Glue storage in winter

[Diamond Geezer]

Hi guys

where do you store your glue my hangar is my garage which gets quite cold this time of year,finding my glues are not very runny should I put them indoors.

[Zflyer]

You can always put them in a cup or bowl of hot water prior to use. Dont microwave the bottles melt!!!@

[Diamond Geezer]

Thanks 

[Jason Channing]

1 hour ago, Zflyer said:

You can always put them in a cup or bowl of hot water prior to use. Dont microwave the bottles melt!!!@

Only if you let it get too hot, Microwaves work very well for epoxy all you need is 10 seconds and that's enough although the heat is not even throughout the resin, If the pot is melting the glue must be superhot and if epoxy wouldn't be much use due to its temperature

[Alec Turnbull]

15 hours ago, Diamond Geezer said:

Hi guys

where do you store your glue my hangar is my garage which gets quite cold this time of year,finding my glues are not very runny should I put them indoors.

I have a workshop in a double garage connected to the house, it gets very cold in there during the autumn / winter months so I move all my glues next door through the connecting door in to the utility room where they stay at room temperature where I can quickly retrieve them and then replace after use, the directions on the bottles all state not to be stored under a certain temperature, having just looked at my bottle of PVA it just states must be kept away from heat or cold, so yes my advice keep them indoors

[leccyflyer]

16 hours ago, Diamond Geezer said:

Hi guys

where do you store your glue my hangar is my garage which gets quite cold this time of year,finding my glues are not very runny should I put them indoors.

Most of my glues are stored on the glue shelf in my workshop, so that's maintained at a steady 16 degrees year round. The glues in daily use are in a caddy on the bench. I don't use much CA, but that is stored in a mini-fridge, the kind that you keep a couple of drinks cans in at about 5 degrees. I do find that sometimes the ambient temperature makes epoxy a wee bit sluggish, especially if the resin has crystallised, so I do sometimes give the bottles a blast with my hot air gun for covering and that gets them flowing quite nicely.

 

To answer your question if your glues are getting down to a few degrees then it's not good for their use, but also for their long term storage, so maybe best to bring them indoors.

[Jon H]

I would strongly advise against using any food preparation equipment for warming epoxy, engines or any other model related activity as you do not want any off gassed residue contaminating your food. 

 

If your epoxy is cold and stiff a glass of warm water will sort it. Just stick the bottle in there or on the radiator for a short time and its problem solved.

[Diamond Geezer]

Indoors it is

[leccyflyer]

Agree completely - think about it for a second,  if you use the microwave to warm the bottles then you are liberating the vapour from both the resin and the hardener into the environment of your microwave. At best you are contaminating the  surfaces inside with chemicals that will be further vapourised with subsequent microwave use. At worst you are potentially offering up a mixture of the ingredients of hardener and resin into your microwave, to mix and partially set, thereby hanging around for even longer.

[Geoff S]

1 hour ago, Jon - Laser Engines said:

I would strongly advise against using any food preparation equipment for warming epoxy, engines or any other model related activity as you do not want any off gassed residue contaminating your food. 

 

If your epoxy is cold and stiff a glass of warm water will sort it. Just stick the bottle in there or on the radiator for a short time and its problem solved.

 

Well there was the time when I put my BSA Gold cylinder head in the oven and a new set of valve guides in the fridge ...  My wife (a tolerant woman) was unfazed but then, we'd only been married a couple of years - fortunately, she's still the same 50+ years later 🙂

 

I once decked a racing dinghy over a winter in the garage.  It was very cold and the main problem was getting adhesives to set properly even with warming.  Fortunately my current small workshop is an extension I built onto the house and is heated so it's not an issue.

[Ron Gray]

I use a hot air gun to warm glues up, works a treat and adds some heat to the workshop at the same time. 

[John Stainforth]

I have never had to warm epoxies in the UK. That may be a hangover from living in hot climates, where the problem is the other way round: epoxies set much faster than expected. For finishing epoxies, one has to be very careful (even in the UK) if one mixes them in small mixing jars that have a small surface areas, because a thermal runaway can easily occur that makes them set in no time at all. So, I always decant the mixed epoxies into trays with a large surface areas that prevent them getting too warm and setting prematurely.

[Jason Channing]

Im lucky as I have a micro wave in my workshop just for my use because I'm too lazy to go into the house, either way with lids on I'm sure no vapour is released.

[Cuban8]

One thing I have found to be certain is that cyanos last for ages in a fridge compared to normal room temperatures, where a warm summer can ruin a bottle in no time.

 I have several bottles of very thin grade in a sealed plastic zip bag in our kitchen fridge and they're easily three years old and still in A1 condition. Used some for a domestic job the other day, actually.

[Geoff S]

1 hour ago, Cuban8 said:

One thing I have found to be certain is that cyanos last for ages in a fridge compared to normal room temperatures, where a warm summer can ruin a bottle in no time.

 I have several bottles of very thin grade in a sealed plastic zip bag in our kitchen fridge and they're easily three years old and still in A1 condition. Used some for a domestic job the other day, actually.

 

 

We (ie my wife and I) keep our spare/stock cyano in the fridge all the time.  It's the best way to keep it fresh and usable. 

[Dave Garrett 1]

On 02/11/2023 at 18:38, Cuban8 said:

One thing I have found to be certain is that cyanos last for ages in a fridge compared to normal room temperatures, where a warm summer can ruin a bottle in no time.

 I have several bottles of very thin grade in a sealed plastic zip bag in our kitchen fridge and they're easily three years old and still in A1 condition. Used some for a domestic job the other day, actually.

The same is true for epoxy resins. Hence, the glue & beer fridge in the garage.😂