Keeping things from freezing in my garage?

[raferguson]

I am moving into my new garage/studio, and have a concern about things freezing. In my old house/garage, I just put things that I did not want to freeze in the basement. This would be things like latex paint or certain glues.

But my new place does not have a basement, just a crawl space. I have toyed with putting things there, but that is hardly convenient.

My new garage is attached. I live in Colorado, so temperatures down to -10F would not be surprising in January. Temperatures are mild now, so I am not too worried at the moment.

One alternative would be a heated cabinet, or even an old refrigerator. I figure that insulation would not be enough without some source of heating. I have an old refrigerator, which came with the house, but my spouse wants to use it when we have a party.

Thoughts?

 

[ForceFed70]

If it's attached, then it's probably not huge and probably insulated.

In that scenario, A typical 120V plugin heater would be enough to keep things from freezing.

 

[Pontiac787]

A refrigerator will not keep things from freezing during extended cold snaps.

 

[Vintage Veloce]

Check out a goldenrod dehumidifier. It is actually a small low power heater for gun cabinets and safes. Might work well in a cabinet. But consider carefully the potentially very dangerous idea of putting any flammable in any kind of heated closet, box, cabinet or container. I would not recommend it or do it.

 

[bwringer]

I live in Indy, so similar temps. Down to -20F at least a few times every winter.

I added insulation to my garage door (there's already insulation in the walls) and I noticed that stuff in my attached garage doesn't freeze as long as it's close to the house end of the garage. Even cans of soda or distilled water seem to make it just fine.

If you have a way to record the actual temps close to the house wall, or leave a cup of water sitting out, you might find that it's not a problem.

We also have our heat pump and water heater in the garage too, so that might help add some heat to the equation. YMMV.

 

[BukitCase]

I have a couple upright freezers (dead ones) I use in my shop - I removed the drain in the bottom, grommeted it and ran a cord in to one of those porcelain "outhouse" light sockets; used the "mushroom" that was over the drain hole for a vent by drilling a hole thru the TOP of the box and using the "mushroom" as a cover.

100 watt bulb connected to a cheap "drill speed control" turned down to about 70% - bulbs now last FOREVER (they didn't @ full power), temp in shop usually stays above 35, temp in the cabinets under those conditions stays around 70.

Cheap to run, cabinet is dust/rust/freeze free... Steve

 

[Parrothead]

I live in Indy, so similar temps. Down to -20F at least a few times every winter.

I added insulation to my garage door (there's already insulation in the walls) and I noticed that stuff in my attached garage doesn't freeze as long as it's close to the house end of the garage. Even cans of soda or distilled water seem to make it just fine.

If you have a way to record the actual temps close to the house wall, or leave a cup of water sitting out, you might find that it's not a problem.

We also have our heat pump and water heater in the garage too, so that might help add some heat to the equation. YMMV.

I'll second this, and I am in Indy too. My garage is insulated and drywalled and the heater and water heater are in the garage too. I have one benefit that bwringer does not in that's my garage doors. I don't need to insulate them as they're solid wood. Between having the master bedroom above the garage and the insulation on the exterior walls, no issues with freezing and in fact it rarely if ever drops below 50. Stays reasonably cool in the summer too. And that's with a serious air leak from the service door too.

You can get a thermometer/humidity monitor off Amazon for less than $15 and it will keep track of the high and low temp/humidity. This will let you know how low the temp actually gets and how much rust you'll be fighting.

 

[firworks]

My attached garage with shared wall and ceiling does get below freezing here. I've got a 400W eco-panel heater out there to try to keep it just above freezing. I turn it on when it starts to get cold and I turn it off when spring is here. It's worked for a few years now. It's too cold to work in (~40F) but it's warm enough that my paints and stains don't get messed up and that's what I'm after. If you can still buy them in your area and they haven't been outlawed, a single incandescent bulb is a pretty decent heater for a cabinet. Get a socket, stick it in there and put a 60W bulb in and the cabinet will probably stay nice and warm.

 

[raferguson]

Thanks to all for your comments. I wonder if I might not get away with a seasonal switch, putting the paint in the crawl space in December, and pulling it out mid-february. I agree that it does not seem to be as cold in the garage as outside. I may buy a recording thermometer and look at the low temp in the garage vs. the outside. The attached garage is 950 square feet, but I could imagine that things closer to the house might stay warmer.....

