Storing glues & finishes in cold weather?

[bruce w hill]

How do all of you store your glue & finishes in the cold weather months? I have read on some of the glue bottles that the glue is good for 5 freeze/thaw cycles.My shop is not heated unless I am in there. Its below freezing a few months a year around here.I don't know what effect freezing would have on glue or lacguers, poly, oils and such. Would like to here some ideas.

[Bryan Froden]

I’ve been burnt (or should I say froze) leaving glue in the van a couple of times. It’s a bummer! Might as well just throw in trash. Fortunately I live in Atlanta and we don’t have that big a problem with it getting to cold. When it does though, I just bring it in house and leave it in front of the door so I don’t forget it!
XXXXXXX

[mike wacker]

I have a "glue box", actually a 14 gallon "Action Packer" by Rubber maid. I use a bunch of them to organize my dis-organized self. I carry the glue box back an forth to the house and shop.

[Larry Fox]

I move it and WB finishes to the basement in the fall and back to the shop in the spring.

[Jim Becker]

Although my shop isn't heated if I'm not working in it, very, very rarely will the temp drop below freezing in there...it's actually been a few years since that happened. But like Larry is doing, I'm soon to make arrangements to store many of my finishing supplies in our basement, both to reclaim space in the shop and to insure that they are warmer when I'm ready to use them. Currently, I warm them a little in a water bath before spraying as the room may be warm enough, but the finish in the container is still typically very cool from storage.

[David G Baker]

A well insulated box with a low wattage bulb in the base with a metal plate covering the bulb area.

[Joe Chritz]

I keep mine heated all the time but David's idea is a solid one to keep stuff from freezing.

8 million houses in this area use just that for the water pump houses. A small light bulb or a pancake heater sold for well houses will keep a small area well heated.

You could build a cabinet or a built in and use a couple inches of pink foam.

A 60 watt bulb running 24/7 takes about $5.40 a month at .12 per KwH. Cheaper than replacing a gallon of glue or some waterbase finish. A pancake heater only runs when the temp drops to a certain point and uses even less.

Joe

[Wayne Cannon]

Although my shop is heated (somewhat), I had $200 of epoxy crystalize. After heating it all to 125 degrees in a double boiler, I'm now building a heated storage box insulated with styrofoam and warmed to 75 degrees with a light bulb and a line-voltage thermostat (the kind used for baseboard heaters).

Don't put a light bulb in any well-insulated container without a thermostat. I melted all of the plastic knobs and faceplate on a $150,000 electronic instrument by leaving it over a weekend in an insulated environmental test chamber with the light bulb accidentally left on!

[Steven Wilson]

I bring glue and wb finishes into the house, leave the oil based stuff outside.

[Joe Chritz]

Although my shop is heated (somewhat), I had $200 of epoxy crystalize. After heating it all to 125 degrees in a double boiler, I'm now building a heated storage box insulated with styrofoam and warmed to 75 degrees with a light bulb and a line-voltage thermostat (the kind used for baseboard heaters).

Don't put a light bulb in any well-insulated container without a thermostat. I melted all of the plastic knobs and faceplate on a $150,000 electronic instrument by leaving it over a weekend in an insulated environmental test chamber with the light bulb accidentally left on!

DOH!

Dear boss,

There I was minding my own business, when all of a sudden...

Good advice to not have a non-thermostat controlled heat source anywhere. You could probably rig a timer and just have it cycle also.

Joe