Heated or Non-Heated Storage?

[RockfromVT]

I have a Kubota BX-25 I recently purchased and was wondering if I should continue to keep it in my heated Shop or leave it outside (car port) plugged in? My concern is condensation. I'm afraid if I bring it out in the cold to snow blow the driveway that the change in temp will cause condensation in the hydraulic tank and possibly cause issues. Any thoughts on this?

 

[MikeInEburg]

I would vote for non-heated, mostly because it's a tractor and doesn't need to be kept warm at night. Waste of heated space. Under cover is a good idea...
Mike

 

[Youare]

If I had a space that I was normally heating in which there was room for the tractor I would keep it there. However, undercover in an unheated space is good too. I keep my Kubota in my unheated barn all year round, I think in 7 years it has spent less than 5 nights outside.

When it is cold I plug in the block heater for an hour or so before starting. I also leave it run for 5 minutes or so at an around 1100 RPM just to let things warm a bit. I leave two doors open so the exhaust is never a problem.

Randy

 

[RockfromVT]

Thanks Randy & Mike for the quick replies. I'll just keep it under cover in an unheated area then. That will give me more room in my Shop. It's too small as it is.

 

[irvingj]

Outside, no heat, under cover. Block heater when it's really cold. No problems.

 

[RockfromVT]

Short, Sweet & Simple. Gotta love it. Sounds good. Thanks,

 

[smfcpacfp]

I agree with irvingj also, at least that is what I have done. I am not sure what he means by really cold, but I use the block heater when it is below freezing for a while (minimum 30 minutes) and longer as it gets colder. I think the coldest it has been when I used it was - 20F and I left the block heater on for a couple of hours.

Being retired, I can wait for the temperature to rise if it really cold. One thing that did happen after a really cold spell was that the liquid in the rear tires froze a little and the tires were flat spotted for a while. I left it out on a sunny day with the tires getting good sun exposure and the problem went away.

 

[KubotaSam]

The manual for my snow blower states that if you keep it in a heated space when you bring the blower outside the snow will melt on the warm metal. As the metal cools it will ice up and cause problems. I am not sure if this is true because up until this year I have never had a heated space to keep my tractor in.

 

[smfcpacfp]

The manual for my snow blower states that if you keep it in a heated space when you bring the blower outside the snow will melt on the warm metal. As the metal cools it will ice up and cause problems. I am not sure if this is true because up until this year I have never had a heated space to keep my tractor in.

That is a good point and it would probably freeze at the bottom. But parts of the blower get hot enough when running to melt some snow in any event.

 

[RockfromVT]

Up until I bought my Kubota, I had a Toro 17hp with a Bercomac 42" Dual Stage Blower on it. I would keep it in my Shop (heated) and after each use, bring it back in and all the ice and snow would melt and it would be totally dry and ready for the next use. I left it out 1 time after use and the next time I got on it and activated the PTO, it sheared the pin from ice down inside the chute that I couldn't see without looking down it. That's all I know about that is for 10 years I kept it in a heated Shop and it worked great and never sheared another pin. If you were to use a space heater or put it in a heated area until dry and then move it back to the cold, I can't imagine ever having any problems with it.