Is It Safe to Heat My Garage All Winter While I Am In Florida?

[kozelding]

So the fan is exactly the thing I wondered about with a car capsule. The theory of always blowing air sounds great, but all spring you have wildly fluctuating temperatures. In an insulated space that makes sense, but you're going to be blowing warm, wet air at a cold car every morning - especially all those days that have 50+ degree temperature swings. (I once tried to keep a basement area dry by keeping a window open and a fan on; I never saw so much moisture! Closing everything tight and adding a dehumidifier is the only thing that worked.)

Long way of saying, a fan dries things quickly, but it also can moisten; is the net effect positive? I've peered under the car with the cover on and seen condensation only on the engine block; as soon as I peel back the cover, the body panels start dripping. (And that's in an insulated, second-floor barn space.)

Anyway, I'm mostly just musing.... I like the mouse-protection aspect!

BTW, I actually don't believe in the tire "flat-spot" problem any more. Maybe if a tire is completely flat for years, but I've never felt any lingering vibration of any kind after letting cars (albeit with modern tires) sit 6+ months. And I'm usually _really_ sensitive to that sort of thing.

 

[red57]

I've heard it for years but I have never understood the claim that suspension damage is caused by simply jacking up the car. I mean, these components are designed to carry us over railroad tracks, washboards, chuck holes and other various sundry "shocks" and "jolts" to the system and yet somehow simply raising it in the air causes damage? Sorry, but I think if these cars were that fragile they wouldn't have survived being driven for the last 50-60 years.
The relative stress difference between hitting a 2" bump at 50 mph vs lifting the weight off slowly with a jack is huge. And then letting it sit elevated and motionless for the winter, I just can not see how that could possibly hurt anything.
Just my opinion.
Dave

Self edit: I just realized I am forgetting the elastic rubber bushings on the inner a arms - they would not like the twist while hanging all winter and that is the reason for putting the 2" blocks under the shock arms. In my defense, I have had offset HDPE/nylon type bushings for over 20 years so it is not a problem for me. If you put the 2" spacers in, then I stand by the notion that no harm is done by raising the car for the winter.

 

[60TR3A]

Yeah, I was planning to pump up the air to 45PSI and forego the jack stands. The proper way to use jack stands for long periods (so I've read) is for the suspension to be only partially sprung, not fully. I'm shopping for some form of insulating material to put under the car capsule for temperature control more so than vapor barrier since the capsule is sealed and environmental humidity won't affect the interior of the capsule. I've order 4 500-watt halogen shop lights to place on the floor aimed at one side of the car capsule to radiate heat towards it and was planning to place styrofoam sheets on top of the capsule to help insulate it. Might all be unnecessary but it sure is cheaper than having to spend $10K to insulate my garage and then add heating ducts.

 

[60TR3A]

BTW, I actually don't believe in the tire "flat-spot" problem any more. Maybe if a tire is completely flat for years, but I've never felt any lingering vibration of any kind after letting cars (albeit with modern tires) sit 6+ months. And I'm usually _really_ sensitive to that sort of thing.

I can say from first-hand experience that it is a real problem as I've had it happen more than once and the tires never regained their true roundness and had to be replaced.

 

[PHulst]

Self edit: I just realized I am forgetting the elastic rubber bushings on the inner a arms - they would not like the twist while hanging all winter and that is the reason for putting the 2" blocks under the shock arms. In my defense, I have had offset HDPE/nylon type bushings for over 20 years so it is not a problem for me. If you put the 2" spacers in, then I stand by the notion that no harm is done by raising the car for the winter.

And, some cars have large bushings for rear trailing arms which would be sitting in a twisted position for months on end.

In the end, there are Zero benefits to putting a car up on jack stands.

 

[steveg]

Rather than jack stands, couldn't you inflate the tires to, say, 50 lbs for the winter?

 

[HealeyRick]

Ship the car to Florida to be with you for the winter. Win, win!

 

[mk31755]

I learned my lesson ONCE and never again. Dryer sheets don't work. Mice destroyed my electrical system. I use car capsules for all my cars and they work great. MK

 

[Warren]

I can say from first-hand experience that it is a real problem as I've had it happen more than once and the tires never regained their true roundness and had to be replaced.

I'm thinking of these........."Tire Saver Ramps"
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073NQBJ1...colid=U83STCTA6MD5&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

Has anyone tried them? I usually pump my tires to max sidewall pressure.

