Cold weather and Clocks?

[Bryan Prindle]

So,

How fast will these clocks run with this cold weather? I figure if the temperature drops another 20 or 30 degrees I could launch this clock off an aircraft carrier!

The minute hand is about to spin off the face!

Slow down!

Bryan

 

[Scottie-TX]

You really should bring your clocks inside during winter or inclement weather.

 

[Seth Thomas Fan]

If that's the case, how do big tower clocks keep accurate time from Summer to Winter? They weren't always in climate-controlled buildings! Maybe they had/have temperature-compensated pendulums and/or pendulum bobs.

 

[shutterbug]

How cold is it, and how fast is it running? What kind of movement?

 

[Tom Kloss]

IMHO


Tower clocks are regulated for temperature variations by, of all things, people that make the appropriate adjustments.

Tom

"Sometimes you really don't know if your being rewarded or punished"

 

[Bryan Prindle]

Originally posted by Tommy's Clocks:
Bryan, Cold in San Antonio?

12 BELOW zero yesterday morning!!!

fastTommy

Do your clocks still run at that temperature? That has got to be a nightmare to keep them regulated. Or do you just use the manual method (your finger)?

As to what kind of clock I have, they are wall and mantel clocks. They've gone from being very accurate to running anywhere from 1 to 2 minutes fast a day . About every two days I have to go around and reset everything. No wonder when electricity arrived on the scene everybody threw these things in the trash.

Yea, last night my electricity went off at 6:00 PM and my wife just reported it came on (off for 17 hours) for 20 minutes and then went back off again. Got a LITTLE nippy last night in the house.

I was wondering if all the clocks would be running this morning? Yep, they were all ticking (or should I say speeding) away this morning. That made me feel good.

Oh well, maybe I could invent and install a clock heater on all of them... I could be a millionaire! Naagh...

Anyway back to work...
Bryan

 

[harold bain]

Bryan, if you can invent a wind-up heater, you might have something
Harold

 

[clockdaddy]

Bryan,
I was thinking about your question and suddenly remembered how, in cold weather, hand tools, like sockets, become more brittle and often break when being used. The very same tools in the warmer months are so strong you can take a small sledge to them.
I know that temperature will affect the timing of a pendulum clock, but I don't know how much (whether it's a minute a day or 15 minutes).
My shop is cool winter and summer and clocks that I adjust invariably run slower when my customers take them home to where there's a 5 to 10 degree temperature difference.

 

[Cathy in Hawaii]

Brrr! Might be warmer if you stored your clocks in the refrigerator!

Remind me not to complain about the weather here.

 

[clockdaddy]

We'll remind you of that when it becomes typhoon season!

 

[FabRat28]

Well, there is the thermal expansion property of steel. If I recall, it's something like .0000065 inch per inch per degree Farenheit. I remember learning that back when I was a land surveyor. The 300' steel tape we used would expand or contract and we needed to figure that in. Also, sometimes, curvature of the Earth. This stuff gets important when you have to close a survey to less than 3/100 of a foot and a degree or so in several miles line distance.

I suppose that could affect the clock during large temperature swings. I'm sure the same kind of thing affects brass, but I haven't committed it's properties to memory.

My shop is only heated with a small space heater and is a fairly large shop, so I see cold temps out there in winter. I haven't noticed a difference when I bring the clocks into the warm house, but I haven't been looking for that small of a difference.

I'm at the point where I'm usually just very happy they keep ticking. :biggrin:

Plus, I must have latent obsessive/compulsive tendancies. I actually like fussing around with them. I guess I'd be dissappointed if they all just kept perfect time. It's almost like each one has it's own "timekeeping personality".

 

[Chris Radano]

Today on a service call, I entered the walk-in refrigeratior of one of my accounts to warm up after a stint outdoors

Now you know why northerners have to twist the regulating nuts on their clocks a couple times a year.

 

[shutterbug]

Bryan - move your clocks to an inside wall for starters. Do you see the irony in your little jab at manual clocks when without them you wouldn't have known how long the power was off? :biggrin:

 

[Kevin W.]

I heard a old saying, never place a clock on a out side wall in your home.I asumed they may have thought it was harmful to the clock.
Some of my clocks speed up in the winter as my home is kept cool.My Mauthe wall clock does not gain or loose much time in all seasons.

 

[harold bain]

My Korean wall clock keeps ticking all winter in my unheated cottage :biggrin: :biggrin:. Keeps the mice company when I'm not there. Only stops when I don't get up there in time to wind it.
Harold