Probably.

Are you storing them in the garage? Or do you have them set up in there?

Also, how cold are we talking about here?

Wood does shrink with lower temperatures... Plastics become much more fragile.

I wouldn't recommend it..

Reg
Matt

If painted backglasses, it will do a lot of damage to them.

LTG : )

This depends entirely on where you live.

Makes me wonder… I’ve got a machine where the old solder connections fall off at the slightest touch. Cold that be caused by being too cold? [insert cold solder joke here]

In this area? Get them inside!

I had the same question when I bought my Rick and Morty with butter cab. It was delivered to me in the dead of Winter in Michigan. I asked spooky about it and they said just as long as its not wet its fine. I had it in my garage until I could get it to it in the Spring, hell no was I shoveling. All is fine! I havent' had a single issue and is unboxed perfectly with the rest of my collection

Completely anecdotal, but about a decade ago, I stored a couple Gottlieb wedgeheads (with unsealed backglasses) in my garage through the winter here in the northeast. No issues that I could see. No insert problems and no backglass issues.

I don’t think it’s the super hot or super cold that causes problems, but instead a rapid change in temperature.

So, storing them is likely fine, but if they’re set up and you flick one on to play in the dead of winter, the sudden warmth of the bulbs behind the glass and inserts will likely cause problems.

Taken from a modern game.

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Bring them inside. The wood will plank and the art likes to crack. Depending on the era, but 70s 80s? I wouldn’t leave them out. Especially if your gonna play them!

Humidity is worse than cold. Avoid cold if you can. Back when MM was a $4000 game I played one in an uncontrolled garage about -40 and never had problems but that’s not to say it wouldn’t happen again.

Take the backglass out for sure. I have several games in my garage because they stink. I’ll plan to have them out before springtime since all that humidity will start to do damage.

I have some games that have sat in barns for 2+ years and it shows. They still look good cosmetically but hardware starts to film over.

Not really. Even some electronics in military aircraft are in environments that aren't conditioned. I'd be more worried about any condensation causing rust more than anything else electrical. But the modern electronics might not be rated to work at extreme temps.

An interesting tidbit tho: There is one thing that can make a difference in more modern equipment - the 'coefficient of thermal expansion' (a fancy way of saying how a part can expand or contract over temp). Depending on the parts, temperature can make a difference (the mechanical engineers at my place of employment dealt with that, not the electrical). We typically try to make sure everything had approximately the same coefficient, or if not, provide thermal stress relief (for example a bend in a lead). This became more important with surface mounted parts since there's less places to provide stress relief.

This.

I'm in Upstate N.Y.
I'm not sure how many, but well over 100 I've had 60s and 70s machines stored for many years (some 20 yrs. plus)
in more less a garage type atmosphere, and recently start setting some up, and no problems what so ever.
However, like already mentioned, if any of their backglasses are sealed (sprayed), you most certainly will want to keep
them out of the cold.

Not likely. Most manufacturers used to use solder that included flux. Flux is intentionally very acidic. Designed to clean the contacts/ wires before the solder sticks. Unfortunately not all the flux evaporates. Flux is great for short term, but not 20 or 30 years later. Blame it on old residual flux.

I now remember you mentioning this before. I have a F.F. set up and all went fine,
but another I went through (that I traded) I could use the exact same words as you
to describe the experience. I had another head that I used for that machine, and still
have that ones head. It wouldn't totally surprise me if that head's serial number is close
to the machine's serial number that you have..

I’m with Mopar- this was bad solder or something at the factory. I’m relatively new at this point, but have only seen it on one machine. Mopar has had two of the same machine and one was just like mine. But I thought cold was an interesting possible cause to ask about.

Besides I’m gonna keep bitchin about it until the machine is done and closed up!

Cold weather is low humidity weather. However, electronics might be an issue in frigid weather.

These guys didnt fair so well.

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Yeah, so many old timer EM collectors years ago had 50+ pins stacked 3 or 4 high in garages for years on end. Backglasses *could* be a concern, but I don't think the mechanics are. I have a bunch of EMs out in the cold part of my basement as well right now, but wrapped in blankets and plastic wrap. Should be fine.

