For those in northern climes

T

TonyR

Member
Will my lye bath freeze? I just set up my first one (yes I know it works better when warm but I'm a late bloomer). I'm in Wisconsin where the the winters are too long and it's in my garage. At any rate I probably won't be using it since my garage is not heated and it's getting @#$^$%$% cold here already.
Should I just dump it or let it freeze(?) and thaw in the spring?
Not too sure, but I'm thinking I should just start new in spring since it looks like espresso in there. :icon_scratchchin:
 
I'm in Minnesota, so I can sympathize.

Yes, others tell me that the washing soda will precipitate out and the water will freeze. Bring it indoors or shut it down for the winter.
 
I'm far enough north that I should be able to find Santa at some point. We have seen temps down to -70 F, pretty cold.

My baths are both indoors now, sitting in the laundry room - and I have no concerns over it. No smell from the lye baths so far.
 
RobM said:
I'm far enough north that I should be able to find Santa at some point. We have seen temps down to -70 F, pretty cold.

My baths are both indoors now, sitting in the laundry room - and I have no concerns over it. No smell from the lye baths so far.
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"We have seen temps down to -70 F"

Say that again? -70F?!?
 
RobM said:
Yep, uncommon but it does happen, hurts to breathe. it's not uncommon to see -40/-50 F for a week or more at a time. It gets chilly here.
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The coldest I've ever seen here in Minnesota (and years in Upper Michigan) is -30F. Where the hell ARE you?! The North Pole?
 
Dan Farmer said:
The coldest I've ever seen here in Minnesota (and years in Upper Michigan) is -30F. Where the hell ARE you?! The North Pole?
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Northern Alberta. Long way from the north pole still. Gets colder north of here, lots of guys working outside on oil rigs in those temps, don't know how they do it.
 
RobM said:
Northern Alberta. Long way from the north pole still. Gets colder north of here, lots of guys working outside on oil rigs in those temps, don't know how they do it.
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Years ago, I knew a bunch of guys that went up from New Mexico to Prudhoe Bay to work on the wells. One guy took off his mitten to wipe his nose, and almost lost his hand due to frostbite!
 
Dan Farmer said:
Years ago, I knew a bunch of guys that went up from New Mexico to Prudhoe Bay to work on the wells. One guy took off his mitten to wipe his nose, and almost lost his hand due to frostbite!
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I believe it, if you're not acclimated, it's difficult. That's a long ways north, they can have it.
 
Southern California. :redface:

If it gets to 50f. We're freezing our XXX off. Of course 30 miles away and we can be skiing in the snow, and on the same day 60 miles away I can be at the beach in shorts.

I remember one time in the 70's where it "snowed" about 2" of hail at our house. We convinced our Mother to let us stay home from school. She wrote us a note for the next day that said we missed that day because we got "Snowed In." Good times!
 
I dont know if it will work well way up north, but have heard of people using aquarium heaters to keep from freezing. I am going to try it this winter, but cold down here is 20's for a couple days.
 
bought 2 100W Tetra HT30 Submersible Aquarium Heaters yesterday. 1 for the lye and 1 for the electrolysis tank. it was 37deg in the lye this morning so I'll see what it does when I get home. just not sure how long the rubber will last in the lye solution like the cord our what ever they use to seal the heater tube assy. I plugged it into a 15 amp power strip just incase something happened.
 
Submersible aquarium heaters don't have to be fully submerged. Most have a water line symbol near the top indicating they have to be at least that much in the water for the thermostat to function properly.
 
Doug D. said:
Submersible aquarium heaters don't have to be fully submerged. Most have a water line symbol near the top indicating they have to be at least that much in the water for the thermostat to function properly.
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these didn't, I looked. I only paid 10.00 each so I'm not too woried about it.
 
I looked at a photo of them and would say the top rubber part could probably be 3/4" out of the water and the thermostat would still function. It's down inside the glass tube at or below the pilot light.
 
61.3 deg. not bad. has a little steam across the top like a early morning fog. have to see how much ill lose due to evaporation.
 
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