Just got the new Sharp Aquos 65" LCD Flat panel.
In reading the manual it says the coldest storage temperature is -4 degrees. A call to sharp verified this in adition to the fact that the warranty would be void if any damage from extreme cold temperatures occured.
In a couple of weeks we'll be leaving our summer home here in the Adirondacks to return in the spring. During the winter here it's not uncommon for temperatures to routinly hit 30-40 degrees below zero!!......With highs sometimes not getting above 0 gegrees for days at a time.
I'm really concerned about damaging the TV, especially after talking to the manufacturer.
Anyone out there have any experience with this.
I know from other threads, it's important to make sure it's thoroughly warmed up before turning it back on in the spring, but havn't read anything about storing in temperatures this cold.
Mark

You have a problem. If the LCD panel has not been tested to those extremes the laminations can crack.

Does the interior of your home drop to those temps too?
What happens to your water supply? Do you shut it off? Do you drain the pipes in the home?

FWIW plasma won't fare much better.

I have a 32" Sammy, PS3 and an older receiver outside in cabinets on my deck and although New England doesn't get quite that cold, I have opted to heat the cabinets using these - SREH-1240 http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.omega.com/Heaters/images/SREH_m.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.omega.com/ppt/pptsc.asp%3Fref%3DSREH%26nav%3DHEAM03&h=115&w=300&sz=4&hl=en&start=10&usg=__-CNf6803SJakYIkyCrI4thb5ZR4=&tbnid=7za-Qjc_1EizAM:&tbnh=44&tbnw=116&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsilicone%2Benclosure%2Bheater%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3D en%26safe%3Doff

These are thermostatically controlled to go on at 40 degrees and off at 60 degrees.

I seriously doubt you let the inside of your home get down to 40 below 0. You should be fine. If you don't damage your pipes or other areas of your house your tv will be ok.

You have a problem. If the LCD panel has not been tested to those extremes the laminations can crack.

Does the interior of your home drop to those temps too?
What happens to your water supply? Do you shut it off? Do you drain the pipes in the home?

FWIW plasma won't fare much better.
Perhaps I wasn't clear on the situation - I have a summer home in the Adirondacks which we do not use in the winter. The temperature does go to 30 below zero in the winter months. This has nothing to do with our pipes. Please any advice on how to store an LCD in extreme temperatures would be greatly appreciated!

Perhaps I wasn't clear on the situation - I have a summer home in the Adirondacks which we do not use in the winter. The temperature does go to 30 below zero in the winter months. This has nothing to do with our pipes. Please any advice on how to store an LCD in extreme temperatures would be greatly appreciated!I don't think you will get any advice beyond taking the tv with you, or heating your house to just above freezing.

Considering that you wont leave the heater on, the house will probably be like a freezer, so it wouldn't be wise to leave the television there.

But do you really let your house temperature reach over below 0? That's not good because the pipes (especially with water still inside) might get damaged.

Perhaps I wasn't clear on the situation - I have a summer home in the Adirondacks which we do not use in the winter. The temperature does go to 30 below zero in the winter months. This has nothing to do with our pipes. Please any advice on how to store an LCD in extreme temperatures would be greatly appreciated!

Outside temperature and the temperature inside your house are 2 different things. Even without having the heat on the inside of your house will not get that cold. We had a major power outtage 2 years ago here in Iowa in the middle of the winter. I went 4 days without power and while the outside temperature was well below 0 the lowest it got inside the house was 45 degrees. Unless you open up all your windows and leave the doors open I don't see how the inside of your house would get to -30. No matter how cold it is outside in the day when the sun is out and shining down your temp will rise. I have had days here in the winter where it was only 2 or 3 degrees out yet the snow still melts off the roof because of the sun.

Even though I think you will be fine since it is a summer home only I'm sure you get some type of utility break in the "off season" since you don't live there. You should get a major break on electrical/gas and since I doubt you completely cut the power off why wouldn't you at least keep the house above freezing? Everyone I know that has a summer home or a cabin does this and it cost them almost nothing to do it.

my advice
1. talk to a local tv technician
2. call the tv manufacture (good luck)
3. loan it to a neighbor
4. take it with you

what's to say? you already know it's too cold....

TVbc

Below 30-40 in Celsius is EXTREMELY COLD. If the house is left unheated, I can guarantee the house will get at least to below 1. Then surpassing the -4 mark.

Plus the television has to stay in those extreme cold conditions and left turned off for months, it's just not right to treat it like that :(

To add another suggestion does this house have a basement? If it does just take the tv down there and you will be fine. The depth of the basement will be below the frost line and there is absolutely no way in hell you would get to -4 in the basement.

many summer camps though aen't even insulated and most wouldn't have a basement.

You don't know anyone there that might store it for you maybe? How about a church or something?

