Windshield Repair Forum

So the cold is coming upon us. What will happen? Who will Work? Where will they work? and How will they Work?!

Just replace the word they above with the word "You" and answer the questions... I wanted to start this thread early for everyone that is wondering and needing help with the cold topic.

Cold? So what. Work as usual. Where? Wherever there is a windshield that needs to be repaired. How? Just like I do every winter.

Cold weather is no reason to run and hide or quit working. I do as many windshields during the winter as I do any other time of the year.

The show must go on! Kinda like the US mail! lol

This should be an interesting discussion. While most of us prefer to work in warm sunny weather, I always found that I had less competition when it started to rain in Oregon, and far less competition when the snow started to fall in Montana, so the winter months were always a good time to pick up new fleet accounts. The only thing that really slowed me down in the winter was having less daylight.

Depending on the climate you work in you may need tools that you don't normally use in the summer months, so if this is your first winter repairing windshields I suggest that you start thinking about how best to prepare for repairs in all weather conditions.

Regardless of whether we continue working in the winter or not, most of us in the North are always a bit jealous of all of you luck dogs in the South.

Down here in Texas you just have to switch from Ice water to hot chocolate, a little bigger smile and "get her done"

I keep a K-mart blow dryer and a 25-foot extension cord in a thrift store tote bag for cold weather work. It's also good to have a 50-foot cord in reserve as well as a back-up dryer - also from the thrift store.

12V Hair dryers are also available from RV stores. You pay a premium and the quality is sometimes questionable, but if no power is available they can be very handy. I like hair dryers better than moisture evaporators for warming the glass, but I would never want to be without a moisture evaporator, especially in the winter time. It would take you all day to dry out a break with a hair dryer.

A voltage converter can also be used to plug in standard hair dryers, heat lamps, etc. Prices have come way down in the past few years. I saw a pretty nice one in Costco the other day for about 50 bucks.

Small generators are pretty popular with mobile technicians in the colder areas. You can plug in several things at once, including heaters if necessary. They are getting smaller and quieter all the time, and like voltage converters, you get more bang for the buck than you used to. The great thing about generators is you don't have to worry about running down a tired battery on your vehicle.

My winter equipment includes a 12v hair dryer, moisture evaporator (actually used yr. round) and chemical hand warmers from Wal*Mart to keep resin, injectors and hands warm. I also use an infrared thermometer to measure windshield temp. Really handy in hot weather, too.

Good grief...does it even get COLD in NC?!?!?!?:eusa_booh

GGWSR;26552 wrote:Good grief...does it even get COLD in NC?!?!?!?:eusa_booh

ROFLOL I just moved from Saskatchewan where it always got down between 30 and 40 below atleast several cold spells in the winter, but thank God I didn't do this work there!

LOL!!!

You guys in the southern states crack me up! I'd still be working in shorts on Christmas day in many of your areas. What do some of you guys consider cold weather? Here in Michigan anytime it's above freezing during colder months it is considered favorable repair conditions. When it drops into the teens or lower then we call it cold! Do I still repair them? Well yeah, somebody has to pay the high heating bills and if I'm not willing to suck it up somebody else will. I have no idea how the guys in Canada or in colder northern U.S. areas deal with this. I have worked in Baudette, MN (for Bosch) during the winter months and temps would dip into -20 F with wind chill at 40-50 below. Now that is cold!!!

Anyways, as Brent stated... pre-winter is a great time to solicit new fleet accounts because you'll find many of your competitors sitting at home. The other reason it's a easy sell because most people already realize when temps drop their damage is more likely to crack out. So there's a sense of urgency. Around here the tent set up guys are usually the first to pack it up when things get chilly, which also means more insurance work will become available.

Electric blow dryers and cords? I've never used these before but if you do....just make sure you utilize a good inline ground fault protector unless you have plans to change company name to "Zapped Windshield Repair"!!!

I personally prefer using torches with heat tip attachments that provide blown heat only and not a direct flame. One to slowly heat a larger area and the other to remove moisture and yeah, I also have a drystar to use when needed.

Moisture removal to me is critical when temps start to drop below 40 F. Why? Simply because of condensation build up!

Even on sunny days when temps start out low then rise, the mornings can still produce frost or dew that will find it's way into damage. Sometimes it could take a full day and a half for these to dry out on their own (depending on area temps and conditions) I find that many glass shops and other repair techs (including the big ones) around here don't understand that. They just drill and fill, never realizing in a month or two damage will look unrepaired.

Is cold weather repair actually that horrible? No, not if you properly prepare for it in advance! Always try to keep your resins within working temps. In the past I've used heat packs in resin cooler to accomplish this but recently have located a number of small coolers manufactures that can be heated with simple 12v cig plug in.

Dress for cold in layers and peel them off as day temps require. If your stuck with one thick layer and start sweating your done!

If you do mobile insurance repairs, call customer 30 mintutes in advance and ask them to run car with temp controls set at medium settings and fully explain why!

If your working fleets you may not have that option so be prepared to spend additional time.

I'm sure others have much more to add, hope to hear from you.