well once they've been frozen.

JimC.

 

[Carguy99]

I have a somewhat large cabinet with 2 light bulbs in it. When it gets near freezing, I turn on 1 bulb. When it gets near 10 degrees, I turn on the second bulb.

It's been working ok for about 10 years. One of these days I want to insulate the cabinet and install a thermostat to control the lights.

I keep things about 10 inches away from the bulbs.

really, I have a flammable cabinet and thats what I was thinking of doing. not for flammable stuff, just goop I didnt want to freeze.
maybe some pics.

Didnt mean to hijack.

 

[Outlander]

really, I have a flammable cabinet and thats what I was thinking of doing. not for flammable stuff, just goop I didnt want to freeze.
maybe some pics.

Didnt mean to hijack.

Great idea since I use a 100w bulb to warm up my ATV before riding in the deep cold!

 

[RCStocker]

Most things take the cold ok. The thing that realy changes the way things work is the heat. Everything in So California goes bad if it gets to hot or left out in the sun. I am here in Indiana and grew up in Michigan and we did not have much problems but that was back in the 50's and 60's and the products were made very differently back then. The new synthetic materials can go bad at room tem. If you have a basement just put thing in a box and stick them down there for the winter. An attic works as well as long as they are not going to catch fire and blow the house up then there is not much of a chance of that happening. Just don't ligt a match or have a sarking switch.

 

[djjsr]

Here's the cabinet I was referring to in my previous post. I made it about 7' wide and 7' tall but only the bottom 2' (2 shelves) is heated. There's 2 bulbs that do the job, sometimes just 1, sometimes both. I'd really like to find a thermostsat that will control them automatically.

View media item 5472
View media item 23623
A little weatherstripping separates the bottom section from the rest of the cabinet.
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A cheap indoor/outdoor thermometer tells me what the temperature is in the garage and in the cabinet.
View media item 23625

 

[malibu101]

With the lights in the bottom of the cabinet, your goop down there looks like fine wine on display.

 

[Greatwhitewing]

I considered doing that to keep a cabinet DRY during the winter....