Inverter Machines And Cold Weather???

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Most who live in the northeast know of the cold (real cold) weather coming in the next several days. A concern I have is what the cold can do to inverter based welders!My gear is in a detached garage. The only heat is a turbo heater when I am in there. has anyone had any experience with any problems with inverter based welders and below 20-30 degree weather?This is not about water cooled torches!
Reply:Actually, transistors operate at their smoothest and most efficient when warm. The only issue with cold is that you might have one part of the circuit that gets hot too quickly and cracks the part that's still cold. Cracked solder joints are the biggest danger, then there's the condensation that follows. If it's cold enough to damage the boards, then it's also cold enough to not have very much water vapour storage capacity in the air, so condensation is less of a concern.I'd be careful about getting into a 5 below F garage and cranking up the welder full blast right away. But if you power it up and let it acclimate for 20 mins, then it shouldn't effect reliability. The last thing I would want on a machine that expensive, is a loose circuit trace failure while not even knowing it and then having an intermittent failure after warranty. You can spend hundreds just looking for the gremlin. Inverters are great technology, but I would hate to have something bad happen with the control circuits.I've just recently bought a Parweld Dual Voltage 110v/240v MMA and Tig invertorStill have it in the back of the car, must get it out and have a play one day Last edited by Gerry1964; 01-21-2013 at 06:10 PM.
Reply:I have a thermal arc 185 and I've never had a problem when it gets cold here...  I usually warm the shop up for 30-45 minutes before I go out and I usually let the machine run a bit before I use it..tackleexperts.comwww.necessityjigs.comhttps://www.facebook.com/groups/mach...dingequipment/
Reply:I just turn it on and let it run for a few minutes before I start. I've used mine below -25C with no issues.My Photos on Flickr
Reply:Looking at the manual for a newer Lincoln inverter, it says:Operating temperature -4 to 104FStorage temp -40 to 185FElectrolytic capacitors work poorly at temperatures below 0F, which may be part of the reason. If it's not below zero, I wouldn't worry.JohnA few weldersA lot of hammersA whole lot of C-clamps
Reply:all the new pipeline mainline welders are inverte based power units specifically the ones that CRC evans use int he cold are the same as the ones use din the hot 8000$ boxes that work fine they turn them on and let em warm up a bit and then get to welding.
Reply:Originally Posted by rahtreelimbsMost who live in the northeast know of the cold (real cold) weather coming in the next several days. A concern I have is what the cold can do to inverter based welders!My gear is in a detached garage. The only heat is a turbo heater when I am in there. has anyone had any experience with any problems with inverter based welders and below 20-30 degree weather?This is not about water cooled torches!
Reply:It wont hurt anything. The only components that isnt going to like extreme cold are the electrolytic caps; As for switching transistors (IGBTs, mosfets) colder is better. You can just turn the machine on and go... running idle isnt going to heat anything up anyway.Welding/Fab Pics: www.UtahWeld.com
Reply:Sometimes the fans take a while to spin up.