Winter work?

[anttracker]

How many here do a lot of work in the cold weather, I live in New England and am hesitant in doing cold weather repairs, any suggestions? Thanks

[Frank EU]

We do mobile work all year round, no matter the cold.

[GlassStarz]

After several years of doing sub feezing repairs in Vermont I can tell you they are not a problem with the proper techniques. Myself I chose to warm the glass slowly some just use a heat gun but the rapid warming will sometimes break things
I prefer turning the heat on in the car (not the defroster) put a blanket on the glass to keep the heat in about 10 minutes and the glass is warm enough to work on without being brittle. Do the repair as usual keeping a towel over everything to keep in the heat. the hardest thing about the cold weather repair is on the technician not the repair

[Dave M]

As you can see, I live in Maine. I sort of agree with GlassStarz, sort of! I repair year round also but I feel I can control the environment more by getting the vehicle inside and warmed up. The only time this can be a problem is with a retail customer who has no garage. Sure, we can warm the glass up by whatever means you want, but will it stay at the desired temperature throughout the repair process? There are other factors to consider which have been brought up before......There's going to be moisture in that frozen glass so make sure it's evaporated, your resins need to stay warm, your injector and curing light need to stay warm, and watch out for melting ice and snow dripping down onto your break. Oh and if it starts to snow, get everything covered.
ALL my accounts know what it's like to work on glass in the winter and are more than happy to allow me to work inside. I have a couple accounts that tell me "my" bay is empty if I need to bring in the car.
I have tried evaporating moisture from a frozen windshield a few times (out in sub-freezing temps) and it just is not the same. At least not for me!

[GlassStarz]

He is right on if you can get inside its much better myself I didnt have that luxury often. I kept my tool box in the truck cab and kept a glove heat pack in the box also in the gloves thr batteries in your light wont work well if you dont keep them warm and I keep the resin in my pocket I use a thinner resin in winter DRY OUT and the DRY OUT again its below 0 deg in Vermont today and im working here at 65 deg looks like I solved the cold problem LOL

[jasonsresin]

i hate working in a cold windy day, but as GlassStarz said, its hard on the tech more than on the repair. you can try resin that is a little thinner. you may or may not have that luxury. i distribute resins so its easy enough for me to thin down a resin for the cold, or just mix it how i want it from the start. thinner resin helps it flow into the repair, and allows the air to flow out into the injector, whether or not you rely on pressure or vacuum.

if you cant get inside, you can heat the car up, as hot as you want it, if its from the feet heater. also, if you drill first, there is not near as much chance of the repair spreading if the defroster is on, although i'd still be careful. you can use a lighter from the inside, but you gotta watch to make sure the resin is already flowing in first. if there is a leg that is cut off from the rest of the repair and you try to use heat, it could split. legs seperate from the rest of the repair are rare but it happens. a good technician can look at a windshield, and know if there is any moisture in there he needs to address, wax treatment which will hamper the final repair, or a seperated leg which you'll have to drill seperately.

[mester]

hi first i want to apologize for my english dew to the fact that im writing from hungary. its freezing cold here in the winter and im also working out side in a supermarket carpark but at least i have a tent over my head which comes pretty handy in the summer. anyway my problem is that when i do longer cracks in the winter even if its completley moisture free they recrack again after a short while any suggestions im using esprit resin thats pretty thin

[screenman]

Hi Mester, if you are working outside in freezing conditions I would say this is not ideal for long crack repairs, are you absolutely sure there is no moisture present. I used to use Esprit resin before changing over to Delta resins never had many problems but I do prefer Delta for price and Quality.

[mester]

Hi. Screenman. Most of the time im pretty sure that there is no moisture in the crack but i know that i cant be 100% certain. but recracking happens when i fix a completley fresh crack . i mean like start working on it just after a few hours it happend and thers cold but sunny. on the other hand im afraid i cant get delta products in this country. theres only esprit, glassmechanix ,wurth, rogers and some other noname avalaible.

[Kgobin]

Mester,

If you are in of need of Delta Kits Equipment I am sure that we can get it to you in Hungary.

Please email or PM me