To add another suggestion does this house have a basement? If it does just take the tv down there and you will be fine. The depth of the basement will be below the frost line and there is absolutely no way in hell you would get to -4 in the basement.

Correct me if I'm wrong but the theory about 'hot air rises and cold air falls' just popped out of my mind. You may notice that when there is no heating or air conditioning operating in your house, the rooms upstairs are slightly warmer than those downstairs, for one fact. So the basement may be colder than that of upstairs.

The other thing is, contrary to popular belief, Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) technology does not involve any sort of liquid whatsoever. They use some sort of microchips that allow light to go through, so there is not much worry to any kind of liquid that would freeze.
On the side note, this LCD technology has been used on many things other than televisions like calculators, car dashboards, laptops, and I'm sure people have had these items exposed to extreme weather.
But why risk having it get damaged and later find out that it's not warranted? For all things, temperature does play a role on the performance.

Well yeah hot air rises but the reason in the summer that your upstairs is warmer than downstairs is because in the ground you pretty much have a constant temperature of about 55 degrees. Why do you think people biuld earth homes that have no AC or heating? It is because the temperature is constant. Below the frost line in the winter you would have a constant temperature and there is no way it would get that cold. No way at all.

Below 30-40 in Celsius is EXTREMELY COLD. ......:(

it's not Celcius, it's upstate New York, so it's Fahrenheit.

BUT....-40*F actually equals -40*C

..... and that equals TFC



TVbc

LOL well there definitely a big difference between Fahrenheit and Celsius. I was thinking of celsius, sorry.

What do you mean, "BUT....-40*F actually equals -40*C ..... and that equals TFC" TVbc?

-40C is -40F. TFC = too effing cold.

Wow, -40*C does equal -40*F.

Too effin cold hahaha

Depending on how your house is built, how old it is, and exactly how cold it gets, some owners have to drain all their plumbing of water to prevent freeze over if you shut electricity off to your home, and sometimes even with electricity still on. This means, the interiors of that house drop at least to 0C, water's freezing point.

http://www.thecottagechronicles.com/2006/10/shutting-off-water-winter-is-coming.html

You could have an extreme cold spell and a power outage, and that will do the pipes in, even if you've never drained them.

If you were never told to do this, and you've lived there for sometime, and the pipes have never frozen, then this pipe test says your home interiors definitely stay above 0C regardless of the outside weather, and this gives the lower limit of ambient temp for your TV, so it will always still be in spec.

Otherwise, as uni_panther suggests, many interiors of homes, even in very cold temps, if kept close and with zero heat entering the home, tend to stay above freezing. But, it differs from home to home, you have to find out from your neighbors because I'd think you do not want to use your TV to find out exactly how cold it gets in your home when you are away.

http://www.redcross.org/services/disaster/0,1082,0_579_,00.html

If the interior of your home drops to 0C, it also means it can drop even lower since its not well insulated against outside temps. Thus, the story of the pipes. Just how low, I don't know. But if the pipes never freeze, then we know it doesn't drop under 0C.



Perhaps I wasn't clear on the situation - I have a summer home in the Adirondacks which we do not use in the winter. The temperature does go to 30 below zero in the winter months. This has nothing to do with our pipes. Please any advice on how to store an LCD in extreme temperatures would be greatly appreciated!

Outside temperature and the temperature inside your house are 2 different things. Even without having the heat on the inside of your house will not get that cold. We had a major power outtage 2 years ago here in Iowa in the middle of the winter. I went 4 days without power and while the outside temperature was well below 0 the lowest it got inside the house was 45 degrees. Unless you open up all your windows and leave the doors open I don't see how the inside of your house would get to -30. No matter how cold it is outside in the day when the sun is out and shining down your temp will rise. I have had days here in the winter where it was only 2 or 3 degrees out yet the snow still melts off the roof because of the sun.

Even though I think you will be fine since it is a summer home only I'm sure you get some type of utility break in the "off season" since you don't live there. You should get a major break on electrical/gas and since I doubt you completely cut the power off why wouldn't you at least keep the house above freezing? Everyone I know that has a summer home or a cabin does this and it cost them almost nothing to do it.

Sorry bro, that is incorrect. LCD do have a liquid, you can see it if you break the screen. The crystals in a solution change alignment when exposed to current and allow light to pass or not pass, thus the need for backlighting or a highly reflective rear screen, like in watches. When you fracture it, the black liquid will flow like water across the crack.

http://www.nokiatech.com/ekmps/shops/s3interactive/images/broken-lcd.jpg


Correct me if I'm wrong but the theory about 'hot air rises and cold air falls' just popped out of my mind. You may notice that when there is no heating or air conditioning operating in your house, the rooms upstairs are slightly warmer than those downstairs, for one fact. So the basement may be colder than that of upstairs.

