Can a t.v. freeze? (1 Viewer)

[MikeArcher]

My family has a little, one room cabin at the back of our property. It's fairly secluded and it wouldn't matter if I wanted to watch a loud movie when the rest of the family is asleep. The problem is that the cabin is not hooked up to any of the household utilities. Power and Cable should be no problem, my concern, however, lies in heating the place.

The room isn't very large, probably 10'x10', so it shouldn't be any problem to get it heated when I want it, but I'm concerned about keeping it warm. I live in Montana and we can have -20 weather for a week or two at a time. I have considered a space heater but I've been told those would be fairly expensive to power 24/7 and are also potentially hazardous to leave unattended. The same with a ceramic heater. I then realized that my car electronics do fine all winter long so I began thinking that maybe it would be alright if I just ran the heater when I was up there. The only problem is, I don't have a tube t.v. in my car to test out. Would it be okay to leave a t.v. exposed to the elements like that or is it best not to test it? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Mike

 

[Adam Barratt]

I imagine the TV would not be damaged by the low temperatures, but to avoid thermal fatigue you would need to slowly heat the room and television before actually operating it. If you still have the TV's manual it should list its operational temperatures among its specifications (its minimum operating temperature is probably somewhere around 40 degrees Fahrenheit).

Adam

 

[Leo Kerr]

I, too, imagine that being deep frozen wouldn't particularly hurt the set.

Thawing it again might.

Two things are floating around in my mind; I'll try and catch them.

1. Condensation. The set will, of course, change temperature at a different rate than the air around it, in both directions. In some situations, it may condense on some windings, and even though it's warmed up to a 'safe' temperature, when you turn it on, fzzzt! as the coils short.

2. Thermal shock. Refer back to Adam's post. With an extension: with repeated viewings through the season, you may have a situation where you've gone through so many freeze/thaw cycles that, even though you're going at a slow, controlled rate, the components and connections are being stressed. Not exactly a 'cold solder joint' in the classical sense, but it's conceivable that it may prematurely age the set.

How significant are my two issues? I haven't the foggiest idea. With the condensation issue, it probably depends a great deal on the relative humidity you enjoy during those chilly nights...

Leo Kerr

 

[Jack Briggs]

Leo's thinking here is similar to mine. Water condensation is the first thing I thought of when reading this thread.

 

[Glenn Overholt]

You wouldn't really watch something when it is -20 outside, would you?

Anyway, I agree with them. You can't bring the TV in? Maybe put it on a cart?

When I think about it, I don't see the thermal shock as being a problem, because the first frozen item that the electricity ran into would either stop it cold() or explode. This is if nothing exploded inside while you were doing something else. Not a good idea.

Glenn

 

[ChrisWiggles]

I would just be careful to warm it slowly with room temperature, and give it a day to make sure no condensation if it's a serious TV. Otherwise, probably a little overprotective, unless it's a serious expensive TV or something.

 

[MarkMel]

Put it in a cabinet with a 40 or 60 watt bulb. The bulb will heat the cabinet just enough and will only cost pennies a day to run. I read that people who need to keep their paint in the garage in the winter do this to keep the paint from freezing.