Most electronics are fine in storage in low temps. Now if you have it in freezing temps and then drag it into 80degrees, condensation could be a bad thing if you fired it up. Now if you are water cooled, (which I didnt think you were) That's a different ball game. I would guess drain it if it's not going to be used. As with anything at cold temps.... Be on the lookout as rubber, hoses, etc can get hard and brittle. Gentle heat is your friend.
Temperature cycling is not good for electronics and can induce cracks in soldered joints due to the different thermal expansion coefficients of the components leads and the solder. It takes a lot of hot-cold cycles before it becomes a problem, so probably not an issue just storing equipment for the winter.
So, should I move the tig welder closer to the house so it stays warmer in the garage? It is currently close to the garage door where it is the coldest in the garage.
how cold? I would draw the line at -40... that's the lowest temp I can operate our aircraft. So glad I've never been in those extremes..
Make cave, wrap Beast up in blanket, stuff Beast in cave, let Beast hibernate until spring. Or, Move to a warmer climate.
Electrolytic capacitors have liquid in them and probably aren't fond of freezing temperatures. If it was Sony boombox I wouldn't worry so much about it but since this is a rather expensive piece of welding equipment, I would advise you to attempt to store it somewhere protected from freezing if possible.
I thought the liquid in caps was actually an OIL? Never seen one freeze, but then again, I sat in the back of the class.
Well, you may be right. I do know they can dry out if unused for extended periods, but I've never taken one apart or tried to freeze it. I'd still be concerned with what the cold might do to them. My point being TIGs aren't inexpensive and have lots of electronics on them. Oil or not, I woud rather store one somewhere that did not freeze, just to be safe.
Now you made me look it up. Happy with yourself??? lol Small tiny capacitors have paper inside them. Here is a view inside large ones typically found inside a large welder. Learn something new everyday. I still wouldn't store a tig machine where it's stupid cold. It gets down in the 30's in my garage in the winter and I'm fine with leaving my HTP out there. I already store enough goofy crap inside my house to the dismay of my wife.
The electrolytic caps usually have a wide range of operation: -30 deg C to 125 deg C. The electrolyte is a proprietary formula to the maker but should be potassium hydroxide based. Those caps in the video are "Paper in oil" type with a totally different principle of operation. The electrolytics do lose their capacitance at low temps so probably a good idea to warm the welder up to room temp before use. Edit: my big old two phase stick welders have those paper in oil caps across the phases to give some power factor correction (stop your power meter spinning backwards) .
My welders all live in the Shop.... No Heat no A/C (here in NE Ohio) we don't see -20 deg F very often and on those days I'm not welding nothing out there!! but they have worked fine so far (I think the Mig is 15 years old? Welds as good as I can ) Stick /Tig box is only 4 or 5 .... but still works.
Even consumer electronics are manufactured to withstand low storage temperatures. Electronics that operate in the vicinity of weld arc would have to be more robust than consumer grade electronics. Other than water cooled (if not glycol mixture) TIG torch already mentioned I think it's a complete non-issue. Use after cold soak could be a slightly different issue but even for those operating temps the operator is more likely to be the limiting factor than the equipment. Best, Kelly
You've already got a nice warm tig. We don't want the cross circuiting now. I asked my mum to move it to the back of the garage next to the house. It hangs around 50 F there in the winter.
She'll be fine at 50. Once it's cold, it's best to keep it cold. More important... Have mum drag that bucket of SLURRY INSIDE THE HOUSE NOW! My bucket lives in our bedroom year round!
