Power tools freezing in garage?

[Juergen Hannappel]

[...]

Somehow your fake Lake Geneva has some problems. Here at the real one (Geneva, Switzerland, Old Europe) it hardly ever gets that cold.

[Michael Daly]

Don't they have battery heaters in the US? They're quite common here in the Great White North.

One friend of mine moved back to Maryland from Ottawa with a block and a battery heater in her car. Took it to a mechanic there who was afraid to touch it - he'd never seen a car with wires and plugs sticking through the front grill.

Mike

[Howard Ruttan]

"P©W?T©©LMAN ²ºº3" wrote

The colder the air, the less its ability to hold moisture. Besides, I don't know what part of Canada you're from but where I grew up (N. Alberta) the winter was dry as a popcorn fart. You couldn't buy humidity even if you won the 6-49.

That having been said, my tools have never had a problem, in either Northern Alberta or New Jersey, with cold or humidity in the winter.

[George]

Same thing happened to us when I was reassigned to class in Enid, OK after a stint in Minot, ND. Of course, it's colder there than Ottawa, and so I had two plugs, one for the trickle charger and one for the engine heater. We were allowed to plug trickle chargers at work, but not engine heaters, as it would have cost Uncle too much.

My cars stay outdoors here, and we rarely have any problems. Thinner oil and better battery plates seem to have overcome former problems.

[Lazarus Long]

The car in question was a '73 Ford Torino. Pretty easy in and out on that battery.

Block heaters do a lot for new/er cars. Too bad I don't have an outlet outside.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

I had a '64 Karmann Ghia convertible and not much money. I used to bring the battery in the house every night so it would start in the morning. I eventually converted it to 12V with a Chevy alternator. It would not work on a VW as there was no room for it under the hood but the Gaia had plenty. Ed