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OT How to Keep Paint Warm in Service Truck

athack

Stainless
Joined
Nov 2, 2009
Location
Michigan USA
Hello,

Getting tired of removing the 10 paint cans form the service truck every night in the winter. Does anyone know of a heated 12 volt solution so the cans can stay in the truck and still be usable the next day?

Thanks for the help.
 
That would require lots of heavy batteries.

Better and easy is simple, a couple 100 watt lights in with paint and plug in when parked.

Just enough to keep warm.

Too much could pop a can and cost more to heat.

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I assume these are gallon cans right? I see you live in a pretty cold place so I don't think your battery is going to provide enough capacity to keep the paint warm. Of course you could build an insulated box for your paint and then it would probably work. Would it be easier to have a cord to run power to your truck at night. If you had 110v then the sky is the limit as to what you could use to keep the paint from freezing. There are rubber greenhouse mats that are very tough and cheap. You could set your cans on that and they would stay toasty in any kind of weather.
 
Webasto Heater.

Fuel fired heater that will provide warmed coolant, and/or warm air.

Not cheap, but Overseas made clones are out there. Or find a heavy truck wrecker, and see what he has in stock.
 
Start with an insulated cooler so you're not trying to keep the whole Upper Peninsula warm at night. Use an incandescent light bulb (pre-LED, pre-CFL). Depending on the size and efficiency of the cooler a 40W or 60W bulb might suffice. Put a short cord on the bulb with a plug outside the cooler body, and seal the hole for the cord. Use an AC extension cord from a shop or house outlet to the cooler cord. If your location is cold enough to use block heaters, you can obviously use the parking outlet for your truck's block heater. Unplug the extension before you drive off in the morning!
 
Hello,

Getting tired of removing the 10 paint cans form the service truck every night in the winter. Does anyone know of a heated 12 volt solution so the cans can stay in the truck and still be usable the next day?

Thanks for the help.

If you cannot bring the whole vehicle indoors, see about renting heated space for the winter.

Otherwise, buy or fab some sort of roll-out rack so you can more quickly and EASILY take the paint indoors and back out.

Make use of heat already PAID for.

All else, your winters?

Only worthwhile if you need it all day on jobsites, too. As you may. If an extension cord can be had, a small, cheap, DeLonghi style oil-filled space heater might do yah and make for a more comfortable truck as well.

Whole-vehicle combustion heater choices also abound. They beat all Hell out of an already cold-stressed bettery gone flat.
 
What are you doing that you head out each day carrying qty (10) cans of paint ?

BTW you never defined "paint" nor "can".
 
Is this a serious question.
What part of Michigan?
12 volts off of the truck/van battery will not do it overnight at any cold here..
A good blanket and a plug in heater will keep a comfy 70 if the bottom is off the floor with a piece of styrofoam underneath.
A 12 volt heater can not heat the cabin of even the smallest car here in Michigan in winter time. The wire would have to be huge and the biggest battery dead in 20 minutes.
To hold 50 to 60 in a normal van with electric takes about 8-10 amps at 120 volts continuous in the winter here in mid-Michigan. (yes I camp in the winter)

Insulation is your friend, I wonder how a plug in electric blanket with some insulation down or just wrapped under would work?
Bob
 
Use oil based paint.

F**ks sake, ten one-gallon tins? Two hands, two at a go out of or into the truck, folding handle platform cart to a warmer space?

One go each way, each day?

If that's some kind of a "show-stopper", just go and find a better job you can actually HANDLE.

Economy is doing well enough f**king with cold paint in the freezing nawth can go onto some hungrier guy's menu.

Or... sever it.

Sub-out the painting as a seperate task to wotever ELSE earns the crust. Turn it over to a pro at it who already has proven inclement weather solutions.

God didn't invent cold weather just last week, did she?
 
I 100% agree with the posters who say any heaters need to be powered by 120vac.

If you start with a reasonable temperature before the vehicle is parked fairly modest heat along with insulation should do the job. I would suspect heat tape for pipes wrapped around the cans would be most effective but a heated mat would also work. Even one of those rod heaters as used for cabinets and gun safes tucked between two rows of cans plus insulation should do it. You'll need insulation under the cans as well as in a box or "tent" to keep the warm air in. Even a mover's quilt provides some insulation. I use one over my attic fan in addition to other measures in winter.

10 cans isn't really a huge volume to heat, especially if you get creative and double stack the cans. If it were me I'd probably make a heavy duty "wire" rack out of rod to lift the cans off the floor and allow them to stack in close proximity. A single rod heater in a cradle underneath the center of the cans along with a good insulating blanket should keep them warm overnight. Heat rises and I've personally seen how cold a van floor can get while riding in the back of a "customized" van in winter that had no insulation under the carpet.
 
Thank you everyone for the helpful replies. Sounds like an insulted box with some kind of heat element will be the way to go.
I also like the Heatso Heaters that run off the vehicles fuel supply.

Thanks Again!!
 








 
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