LumberJocks Woodworking Forum banner

How cold is it?

3K views 35 replies 35 participants last post by  Billinmich 
#1 ·
How cold is it?

First of all, let me say that I am neither bragging nor apologizing for living in Florida.
We have our share of natural problems. Sink holes and hurricanes to name a couple.
But, this morning it was 45F when I went to work in the shop. I was afraid to use the power tools
because my hands were getting stiff.
What kind of temps do you work in and if you heat your shop, how warm do you keep it?
 
#3 ·
I live in Central PA, and my shop is not heated, I have a little propane heater that I put in there when it gets really cold. My shoptime is decreased during the winter for this fact, however I do still get out there pretty regularly, and often work in temperatures in the 30's. I find if I keep moving, it isn't too bad. Unfortunately, I have to do all my glue up and finishing in the basement this time of year, which can be a pain.
 
#4 ·
Here in Iowa its been about 20 degrees colder than average for weeks, a couple of days had highs of -9. I found a used house furnace (forced hot air) cheap and I keep it 50 - 60 while I'm working, then shut it off completely when I'm done. Unfortunately theres no insulation(yet) so with the extreme cold I cut back on shop time. I'm anxious for spring :)
 
#5 ·
Cold? Oh yeah… -7 F in the thumb of Michigan when I got up this morning. Now it's a mild 8 F above (10:35 EST).
All is well in the shop, set at 55 F, bump it up to 60 or so when I go out there.
If I don't turn it down when I leave, SWMBO gets cranky… ;^(
 
#6 ·
-2° a little further South in Concord, NH… Accuweather says the "Real Feel" is -23°…
I have one of those radiator type electric heaters going in the basement shop right now, but it's essentially un-heated… Un-used too, until this cold snap ends!
 
#10 ·
It has warmed up to +8 F in SE PA. Overnight, it was 2 F with a wind chill of -25 F. I use a pair of ceiling mounted radiant heaters that swivel to heat the area where I am working. I can get the shop into the 60's if I leave them on all day. Usually 50 F is good enough.
 
#11 ·
It's 27 above here this morning in western Montana. My well insulated shop doesn't seem to get below 40 at night if I use it every day. On sunny days I open my garage door and let my solar heater do the work. It keeps it around 65 degrees without turning on the gas heater.
 
#12 ·
it was 5 degrees at my house this morning just north of Washington DC. A bit chilly out there. When outside shoveling snow, I put on my hearing protection muffs. It looks funny but the inside is well insulated, keeps the wind off your ears and seriously helps tolerate the cold.
 
#13 ·
-12 here in Syracuse, NY this morning with wind chills around -23. Shop is an attached one car garage (not used for parking). It has a duct from the forced air furnace in the house and an 8' electric baseboard heater to help. It stays 60-65 in there.
 
#14 ·
Last night it was hovering right about 0, and I use two radiator style electric heaters in the shop. I can get my working temperature, with the doors closed, to about 40 degrees, which is warm enough to work in, if I keep moving. I can't do any glue-ups or finishing in the garage, so I bring everything into the spare room.
 
#16 ·
We've had a warm winter so far here on the southwest coast of Norway. It's about -2C right now. Normally it's colder. I have a well insulated and heated shop so I can work out there regardless of the temperature. In the summer we average about 18C which is about 64F.
 
#20 ·
It was 2 degrees with wind chill around -15 near Chicago this morning. My garage/shop has a ceiling mounted natural gas furnace. I keep the thermostat around 45 if I know I'm not going to work out there and crank it up to 65-70 if I am. I don't have AC so I bake in the summer even with the doors open.
My other half always keeps the heat in the house lower then I like so I have just one more reason to work in my shop!
 
#21 ·
I suppose it's all a matter of what you're used to. It got down to 57 here in San Diego last night - a wee bit nippy, for us. High today will only be about 72 (it's been in the 80's most days for awhile). Don't hate on me because of the weather: someone has to live here. I feel for you guys, I really do.
 
#23 ·
LOL!! I cant help but laugh. My friend just returned from Florida to several Winter Weather Advisory's. Yesterday we were under travel advisory to stay off roads unless absolutely necessary. I'm in Southern Indiana. It's 14 out with a windchill of 2. Luckily I don't have to go anywhere since my van doors are frozen shut right now. At one time I saw that we had 6 inches of snow… which is a lot for us.
Then… I read some of the other posts where it is much colder and reminded myself that it's always colder somewhere else. ANd yeah.. you do have other issues of nature to deal with. Luckily I have a heater in my shop and don't have to worry about the cold. It doesn't have a thermostat so I have no idea what temp it keeps. There is just a dial from 1-10. If I leave it off all together when I know I won't be out much… I can turn it up to 10 and within 10-15 minutes I have to turn it down to 1-2 because it heats that quickly. I would definitely not be using any power tools when my hands were cold like that though.
 
#24 ·
I had my shop well insulated when built with glass fibre wool around three to four inches thick the complete shop has this in the walls. I also was given quite a few large double glazing windows to let in light the exclude the cold.I have a wet type central heating supplied from a large new boiler in our house, but there is a fault which developed in the woodshop main part of the building when one of the radiators developed a pinpoint hole so that under pressure the water peee'd out so I hade to disconnect that radiator and have subbsequently lost most of my central heating in the shop with just one big radiator taking out the chill from the air .When working there or reading, or potching about, I usually use a small electric oil filled heater and an electric heater, again small so that I am very confortable there when they are on.I bought a new radiator and do in tend to swop them over this year later with help from my pals and sons.weather is as usual wet mildish though for this time of year. Alistair
 
#26 ·
I am also in Tampa. I grew up in Michigan so I have delt with the cold but now living in Tampa for 5 years my body has adjusted to the usually warm temps of Florida. I just bring out a small space heater for the few weeks that we have here in Tampa. It does the job and its easy to store away the other 50 weeks of the year. Now I just need to talk my wife into letting me get the AC unit for the woodshop.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top