Does anyone know if it's bad for a tape machine to freeze?

[jake-owa]

Mine is in the garage and it's like 15 degrees out now.

I'm a little nervous.

[The Ghost of FM]

Virtually all machines can be expected to be subjected to freezing temperatures when you consider that when they are shipped and stored in warehouses, they are subjected to some pretty ugly temperature extremes.

The difference between a new unit, in a box and your's sitting in a garage is that your's is not sealed in bags and boxes that keep the moisture extremes out of the recorder.

If your going to do cold storage, let the unit fully come up to room temperature in a well ventilated environment that allows any dew build up to dry out.

Better still, bag the recorder as best as possible to keep the excess moisture build up and possible rusting of many external and internal parts.

Or, keep it inside somewhere in the warmth and dryness of the heated house.

You could keep it at my place and I'd give you generous visitation privileges also as an alternative.

Cheers!

[jake-owa]

Shit..too late for the sealing thing.

I guess the next best thing is to warm it up completely after thawing it slowly?

I'm scared.

[The Ghost of FM]

Are you that tight for space in the house?

An other idea might be to put a space heater in the garage to keep it from getting as nasty in there as it does now.

Maybe an electric baseboard heater or two, depending on how big the space is.

Maybe the furnace is powerful enough in the house to run a vent over to the garage?

Any of that feasible for you?

Cheers!

[kristian]

shit, you are going to have a few more problems than a cold reel to reel if you leave a space heater on without anyone in there. space heaters are insanely dangerous. Just let it come to room temperature without plugging it in when the spring thaw comes to your control room, haha. Otherwise your only option is to move it inside.

[The Ghost of FM]

space heaters are insanely dangerous.

Older ones, without Mercury tilt switches are, yes.

newer designs are a little better at not being complete and utter fire hazards if used with a little common sense.

Our friend Jake is not a complete moron, from what I know of him.

Cheers!

[Derek Verner]

There are three problems with cold storage. The first is that some electronic components change value. The second is that the lubricants thicken up. The third is that, when brought in from the cold, moisture condenses on metal parts. All of these can be overcome by allowing the machine to come up to room temperature BEFORE operating it.

[Son of Mixerman]

Just let it thaw out before powering it up. Mine came from Chicago, over frozen Mountain passes and it sat in the studio for 2 days before I turned it on. Then I let it sit powered on for 4 hours before I loaded the reels on it. Everything seems fine, I haven't calibrated it yet, the meters are off on some channels, but no biggie for me right now, it records and plays back wondefully. ( Im always riding the tape return pre's anyhow)


SoMm

[acorec]

Originally posted by Son of Mixerman
Just let it thaw out before powering it up. Mine came from Chicago, over frozen Mountain passes and it sat in the studio for 2 days before I turned it on. Then I let it sit powered on for 4 hours before I loaded the reels on it. Everything seems fine, I haven't calibrated it yet, the meters are off on some channels, but no biggie for me right now, it records and plays back wondefully. ( Im always riding the tape return pre's anyhow)


SoMm

The real danger to the tape-deck is the change in temperature. The lubricants tend to absorb water from the humidity changes/temp drops. This can really be a pain because it causes rust to form in pockets where the lub is. When you warm it up, the water may leave, but the rust now acts as a nice polishing compound. You may have certain key parts wear very quickly. This kind of damage is only evident later down the road.