I want to keep water in the rad across the winter (as I track my street bike occasionally), I'm moving into a home that comes with an insulated garage (insulation in the walls and drywall), and was wondering if I can store my bikes there without having the water freeze.
How cold does your insulated garage get in the winter?
- Thread starter zx6rr
- Start date
Bah, you should be fine. I kept bottled water in my garage for years with out an issue. My garage door is utter crap as well (being changed this year) if you are worried keep your bike as close to the house as possible and stick a thermometer in your garage to note temp. If you do get worried drop some coolant in there to prevent freezing as Jayv stated.
open rad cap, remove water pump drain bolt. 60 seconds
Or risk destroying the engine
Tough choice
I hate the coolant process.. probably because I'm stupid at it and I always make a huge mess and get **** all over my tires. Draining is easy, but then when I fill it up and try to burp the the system with the engine on, all the water just comes pouring out as it expands... and it's a never ending struggle.
FLSTC
Well-known member
Insulation in the walls is to keep the living space warm from the cold garage. Drywall is to provide a fire separation and keep the insulation in place. There's no heating source and the garage door is thin and not sealed well. The garage will approach outside temps, below freezing in winter for sure.
Ding ding ding! There's the answer. I keep my bike in a friend's garage in a townhouse where only the garage door is exposed to the elements and on regular days in the winter it's like 2-5C. Doesn't get much colder than that but I've never checked the temp at night. I wouldn't risk it, especially considering it seems like it's not a lot of effort to change water to coolant.
FLSTC
Well-known member
Heat is leaking from your house into the garage...
The garage is heated. On purpose. If anything heat is leaking from my garage to the outside. Which I don't care about much.
suzuki2000
Well-known member
ours rarely goes under 50F, but on some of the colder long stretches it is possible. Not much effort to drain if you are worried. Look into wiring a small baseboard heater set at 5C-6C and it will keep above freezing, small cost and you can crank up the heat if you plan on doing any work in the garage to be more comfortable
I have a thermometer in my garage, located closest to the house, where I keep my bike. Non insulated garage door, but I did install the rubber weather stripping fin-like things around the garage door (I have completely blanked on what they are called). My garage never hits below zero, unless I keep the door open for an extended period.
Is the garage in question attached to the house ... if so, you will get some heat coming from the house into the garage, and there is certainly a time lag between the outside temperature and the garage temperature, but the temperature in the garage will be closer to the average daily temperature of the outside than to the temperature of the house.
My garage is pretty much contained inside my house, with only the garage door and one wall exposed to the outside. It has living space above it and on the other side of the two remaining walls. If there's a week of -20 C, the garage will be near -10 and water will certainly freeze. Garage doors are generally poorly insulated, if at all (mine isn't) and have massive air leaks to the outside world (mine does). If your garage has more walls exposed to the outside, or the roof exposed to the outside, it will get closer to the outside temperature ...
Just drain your cooling system and put a piece of tape over the ignition switch with "NO COOLANT" written on it as a reminder. Then you don't have to worry about it. It is not worth the risk to do otherwise.
My garage is pretty much contained inside my house, with only the garage door and one wall exposed to the outside. It has living space above it and on the other side of the two remaining walls. If there's a week of -20 C, the garage will be near -10 and water will certainly freeze. Garage doors are generally poorly insulated, if at all (mine isn't) and have massive air leaks to the outside world (mine does). If your garage has more walls exposed to the outside, or the roof exposed to the outside, it will get closer to the outside temperature ...
Just drain your cooling system and put a piece of tape over the ignition switch with "NO COOLANT" written on it as a reminder. Then you don't have to worry about it. It is not worth the risk to do otherwise.
Original posters' post 5 clearly indicates hating coolant process, creates huge mess and gets **** all over tires rounded out with "never ending struggle" Also burping. Why are people suggesting removing pump drain bolt, reminder tape over ignition and other wildly complex solutions? Doesn't anybody read anymore?
Your garage sounds much like mine but mine doesn't have the leakage plus has an insulated door and about 1-1/2 inches of fiberglass in the walls. Last February was very cold for along stretch and nothing froze. I don't worry about the water based cleaners etc that I leave out there.
Would I leave water in an engine block? NO!
Would I be worried about spilling some water on my bike if I drained the block in the fall? NO
What if someone moves your bike outside for some reason or leaves the door open? "Sorry Bro. All I gots is some JB Weld."
Think of motorcycle maintenance as foreplay.
Guitar string? Tomato plant tying string? Clothesline string? You really need to be more specific, then I can provide the requested information.
But looking through the responses, it does vary. Some experience freezing, others don't. But as Brian P pointed out, there are other variables involved.
