@Docnick…I believe those are average figures. In Jan '85 many cold records were broken and windchill factors got down to as low as -85 in some parts of the United States. One of those states was North Dakota. I’m not saying these are average figures for the state of Maine but they did happen on consecutive nights in January of 1985.
@missileman You don’t add chill factors when recording regional temperatures. The ones I quoted would be very mcuh higher with chill factors. Cars don’t feel chill factors.
Forty below in a 90mph bilzzard is certainly cold but your National Geographic Atlas will not record that, nor. I believe will the Guinness Book of Records.
Yep, windchill is only the rate at which bodies or cars will lose heat, but the temperature of either will never get lower than the actual temp.
People die in Minnesota and South Dakota too in the weather. One kid I know of had his car stall on a SD interstate in a blizzard. They found him dead in the ditch in his sleeping bag. Its easy to get disoriented in a blizzard and even though close to home lose your way, hit a snow bank, try to walk, and freeze to death. FIL used to talk about people losing their way going from their house to the barn and freezing to death. Some would tie a guide rope in between the two to hang onto. Ole Rolvag wrote a book “Giants of the Earth” and talked about South Dakota immigrant life in the cold and snow and not something I’d like to experience.
Cell phones are great now but people still have to be able to find you and get to you, so you’ve got to take a little responsibilty for yourself.
I believe those are average figures. In Jan '85 many cold records were broken and windchill factors got down to as low as -85 in some parts of the United States
Windchill is rate of cool…NOT how cold something gets.
If you have a glass of water sitting outside at 35 degrees…and a windchill of 25 degrees…the water will NEVER freeze.
Sorry guys…I didn’t mean to mention “windchill” figures in my original post. I stated that later. All I know is that it was extremely cold in Northern Maine. A lot of snow too. @MikeInNH…I had to laugh a little at your 35 degree reference. Finding 35 degrees in the winter in Northern Maine would have been a blessing.
I know we’ve had this debate before, but I contend that chill factors do have a very real effect on cars. Chill factors indicate how quickly the engine will lose its heat if exposed to the wind, and that makes a difference when parking. Park into the wind in sub zero temps when you go to the mall and your engine will be a lot colder when you come out than if you park facing away from the wind. For people living in extremely cold climates, that matters big time.
@mountainbike. I agree with that, however an ovenight “cold soak” will have the entire car at the actual temperature, wind chill or not.
I have a friend with a free standing, uninsulated garage. In the morning he claims his car is WARMER than the outside temperture, which is impossible without a block heater. The observation comes from getting into such a cold car in a wind-still environment inside the garage.
Car companies test their vehicles in cold areas, like Minnesota, Northern Canada, and others. The overnight cold soak is the standard test for starting.
I agree in general, however I should point out that if the garage has a black roof it may be absorbing the sun’s energy during the day, and in addition to the garage retaining the radiated engine heat (if it’s well closed up at night), that might be enough to affect the morning’s car temp. Even if it ends up just 10F warmer in the morning than it would have been, that can make a difference. Remember too that the ground itself is warmer just below the surface than the air is, and the garage benefits from that.
In short, it is entirely possible that the garaged car is warmer in the morning than the outside air. But it isn’t because it’s protected from wind chill. It’s because it’s benefitting from the warmth of the ground and possibly from the sun’s energy having been absorbed during the day, and perhaps even from still retaining a little bit of the heat that radiated from the hot engine he previous day.
It’d be an interesting experiment to leave the car in the garage for a week and measure the temperatures inside the garage, inside the car, the surface temp of the engine, and the outside ambient air. I’m willing to bet that you’d find that the garaged has a very real benefit.
I have an unheated, unattached 2-car garage. It is ancient and has enough gaps in the woodwork that you can see light through some of them. Additionally it has roof vents and vents in the eaves. No matter how cold it is out or how windy, if I’ve driven my car the day before, the interior of the garage is always a little warmer than the outside.
If the car has not been driven in more than a day, all bets are off, but as long as the car was driven in the last 12-18 hours, even my uninsulated garage will be warmed by it. My car has an oil temperature gauge, which is what I use to determine how cold the engine truly is. The oil temp will always be well above ambient unless the car sits longer than overnight. Even my rather poor garage will keep the car from cooling down nearly as quickly than if it were parked outside as well, and there is never frost on the the windows if parked in the garage.
@oblivian is right
Even in an unheated garage, it’s warmer. We have a carport on the front of the garage which is shielded from the northern winds by the garage it self.