The other thing is, contrary to popular belief, Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) technology does not involve any sort of liquid whatsoever. They use some sort of microchips that allow light to go through, so there is not much worry to any kind of liquid that would freeze.
On the side note, this LCD technology has been used on many things other than televisions like calculators, car dashboards, laptops, and I'm sure people have had these items exposed to extreme weather.
But why risk having it get damaged and later find out that it's not warranted? For all things, temperature does play a role on the performance.

Depending on how your house is built, how old it is, and exactly how cold it gets, some owners have to drain all their plumbing of water to prevent freeze over if you shut electricity off to your home, and sometimes even with electricity still on. This means, the interiors of that house drop at least to 0C, water's freezing point.

http://www.thecottagechronicles.com/2006/10/shutting-off-water-winter-is-coming.html

You could have an extreme cold spell and a power outage, and that will do the pipes in, even if you've never drained them.

If you were never told to do this, and you've lived there for sometime, and the pipes have never frozen, then this pipe test says your home interiors definitely stay above 0C regardless of the outside weather, and this gives the lower limit of ambient temp for your TV, so it will always still be in spec.

Otherwise, as uni_panther suggests, many interiors of homes, even in very cold temps, if kept close and with zero heat entering the home, tend to stay above freezing. But, it differs from home to home, you have to find out from your neighbors because I'd think you do not want to use your TV to find out exactly how cold it gets in your home when you are away.

http://www.redcross.org/services/disaster/0,1082,0_579_,00.html

If the interior of your home drops to 0C, it also means it can drop even lower since its not well insulated against outside temps. Thus, the story of the pipes. Just how low, I don't know. But if the pipes never freeze, then we know it doesn't drop under 0C.
Thanks for the input.
Trust me.......it goes way below zero inside the house.
To put the pipe thing to rest........We have the house proffesionaly winterized including force evacuating all the water from the pipes.
The house is 4500 sq ft, so leaving the heat on is an expensive alternative. The living room itself is over 600 sq ft so even heating just that room is going to cost a lot.
I was up here several years ago and in the middle of the day it was 10 below in the living room!!
We are going to call Sears and tell them to either take it back or put in writing that if it gets damaged they will take care of it......Since the TV manager told us that extreme cold won't be a problem.
Again, thanks for the input.

wow, if you can afford a 4500 sq ft summer place and paying for professional winterization, my advice is forget about it and buy a new one if it freezes because you can obviously afford it...:D

Figure out how to keep it warm or take it with you. How much simpler can the solution be?

Wrap the TV in an electric blanket...

Sorry to hear. You can put a small heating element on the TV itself to keep it at some minimum temp, but this works only so long as you can guarantee electricity to your home. But in severe cold, powerlines can go out for some time, as it did in upstate NY a few years ago. Otherwise, given the risk and warranty limits, I'd do as you say, return the TV or get a cold waiver.

Good luck.

Thanks for the input.
Trust me.......it goes way below zero inside the house.
To put the pipe thing to rest........We have the house proffesionaly winterized including force evacuating all the water from the pipes.
The house is 4500 sq ft, so leaving the heat on is an expensive alternative. The living room itself is over 600 sq ft so even heating just that room is going to cost a lot.
I was up here several years ago and in the middle of the day it was 10 below in the living room!!
We are going to call Sears and tell them to either take it back or put in writing that if it gets damaged they will take care of it......Since the TV manager told us that extreme cold won't be a problem.
Again, thanks for the input.

Or just buy an LCD from Sam's Club. They still have a "forever" return policy, like Costco used to.

If it freezes and breaks, no problem. Just return it back to Sam's and buy new one.

Problem solved!

return it. Get a projector and a screen. Leave the screen, take the relatively small projector.

"Ohh noes my summer home with spare lcd might get frozed! I have to much money, HELP!"...

snave8,

Time to leap in. I have the same concern, on a smaller scale, and haven't seen much in the way of solid advice elsewhere on the web. Same deal, all heat off, plumbing and all is winterised and drained back. Temperatures typically run between 12F/-11C to 0F/-18C. (-40F/-40C is rare but not impossible.)

I've been using a CRT TV and a satellite receiver with no PVR hard drive to worry about but would like to add a new HDTV this fall.

My general feeling is that nothing will happen but given the cost of the TV, it seems like a big risk if you run it out of its temperature limits.

I have used many LCDs in cold weather, but not having it exposed by itself to -40F. Simpler LCD are more robust, near 0C, the screen refuses to work, goes blank, gets too dark etc., but once thawed works like before. These are often B & W LCD which are simpler to make, like you'd find on a calculator and a watch. I know its exposed as I have them as displays in my car which is exposed at times far below 0C and does well once the interior of the car is warmed up.