Machinery + freezing temps?

javand

javand

Joined
Oct 17, 2010
Messages
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Ok guys, I wanted to start a thread about this, since I'm concerned about, and have been doing research subsequently, regarding concerns for machinery care in freezing temps. Its been pretty mild so far, but my shop is completely uninsulated, highly "ventilated", and not changing anytime soon.

Grinders and such I'm not concerned about, although I do like to let them warm up at low speed, and I try to go easy on my power hammer when its cold also. What I'm worried about however are coolant tanks and hydraulics. Both my horizontal bandsaw and surface grinder are hydraulic feed and use emulsified cutting fluid. I'm concerned about freezing coolant tanks, lines, pumps, etc, and also I'm unsure what kind of care the hydraulics need.

I've read anecdotally about adding antifreeze to the coolant reservoirs, and also immersion heaters. The sources have been questionable however, so I'd love to get some informed advice, especially from those that have been working with big production machinery for years. These aren't small harbor freight tools, and replacement parts are either unobtainable or astronomically expensive, so i'd like to pre-empt any damage.


Thanks!
 
I don't know how your weather is compared to mine, yes I'm in Canada, but as far south as it gets.



I like these types of things for heating an oil reservoir

http://www.amazon.com/Kats-1153-Handi-Heat-Magnetic-Heater/dp/B000BOABS6

magnetic and temp controlled, especially on oil tanks
I like the external magnetic mount -

If a heater fails closed and goes uncontrolled hot, I'n not as concerned about fire since it's outside the oil tank.
If a heater fails open and goes cold, I lose startup time to heat the oil in another manner, but no real damage like you could have on a water based .


There are also heater tapes for lines, but I would watch both overheating and failure.



For water based liquids & really expensive damage repairs, I wouldn't trust just that.
I would think, redundancy on circuts, breakers, heaters, systems, maybe a low temp alarm.
Insulation in the shop,or just that tool, or something also occurs to me, all it takes is a strong cold wind to freeze everything up.


Temp change cycles can also be a problem from vapour condensation that can work it's way into your oil systems and then freeze up later.



Walls, insulation and high heat capacity in something like cement floors, or big fluid reservoirs often mean I can leave a bottle of water in the shop and
never have it freeze even in outdoor temps that are below freezing for weeks.

I can't even imagine a shop without walls like I see on here sometimes.


According to this,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asheville,_North_Carolina
your average lows are just barely below freezing - so maybe my mindset is far more involved than what you need.
 
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Antifreeze may cause any coolant pumps to lock up, may just want to pumpthem dru and give a little water down anti freeze to keep from ffreezing then when you need to use it flush with water then run it with coolant and then when done , pump it dry and fill it with anti freeze mix again. If you get grinding wheel wet you may need to worry, like on a surface grinder because wet wheel can freeze and get tiny cracks and then when you fire up your grinder it could fly apart or explodicate upon you
 
Yeah the average temps here don't really represent the extremes. Last few years its not uncommon to get week long segments where it doesn't crest the 20s. Even though we haven't had any extreme lows this year yet, I've had days where my slack bucket keeps an couple inches of ice on top all day if I'm not forging.

I run a big forced air heater when I'm in the shop that keeps it workable, but that would take forever to thaw a 10 gallon coolant reservoir. The external heater sounds like a good idea, the res's are metal so that could work, and I would be less concerned about fires. I think that coupled with running the big shop heater for a bit to thaw any lines may be effective.

The walls of my shop are just rough cut lumber, mounted vertically, with gaps. I'm renting, so I can't justify the massive expense that wouls be required to insulate.
 
That heater is a neat little device Count, i think I'll need one of those.. my shop isn't heated and stuff WILL freeze lol. I'm not sure what temp hydraulic fluid freezes at.. but I wouldn't be surprised if it hits -30 or -40 in there on occasion.
 
Explodicate huh?

I'll be plagiarizing the heck out of that! LOL!!

There is low temp hydraulic fluid.

I use one of those magnetic block heaters on my anvil- no power hammer for me yet.
 
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Little Giants can be downright tempermental in freezing weather..The oil/grease will thicken up and cause run-on..I like to let them run for 10 minutes or so to get the greease around the clutch warmed up a bit..
 
You can also shine heat lamps, or infrared heaters at equipment.

It heats up the equipment rather than the air.

Maybe also good for hammers, presses, and saws

But for thinks like mechnical hammers, I would want to watch that you aren't heating up the grease so much that it runs away on you.

Maybe not suited for an on all the time, but maybe help to warm up before using.
 
It gets so cold here that occasionally my drill press won't even run! That couldn't be good.

I know my KMG/motor sounds rough when I first crank it up, hopefully it will be OK!

So far the only real casualty this winner was my arbor press anvil, I broke it in half the other day flaring some tubing.

I hope it gets warm soon! I just had my new shop wired and can't wait to move in... walls!
 
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