Colder weather painting - Help the truck not sit all winter

Hey folks!

I am breaking this out of the main build thread. As most know, I am a family man with lots of volunteer responsibilities. I place all that first. As such, I have missed a crucial deadline. I am now ready to put the truck in a final coat of epoxy, do 2K primer, and begin wet sanding and final body alignment. I have an attached garage and cannot spray in the garage due to health issues. It is above 65 often during the day, but under 65 every night for the foreseeable future. I do not want to change chemistry, nor do I want to risk pretending that the brand has a lower temperature bound. I am a bit risk adverse, and the garage is too crowded for me to just use a typical space heater. I don't want to burn my house down, I don't want an open flame or open elements near an offgassing body anyway. My garage is insulated, but is not heated, and golly we only keep the house at 65 at night. I don't want to move the truck somewhere else, although it is technically driveable now.

SPI said:

Bottom line is if the car metal or primer contents cannot be kept at 65 degrees or higher as well as the shop temperature for the next 24 hours after spraying, DO NOT spray our epoxy as you may end up having to redo all your hard work.

Help me figure something out. Is there a heater which will get warm but is self contained so that nothing on the outside gets hot? Is there something I hadn't considered?

A mini-split will do that but it's not cheap.  The heat pump unit sits outside and you just have the warm fluid (or cold fluid when in A/C mode) that enters the garage.  

tuna55 said: Help me figure something out. Is there a heater which will get warm but is self contained so that nothing on the outside gets hot? Is there something I hadn't considered?

 

What about one (or more) of those oil-filled electric space heaters?  They are available with built in thermostats, surface temp stays at a reasonable level, no open flame or sparks etc.  No fan actively blowing dust onto your paint either.

therieldeal said:

tuna55 said: Help me figure something out. Is there a heater which will get warm but is self contained so that nothing on the outside gets hot? Is there something I hadn't considered?

 

What about one (or more) of those oil-filled electric space heaters?  They are available with built in thermostats, surface temp stays at a reasonable level, no open flame or sparks etc.  No fan actively blowing dust onto your paint either.

Another friend brought those to my attention this morning. I cannot seem to find their operating temperatures. I suppose a bigger one at a lower temperature, but I would still feel more comfortable if the literature said something like "External temperature does not exceed 110F" or something. They seem of wildly varying price and quality. Any leads?

Not sure why you are worried about the truck and heater co-habiting during the final drying phase? I most certainly would not spray with any kind of ignition source in the room, but I don't see an issue with the truck off-gassing enough combustible fumes to cause a fire. Other than the wife killing me in my sleep if the fumes can be detected in the house.

Given the chance, I would paint outside, given the temp was up to spec,  for the light and ventilation benefits, using a fast reducer ( 60 to 70F temps), then shove the truck back in the shop once the paint was dry to the touch and before it got cold outside. Use a space heater to keep shop at the correct temp. 

tuna55 said:

therieldeal said:

tuna55 said: Help me figure something out. Is there a heater which will get warm but is self contained so that nothing on the outside gets hot? Is there something I hadn't considered?

 

What about one (or more) of those oil-filled electric space heaters?  They are available with built in thermostats, surface temp stays at a reasonable level, no open flame or sparks etc.  No fan actively blowing dust onto your paint either.

Another friend brought those to my attention this morning. I cannot seem to find their operating temperatures. I suppose a bigger one at a lower temperature, but I would still feel more comfortable if the literature said something like "External temperature does not exceed 110F" or something. They seem of wildly varying price and quality. Any leads?

No leads on any specific model, but glancing at a couple descriptions most have something like this in there "... this oil filled heater produces large amount of radiant heat but with a low surface temperature, it's a wise choice for homes with pets or kids... " 

I can't imagine the surface temp being more than ~180F if they are willing to call it safe around kids.  This is the typical operating temperature for hot water baseboard heating systems.

In reply to tuna55 :

I have several oil-filled space heaters for working in the garage, basement, etc. I've lost my balance and caught myself on them many times and they really don't get all that hot. They're slightly uncomfortable to the touch, but they're not going to cause a burn. I don't give them a second thought when using flammable materials around them, either.  

Mine are just cheap, small, heaters from Walmart, but they donthe job and have held up well. 

Having done a fair amount of body work and painting, I would use at least 2 in a space that is sheltered from the wind. That way the surface temperature stays more even while drying. 4 would be better, but even cheap, they're still costly, especially if this is the only time you'll use them. 

NOHOME said:

Not sure why you are worried about the truck and heater co-habiting during the final drying phase? I most certainly would not spray with any kind of ignition source in the room, but I don't see an issue with the truck off-gassing enough combustible fumes to cause a fire. Other than the wife killing me in my sleep if the fumes can be detected in the house.

 

Given the chance, I would paint outside, given the temp was up to spec,  for the light and ventilation benefits, using a fast reducer ( 60 to 70F temps), then shove the truck back in the shop once the paint was dry to the touch and before it got cold outside. Use a space heater to keep shop at the correct temp. 

That's the exact plan.