WD 67 BJ8

 

[pdplot]

Another problem with jack stands. LBCs have flexible chassis (don't know about the big Healeys) and supporting on jack stands at each end will cause the car to sag in the middle and you may not be able to open the doors. At least so with a TR6. As for flat spots, with the old bias ply tires or original radials, that was a problem, but from 21 years of experience in my garage all winter without driving, I've never had a problem after doing what I posted earlier. I'm running Michelins - the only tires I will ever use. A heated garage will attract mice. Leave it alone. You ask 10 people, you'll get 10 opinions.

 

[Randy Forbes]

Ship the car to Florida to be with you for the winter. Win, win!

That's what I was thinking; best time of year to drive it anyway.

 

[John Turney]

.... You ask 10 people, you'll get 10 opinions.

That's pretty good. I used to ask 10 people and get 20 opinions.

 

[CaptRandy]

I would be fearful of any space heater unattended. As for the battery I leave two batteries in the hull of my boat all winter with temps going as low as 4 degrees and winds in excess of 30 kts for prolonged periods of days. Chill factor? you guess. Charge them when the boat is pulled for 3 days and leave them alone. Store on old plywood to absorb moisture in the air away from the car.

 

[twas_brillig]

We're in Western Canada and it can get pretty 'brisk' in the winter, but we're also really low humidity. I've never stored anything in a heated garage. I've used the outdoor Car Capsules for several years and a couple of observations: snow collapses them so you ideally have a location where you can brush the snow off easily; we get chinooks which leads to the snow around the base (i.e. where the zipper is) melting and then freezing and then melting - I've found water inside the capsule a few times and can only attribute the source to that freeze/thaw; I always use one of the battery maintenance chargers (one that advertises that it protects against sulphation) and (particularly with our Bug-Eyes, as my back doesn't like pulling the battery out) generally leave the batteries in the cars, which means running the charging wire through the zipper opening; the Car Capsule does a great job of keeping the beasties out, but it's important to keep the zippers closed up tight to both keep the air in as well as the critters out; the constant air movement keeps the car dry; I figure that there's no difference between driving a car in the winter and storing it at ambient temperatures (or even storing your summer tires at ambient temperature) (if the vehicle needs to be stored in a garage above freezing, then how can people drive such a vehicle in the winter?); marine supply shops sell various low wattage heaters to leave inside boats over the winter to cut down on condensation and some folks use the lightbulb as well, but I think that the circulating air of a garage door opening or the Car Capsule fan provides enough air change; we fill up with premium before storage (and make sure it's the 'good stuff' with no methanol in it) and add fuel stabilizer; I've occasionally sprayed fogging oil into the cylinders after pulling the plugs or thrown some two-stroke oil into the gas, but don't bother anymore; I don't normally raise the tyre pressures but figure it's a good idea; our vehicles normally stay on their wheels over the winter. If I was storing indoors (and had the space) I'd ideally use one of the indoor (i.e. cheaper) Car Capsules for two reasons: critters; and providing protection against things such as rakes or snow shovels hitting the car. And if you don't live Stateside and do intend to buy one of the capsules, talk to the folks there about shipping as the cost of the courier service was about half the price of the capsule itself on the last one I bought; the weights of the size I wanted are within the limits for the Post Office. Not complaining here, but just a heads up FYI. Doug

 

[twas_brillig]

missed the condensation concern mentioned earlier. You won't get condensation if the air and the car are the same temperature - which you get with the Car Capsule fan. Temperature swings are reflected in the air temperature that the fan is blowing and the car will always be at ambient temperature. We lived in Ottawa some decades ago, and it was disconcerting to find that some of the Christmas tree ornaments had rusted when we retrieved from the basement. The basement was pretty much ground temperatures (and has a lot of thermal mass) so air that was down there would get cooled down and apparently drop some of the humidity out (year, bought a dehumidifier after that!). You car just sits there, with all those lovely electrons wafting gentle breezes over it and keeping it at ambient temperature. However, I do wonder about storing a car in a garage in the winter that is used, as the vehicles are driven in and the garage is insulated so the snow/ice will drop off onto the floor and melt, and raise the humidity in the garage. But - again - everything is at the same temperature so I figure that humidity doesn't cause rust unless it condenses, and it won't condense as the stored car is the same temperature as the air. Mind you, I used to belong to the Flat Earth society (for my sense of humour)... Later, Doug