The tough time I had with convincing my wife to build one, was that it also keeps the frost of the car. Frost settles like rain on a car and any cover keeps it from forming. Radiational cooling is less and it is warmer under a carport because of it so you don’t even need walls to avoid frost. The same for dew. Car ports with an outlet for a heater are all cars need. IMHO, garages are for storage and work. I really never liked running cars “inside” and I dislike attached garages. Why we build houses for and treat inanimate objects like people, I will never quite understand. Cars don’t feel windchill, cars are’t alive and don’t love you back. But funny, their reliability, like people, is often a result of how you, “treat then”.
We have an attached two car garage…and it is warmer then outside. But not a lot warmer. We usually store bottle water there during the summer, but have to bring it in during the winter because it’ll still freeze out there. Overall there might be a 5-10 degree difference - depending on the time of day and how strong the sun is.
We have an outside thermometer/insde that I have experimented to find tempo difference. . Under the carport IS a couple of degrees warmer then outside in the winter and many degrees cooler in the summer. The biggest advantage is…insects. Black flys tend not to find humans easily under cover as long as you don’t dally around outside. You can work on your car in the fresh air w/o being pestered. I did I mention rain or shine cook outs. The Canadians seem big on carports over garages, at least on the way to Quebec.
@oblivion Yes, heat is retained longer in an unheated garage, but after 12 hours it’s pretty well at ambient. @MikeInNH If the attached garage is insulated, including the doors, like ours is, the garage acts much like an unheated room of the house. During the recent cold snap, when it was -25 outside, the garage temperature dropped to only 24, for a difference of 49 degrees at 7am. We can normally store squashes and other food items in the garage near the wall of the house.
Wealthy folks here often have heated garges, which greatly speeds up corrosion, but they trade cars often and like the comfort.
We have block heaters but don’r really need them in the garage. Our son has an freestanding un- insulated garage and it gets to ambient after 12 hours or so. He uses a block heater on a timer.
If the attached garage is insulated, including the doors, like ours is
It’s NOT…The only insulation is BETWEEN the garage and the rest of the house.
Wealthy folks here often have heated garges, which greatly speeds up corrosion, but they trade cars often and like the comfort.
Heated garage is nice to work in…but I’ll put up with the cold (since I don’t have to do it often)…then to have my vehicles rusting out prematurely.
@Mike Agree When I have to work in the garage in the winter, I use one of those plug-in radiant heaters from Costco and get heat where needed.
I had a friend who bought a very old farmhouse in Warner, NH. The southern windows were huge, 6’ tall. The northern windows were tiny. The interior was designed to promote circulation from convection. On sunny winter days, the boiler often never even went on. On such days the sun’s energy heated the whole house.
And we think passive solar heating is a new idea…
On sunny winter days, the boiler often never even went on. On such days the sun's energy heated the whole house.
My house faces the South…and I get a lot of solar heating when it’s sunny. It can be -10 outside…if it’s sunny…the heat won’t turn on.
“Warner, NH” - Use to do a lot of skiing up there at Pat’s Peak in Henniker.
IMHO, garages are for storage and work
A-M-E-N to that!
My garage is like a non-air conditioned version of my basement.
My prior home had a 2 car detached garage I outfitted with a used 150k BTU oil furnace I found for sale ($125) that could have it 70 degrees in no time no matter how cold it was outside. A window air conditioner kept it comfortable in summer. Now I’m starting from scratch again on the new house…
I have an attached well insulated garage and it rarely gets below 40 in Minnesota. If I want to work in it, I use a kerosene heater for a little bit and can get it up to 60-70 without much trouble. I guess I’m a little soft. I don’t like to work in the cold and that to me is below 65. I’d be lost without it.
@twinturbo
Between the gasoline, propane, diesel fuel, compressed air tanks and all the small cans of volatile liquids, I want a fighting chance to survive by keeping the garage detached. With the garage doors and cold climate, I gave up working in the garage in the winter years ago when we moved to our new house with a detached garage. But I like it much better. While working evenings when we first moved in, I had a deer try to come in through the side door, moose and bear walk down the road a few feet away and a skunk walk by the open door; all I guess were attracted by the street light I have on the front of the garage. I don’t work outside at night anymore. Living in the woods has it’s drawbacks. We also, according to a roofing contractor, have some of the biggest snakes in the rocks holding up our drive in front of the garage that he has ever seem. We see them every few years on the lot in different places, but knowing they are at home close by is enough for me to let them do their work…so,I watch where I walk going out to the garage.