 

[Aberdale]

Sounds like a no brainer to just heat the garage. Add insulation to the walls and door(s) if you have to. I added heat (and insulation) to my garage back in 1998. It was one of the best things I ever did. Aside from keeping liquids from freezing, it keeps things from condensing/sweating as the outside temperatures freeze and thaw. It has eliminated a lot of rust on bare steel parts and tools. It's also been a luxury getting into a warm car in the morning, and I find I now spend a fair amount of relax time in the garage during the winter.

 

[LifeLongWNYer]

Understood on the inexpensive thermometer/humidity units, but be careful on trusting the "min/max" readings. I bought several AccuRite units which advertised , on the package, that they record the temperature and humidity extremes. They DID, but they ALSO reset the min/max readings every 24 hours, counting from when the batteries were installed.

I thought my barn was suspiciously cold, compared to the min readings, and called AccuRite, who confirmed that their units perform this "feature" of automatically resetting.

It turned out that my units were resetting at about the time that the southern sun was shining in the windows, warming the unit at about the time that it was resetting.

I am still looking for several economical thermometers with a min/max recorder that only resets when I reset it. If anybody has a source of them, please advise.


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[Tom Sestito]

You could keep your paint in a cupboard in the garage.

Line the cupboard with thin silver backed insulation. Wire up a 40w incandescent light bulb in the cupboard on a 15min-on/15min-off cycle and that will keep your paint plenty warm over the winter.

 

[midwestcj]

Where in Colorado are you? Our garage usually stays in the 40’s. It’s insulated in the walls but not the doors and rarely does it get cold, but it’s also about 500 sf


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[bwringer]

Put a few cups of water in various places in the garage on a cold night and see if they freeze.

Get up before sunrise, take temperature readings in the cups of water, and compare it to the temps outside. That's roughly how much warmer the garage will be at night. Wind direction can make a significant difference if your house is exposed.

Also, the garage will be significantly warmer up high than down at floor level. A cabinet hung on the "house side" wall is VERY unlikely to freeze.

I really wouldn't store stuff in a crawl space, but maybe your crawl space is nicer and easier to access than any I've ever seen.

 

[Cypherian]

If it's attached, then it's probably not huge and probably insulated.

In that scenario, A typical 120V plugin heater would be enough to keep things from freezing.

What this ^ says, I have a single car attached insulated walls and door . With a utility heater set at 55 it does not get below 45 in there . Outside temps around here vari greatly lowest with wind chill -10 still warm enough in there to keep things from freezing and batteries from failing.

Cypher

 

[nh_yota]

Get an electric oil-filled radiator and keep it on low. You don't need to heat the garage to 72 degrees, only enough to keep it above freezing.

 

[wssix99]

This would be things like latex paint or certain glues.

For what it will cost you to heat the garage an/or insulate it, would it be more economical for you to just throw all this stuff away and buy new when you need it again?

 

[Codyman]

Use the fridge for storing beer in the summer and paint in the winter. Rig the light to stay on for a heat source.

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[csp]

Are you regularly using latex paint? If not, why move it back and forth?

 

[ishiboo]

I have an upright freezer in my barn. In it is a 400W electric heater. I am using an external temperature controller (PID), but you could also use the built-in thermostat on the heaters if you wanted.

I bought the upright freezer for $75 from Restore. It was older but working. You can of course use a non-working one for it.

Heater ($16.99): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073CVTSYB/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Temperature controller ($35): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MDSWXY4/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[Crazyjake8493]

If it's not already insulated, that would be a first good step. If you're using it for storage and not working you probably wouldn't even need to heat it. Every attached and insulated garage I've been in here never dropped below freezing. If anything, a little electric heater on low would probably be enough.

 

[Lee Celtic]

There is a guy in the UK who builds stuff for a TV show.. and to protect stuff from frost and damp he built a cabinet with a single bulb holder inside.. a good high wattage bulb on all the time was enough to keep stuff warm and dry..(mounted on the bottom shelf.)

 

[ishiboo]

The light bulb idea is great until the bulb burns out and your stuff freezes. I go days without opening my unFreezer... if the heater goes out, the temperature alarm blares.

 

[LifeLongWNYer]

I just read in a different thread here, about a guy who heats his well house with a 100w bulb, but has a second bulb wired to a "dusk to dawn" photocell. He claim that if the first bulb burns out, the photocell turns the second bulb on.

You could add another bulb, out where you can see it, to the second bulb. If you see THAT one on, you know it is time to change the first one.

The hardware stores sell a little thermostat that you can plug a light ( of anything ) into, and the thermostat turns it on, when the temperature gets below the setting.



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[holdover]

As Said the old fridge or freezer with a 100w old style bulb works great, and the idea of wiring in a photo cell operated second bulb is a great fail safe idea.. and it is cheap...