[homthtr]

I'm finally at a loss for this question on my own so here goes..

We have a customer that has built a Cabana next to an outdoor inground pool.



It's an open Cabana and is in Wisconsin with temps now in the 30's at night and 50's during the day. Soon it will be 10-20 at night and maybe 30 during the day.

All equipment is going into cabinets included a Speakercraft BigBang Amp, 42" plasma, Directv HD Receiver, DVD Player etc.

We are concerned about ...

1 How cold can a plasma be stored? Can he keep this outside all winter?
2 If he does keep this outside..and the plasma isn't protected from the temperatures.... at what point to we tell him.. it's a bad idea to run a Freezing TV in the cold.
3. Condensation is also a question in the equipment area.

We have advised against this and should be a summer install and use only.

What do you think of all this.... We are not going to warranty the product if he is going to use this in this type of (what I feel is) Extremely cold conditions with the possability of condensation and internal damage to the electronics.

He insists we go ahead which we are doing... but where do I tell him the cut off is?.....

Personally I wouldn't be doing this until spring if it was my house, but the customer is going to get what he wants.... just need some suggestions or advise on how to advise him on the risks.

[TylerZ]

Living in southern Wis too I can understand your concerns about the cold weathers effect on HT gear. How open is 'open'? Looking at the pic I assume there will be windows put in. Any insulation in those walls? If so then he could just install some electric baseboard heating. It could be set to a low temp preventing damage to the HT gear. Of course in there isn't any wall insulation running the electric baseboard heat could get expen$ive.

[homthtr]

That's the problem.. No Windows.. the front is a Bar... yes tapper and all inside a fully loaded bar. All Open air no doors, no windows, no shutters, no anything.

To add to that there's a shower room behind ( that door to the back) A jacuzzi right next to the building on this side. a firepit area on the other side of the cabana.

He has a friend with the same setup and is just going with the same.

Now you can see our concern.... the final installation is happening Monday.
We finished installing 12 speakers today all running on the 1000 watt 12 channel Big Bang amp,Networking so he can stream his 140 gigs of music off his indoor server, etc, etc, etc, and the Final equipment and plasma are going in Monday so he can have a big party the following weekend.

[frogpond]

Definately make them sign an additional contract stating you told them about the cold weather concerns and you not responsible when thier HT gear breaks down when its -10 outside.

[TylerZ]

Agree with frogpond about them signing a release. They would be much better off taking the gear out and storing it inside during the winter. It ain't that hard considering the potential damage.