Winter Storage and Water Wetter - What to do?

[kixx]

I'll soon have a track bike that has water wetter (not antifreeze) in the radiator. The bike will be in an unheated garage all winter. Should I fill the radiator with antifreeze instead? Can I just drain some water out to allow for expansion?


THX!


Mike

[dave.gallant]

Fill it with antifreeze, then warm the bike up fully to make sure it gets throughout all of the engine passages.

You can blow the coolant out with compressed air too, but you will be surprised how much water will be left in the engine if you drop it out of the bike over the winter to freshen it up.

[The GECCO]

What Dave said. Don't take any chances.

[Lel399]

+1, drain and fill it with antifreeze

[Timmay!]

Or you could do what must of us have chosen to do, and that is to turn your garage into a "motorcycle bedroom." I have insulated and heated the last three garages in homes I have owned. It makes it great to work in, and all of the other bike parts don't get exposed to extreme temps all winter.
If it is an attached garage you can just insulate and sheet rock it, it will still stay well above freezing all winter long. :-k

[kcecil]

I don't heat my insulated attached garage, but for particularly cold snaps, I throw a blanket over the bike and put a trouble light with a 100 watt bulb under the engine, just to be sure.

[chris nami]

Tim, at least my wife will know that i am not the only one.
not kidding i think i actually said this once "this is my nice warm little space for my best-est Yamaha, stay warm and sleep well...i will see you tomorrow...xoxox." :-(0)

last winter i was doing some construction in the garage and i kept the bikes in the house . :D... talk about working in comfort.

[T Baggins]

...I have insulated and heated the last three garages in homes I have owned. It makes it great to work in, and all of the other bike parts don't get exposed to extreme temps all winter.
If it is an attached garage you can just insulate and sheet rock it, it will still stay well above freezing all winter long. :-k

I'd be interested in knowing what you did to heat it... mine is a 3 car with high ceilings (already sheetrocked and insulated - though I'm adding insulation to the attic this weekend) and it still freezes in there sometimes. I was thinking of putting in a re-circulating hot water system with a big blower and run it off the hot water heaters. I could also do a ceiling mount gas and oil heater... I dunno - but it definitely freezes still and that worries me. Plus it sux ass when I have to work on stuff out there and it's cold!

[rforsythe]

I just ran a vent from the furnace in there, with a flap that seals it if the furnace is off. Even if the furnace isn't heating air it's still recirculating ~70 degree air into the garage. In my case my garage is only partially insulated and has some air sealing issues, but I still manage to keep it at 50 degrees when it's in the 20's outside. When we get those *uber* cold snaps (the below-zero stuff), the coldest it's been since adding the vent is about 25-30, which didn't last too long, and it doesn't cost me any extra on the utility bill.

FWIW when it got that cold I got the bike fairly hot to retain some heat, and do have one of those propane blowers if I really need to inject heat quickly. That said, once you have warm fluid in the bike it takes a while to cool it let alone freeze it, so it isn't like if the garage hits 30 for a few hours you're going to break stuff.

I am planning to insulate and sheetrock the rest of it in the next few weeks hopefully, and fix the sealing issues, so that should keep it pretty toasty.

[chris nami]

you can also take the hard foam insulation (comes in sheets, usually pink or blue... you can get it at home depot and its cheep.) cut to fit each panel on the garage door. not only can you open and close the door normally, it works really well. its also good for sound proofing. -C

[Lel399]

I just ran a vent from the furnace in there, with a flap that seals it if the furnace is off. Even if the furnace isn't heating air it's still recirculating ~70 degree air into the garage.

Thats exactly what i wanted to do, but found out its against code... which really didnt bother me all that much; but when I found out if for some reason the house burns down because i have race fuel and all the other things that are highly flamable... and its found out that I have a vent into the garage that contributed to the air/sparked the fire or for some other reason the insurance company wants to piss about it, that I wouldnt have a claim.

... or so i have been told

lel

[rforsythe]

Code.

:lol:

Foolish mortal.

[hcr25]

We put my bike in the living room!

[bcmoore]

Sorry to revive an OLD thread, but it's better than starting a new one..

I'm in the same boat as everyone else, attached garage that has sheetrock but no heater..

When do you guys swap back to water/wetter for the season? This is my first year here in Colorado. By early April, is it safe to say we won't have any more real cold snaps??

Thanks
-Brian

[T Baggins]

I'd check to see how cold it really gets in your garage to start. I know that mine DOES freeze, especially when it's below 20 for several days. I get no direct sun to my garage door, so the only heat it gets is from the cars when the motors are warm.

You can buy a cheapie digital thermometer that keeps high and low in memory.