The garage is full of flammable things. I don't have an empty enough space to put a spaceheater which will ignite something nearby.

Tunawife can totally smell the truck even after the exact path you've described, even upstairs.

RozCougarMorbidcamp said:

In reply to tuna55 :

I have several oil-filled space heaters for working in the garage, basement, etc. I've lost my balance and caught myself on them many times and they really don't get all that hot. They're slightly uncomfortable to the touch, but they're not going to cause a burn. I don't give them a second thought when using flammable materials around them, either.  

Mine are just cheap, small, heaters from Walmart, but they donthe job and have held up well. 

Having done a fair amount of body work and painting, I would use at least 2 in a space that is sheltered from the wind. That way the surface temperature stays more even while drying. 4 would be better, but even cheap, they're still costly, especially if this is the only time you'll use them. 

Thanks!

I wonder if I can rent them. Either way I appreciate the input.

therieldeal said:

tuna55 said:

therieldeal said:

tuna55 said: Help me figure something out. Is there a heater which will get warm but is self contained so that nothing on the outside gets hot? Is there something I hadn't considered?

 

What about one (or more) of those oil-filled electric space heaters?  They are available with built in thermostats, surface temp stays at a reasonable level, no open flame or sparks etc.  No fan actively blowing dust onto your paint either.

Another friend brought those to my attention this morning. I cannot seem to find their operating temperatures. I suppose a bigger one at a lower temperature, but I would still feel more comfortable if the literature said something like "External temperature does not exceed 110F" or something. They seem of wildly varying price and quality. Any leads?

No leads on any specific model, but glancing at a couple descriptions most have something like this in there "... this oil filled heater produces large amount of radiant heat but with a low surface temperature, it's a wise choice for homes with pets or kids... " 

I can't imagine the surface temp being more than ~180F if they are willing to call it safe around kids.  This is the typical operating temperature for hot water baseboard heating systems.

Good call.

I guess I see a few challenges to overcome:

Can't paint in garage due to health concerns.

To resolve that, look into P100 Organic Vapor respirator.  Those are the cats ass if you are doing anything with any nasty vapors.  I have a Bullard supplied air respirator (backpack style with  fan and pressurized mask) for doing nasty stuff.  You can roll the dice on Amazon stuff or hope to get a name brand on the low.  I got mine from work when we moved from Bullard to 3M.  Safety stuff usually just hits the dumpster since the liability is so high to resell used stuff.  

If you can't resolve the "cant paint in the garage" situation, you are kind of SOL until the weather gets warm.

If you can resolve the "cant paint in the garage" situation, then you can look at heating.  I would pick a sunny day with no wind.  Even if its a bit cooler, the solar gain (if applicable at your location) and lack of wind will be beneficial.  I would rather have sunny and calm and 50 degrees than cloudy and rainy and 55 degrees.

Then prior to paint, run a propane heater in your garage to warm everything up.  The slab, the tools, all that will hold heat.  Even have the car in there.  Warm it all up good and proper.

Once its to the upper limit of your temperature and holding, remove the propane heater and switch over to your oil filled jobs.  Now they are just holding temp, not trying to raise the temp.  

Last option is to rent a tent heater from United Rentals or similar and use it to heat your garage.  Keep it outside and duct in the hot air.  Will definitely cost a few bucks but would be 100% safe.  

I wonder if the Bolt plugged in with max heat on and ducts blowing parked in the garage would do it. That's silly, but only slightly silly.

Harbor freight portable garage a d a couple kerosene heaters in the driveway?

I think this will work. It's 62 outside and falling, and this thing with the fan is maintaining 70. 

The other thing I would worry about with an attached garage would be the outgassing of the paint as it dries.  If the goal is to keep the garage warm, you can't really run an exhaust fan to get rid of the stuff.  if you can't get rid of it, it will build up.

How do you keep the byproducts out of the house, since they tend to be pretty nasty E36 M3?

CJ said:

The other thing I would worry about with an attached garage would be the outgassing of the paint as it dries.  If the goal is to keep the garage warm, you can't really run an exhaust fan to get rid of the stuff.  if you can't get rid of it, it will build up.

How do you keep the byproducts out of the house, since they tend to be pretty nasty E36 M3?

You don't. Bt then the wife calms down and tells you that you need to build a detached shop in the backyard! At least that is how it worked for me.

Funny story...I once primed a MG midget in the basement of my parents house. Forced air heat. Mom was not happy.

CJ said:

The other thing I would worry about with an attached garage would be the outgassing of the paint as it dries.  If the goal is to keep the garage warm, you can't really run an exhaust fan to get rid of the stuff.  if you can't get rid of it, it will build up.

How do you keep the byproducts out of the house, since they tend to be pretty nasty E36 M3?

Last time I primed the truck I left it out until the evening and pushed it in. The smell was slight. I was surprised to see the data sheet ask for 24 hours because the offgassing wasn't evident to me, but tunawife smelled it very slightly that evening. 

I think I'm ok with this one. I'll pick a date when it's sunny during the day and not very chilly at night.