Heating Garage Speeds Corrosion?

[OK-944]

In thinking about insulating the garage, and installing a 240 volt electric heater to quickly warm things up so I can do a bit of cold-weather wrenching, I'm also a bit concerned in what I've heard about a heated garage's tendency to exacerbate salt-induced corrosion, which makes perfect sense when considering the indelible relationship of heat to chemical reactivity.

Being mindful of two things...that I continue to (not quite daily) drive my 944 through the northern Vermont winter (exposing it to salt), but that I would not generally keep the garage heated excepting when I'd be wrenching on my car - I guess I'm asking folks here who might be in the same boat and whose garages are already insulated...and heated only during "times of wrenching," to chime in about their experiences with heat increasing rates of corrosion.

Note about my car: That the factory undercoating is still solid and viable, and that I treat other exposed (non factory undercoated) bits every year with an application of Fluid Film (greasy/waxy undercoating) - which continues to get my car's bottom through the winter pretty much unscathed.

[billybek]

I heat my garage to just above the freezing point. The truck will heat the space up quite a bit as it cools down.
When you have been driving the vehicle in snow and slush it drops the water on the floor overnight. I use a garage mat to contain the water and squeegee it out later in the day or the next morning. The high moisture environment combined with the salt or brine could be tough on vehicles for sure.

[GH85Carrera]

I have a built in oversize three car garage that has finished walls a ceiling and all insulated. Even in the coldest winters (below zero temps) it stays above freezing out there and about 40 degrees is the coldest it gets with no additional heat.

I have a 220 electric heater that warms up the work bay nicely in short order and allows me to work in jeans a old t-shirt comfortably.


The heater is the beige item at the end of where one of the ceiling fan blades is. I totally rebuilt the entire suspension system on my 911 when there was a blizzard going on outside. My garage is also air conditioned for the hot summer months with a window unit.

The heater does not run much when I have it on.

Of course if the ice and snow melts, yea, the salt will attack faster. If it stays frozen I would think it is suspended.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by OK-944

........ I treat other exposed (non factory undercoated) bits every year with an application of Fluid Film (greasy/waxy undercoating) - which continues to get my car's bottom through the winter pretty much unscathed.

+1

God Bless Fluid Film

Yummy!

[908/930]

A warm garage rusted the crap out of my BMW 533i. The other destructive force you are forgetting is water that gets into seams and once out into the cold it freezes and opens seams and exposes surfaces that are not painted, salt turns that to rust pretty quick. Slightly different, my car was driven every day in winter slushy salty roads of Toronto. I did spray rust preventative oil on that car, likely helped some.

Keeping the heat higher and running a dehumidifier would likely work, get the car to dry off.

[stevej37]

Mine is heated to 40 degrees and I just bump it up when working out there. It's heats up very fast...it's a suspended Hot-Dawg propane heater. (32X40 garage)

To counter the moisture I have a dehumidifier out there year round set to 40% humidity.

[Flatbutt1]

Corrosion is AFAIK directly related to heat. Above freezing and the effect of salt speeds up. AFAIK.

[Arizona_928]

There’s a japanese zero at the Pima air museum (Tucson, Arizona) that was in long term storage at the Smithsonian. Plane went from flying condition to a rusted out scrap pile.

[Rusty Heap]

Heck I ran a Saltwater fish tank with an open top in my garage for 2+ years. Only a few cans of paint or cheap metal shelving. Not much Rust at all, and I was losing over a gallon a day in evaporation.

[ramonesfreak]

as aquarium salt water evaporates, the salt stays in the tank

[HardDrive]

220v electric in my garage. I keep it 40, bump it up to 60 if I’m out there working.

[Rusty Heap]

Originally Posted by ramonesfreak

as aquarium salt water evaporates, the salt stays in the tank

Ever rented a beach front condo/house? Everything you need including a TV will rust and die quickly.

[Arizona_928]

Originally Posted by ramonesfreak

as aquarium salt water evaporates, the salt stays in the tank

The principle behind distillation…

[ramonesfreak]

Originally Posted by Rusty Heap

Ever rented a beach front condo/house? Everything you need including a TV will rust and die quickly.

Sure. Lived in Long Beach NY. On Vermont st. I also have 8 aquariums. And if a marine aquarium evaporates which it will daily, you add purified water, not water/salt mix.

Anyway, I wouldn’t keep my freshly salted daily driver in a heated garage. Once it warms up outside, I go to a spray booth and get the salt off. But without protection this whole exercise is futile but I do it. Even though I’m not sure I’ve kept a car other than my 911 more than 4 years so not sure why I even bother. I used to have a condo where the garage was under the main floor and the hot water tank was in there. Sweet. Hooked up hose and could rinse car off with hot water anytime. If there is any reason whatsoever why I would move it’s to live somewhere where there is no salt and keep a car 20 years without it looking like swiss cheese.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by Rusty Heap

Ever rented a beach front condo/house? Everything you need including a TV will rust and die quickly.

That's because the ocean produces water mist that is salty. Different than evaporation. The salt is even carried on dust particles that are carrying moisture directly from the water. It's not much, but as you say, it is corrosive to live at the beach.