Last week, in Havoc in Cold Weather, Part II, we continued the conversation about some of the things that happen to applicators in cold weather.
This week we are going to wrap up the discussion on cold weather, so you and your team are aware of these concerns.
SPRAY GUN
All spray foam guns are basically the same; and as big hunks of metal, they lose heat quickly and are generally cold in cold weather. O-rings get brittle, lubricating oil and grease get thick and become like cold honey or cement and gun grease hardens. These are all used to lubricate and protect moveable parts, if they get cold and stiffen, they may now fail. If you pull the trigger under these conditions and failure occurs, you may end up with a cross-over – total foam blockage in the head of the gun. This is expensive – parts, labor and time.
Solution: Keep your equipment warm during the cold weather. If you don’t have a heated rig, make sure to travel with the foam gun in the cab of truck next to the heater.
ISO
Like any liquid, when iso gets cold it gets thicker, not as quickly as the resin, but it does get thicker, and it can freeze, sort of; as iso approaches freezing, the molecules get really close together and can attach to each other, resulting in dimers also called crystals. Around freezing, it will not solidify like an ice cube but will be more like a Slurpee. And these crystals can ruin the iso material and damage your equipment. If you use this material, you could plug up and clog your entire system from the drum to the gun. This can be expensive – equipment, time and lost revenue.
However, in some cases you can save the material by straining the crystals. To do this you need a clean barrel and an extra-extra-large pair of panty hose – that’s right, panty hose; a pair large enough to stretch over the top of a drum. Then you will have to transfer the liquid by hand, this can take a while, and pour it over the panty hose, to drain into the new drum, and you can’t use a pump because of the crystals.
Solution: Be proactive, keep your chemical warm during cold weather and do not let it get close to freezing.
RESIN
Resin will generally be more affected by cold weather than iso; it will get thicker, faster as the material gets colder. Additionally, the resin for water blown foam can freeze into a solid mass, due to the water content. The good news, at least with most water blown foam, is you can typically thaw out the material and use it.
However, in general, it is important to maintain the resin temperature, for optimum performance. Drum blankets work great, and band heaters can work if placed at the very bottom of the drum and they are thermostatically controlled. Something to remember when using a band heater is if it goes wild and over heats it can blister the drum liner and this debris can break off into the resin, showing up in one of the screen filters or getting caught somewhere in the spray hose.
Solution: Keep your chemical warm during cold weather.
Hopefully by now you are noticing the theme from the past few weeks – protect your stuff and keep it warm cold weather.
Stay tuned next week as we continue to discuss the interesting world of spray foam insulation.
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