Be careful w/the plastic wrap - you can trap moisture in there. Might want to have at least a couple of small openings to let it breath.

As long as the temperature doesn't fluctuate to much they will be fine for the time being. If the temperature goes from cold to hot that will cause more expansion and contraction which will leads to planking, cracking, etc.

I was going to mention that aspect too, based on moving a pin once that was really wrapped well. Thankfully, no issues, but that sure was a wake-up that caught me off guard.

It's mainly about temperature change and moisture combined. If you store a game at -20C and it slowly gets down to that temp, it will most likely be fine, especially if it's in a box. When you bring it up to temp, I'd do so as slowly as possible. Bring it into a cold porch or something for a day, then into the house for another day, then let it sit unboxed for a day. This will stop the cold surfaces from pulling the moisture out of the air.

If it's just wrapped, I wouldn't let it get past -5C because it will be more difficult to slow the retemp time. This is the same with electronics that are sensitive to small amounts of moisture.

I recently moved to Southern ID. Cold winters, but not crazy cold. I have 7 nice pins in a well-insulated garage. Humidity is fairly low. Zero problems so far with avg garage temps of 60F-75F. Quite comfortable except for during hot and cold spells which push the temp range into the 50s and 80s. I am installing a mini split tomorrow to correct that. HOWEVER, we plan to start parking cars in the garage soon and there will be large temp swings when we open the garage door for entry/exit, particularly in the middle of winter. The mini split will bring the temp back up slower than a high BTU gas-fired heater, but I am still concerned about the sudden temperature drops from using the garage door. Does this sound like a problem? Does anyone else in a freezing climate have both pins and cars in their garage? I am hoping it will be a non-issue due to the garage door being open for relatively short amount of time, with stored items retaining heat. I guess I'm about to find out.

I would think that a combination of high moisture/humidity followed by freezing temperatures would be very destructive

Let's just say there's a reason there aren't many places to play pinball in Antarctica.

What’s with all the waterjet business is what I want to know??? Who’s thought of cleaning their pin with a water jet, but luckily read these guidelines and opted against it? Lol

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I know of one.
You might want to bring a flame thrower with you though.

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Take the backglasses out and store them inside.

That’s either some standard verbiage for some requirement, or put there by the legal team for liability. Maybe some filed a claim at some point after spraying down a pin? I’m sure stern or any company could tell horror stories about what people do to products in the wild.

My experience has been mainly the backglass has issues. I had a Firepower a couple yrs ago and sold it to the guy down the street. He had it in his garage that was insulated but not heated except for the weekends while they were out there. The backglass was pretty good but after the first yr being out in the garage, I went to do some board work on it the following spring and when i lifted the backglass and grabbed the sides, the silkscreen just flacked off in my hands. I felt horrible. To be fair I did warn him that its best to try to keep them warm. We did the best we could to salvage what was there and then cleared the rest to prevent further damage.

Didn't they have a rec room with a Heat Wave pin in The Thing?

If at all possible bring them inside. Its the BEST option. If its not feasible then don't sweat it. Keep them dry. Extreme temperature swings are the problem. Don't power them on until warmed up for 24 hours. Condensation is the enemy. And you get lots of it when you turn on a machine if cold. Electronics don't like it and neither does your backglass, playfield or cabinet.

Most games we have played have been stored in non-temperature controlled environments. That 8k AF. The $75 EM. And the newest JJ/Stern. If it was kept dry, they pulled the machine out of storage, let it warm up and did the norm before selling it to you and everyone else.

Also while we are on the topic, most games prior to 2000 probably saw the back of a pickup truck, lift gate or trailer while it was raining. FACT.

We baby the shit out of these machines like they were meant for our living rooms. New Sterns are getting closer to that reality.

Sadly, that line likely had to be added from someone actually doing that, and as a result of a judgment, they were forced to add that into their document. Some bubba (and his probono lawyer) somewhere sued since it did not say NOT TO do that.
Did you ever notice drive through coffee cups from some many years back never had "CAUTION, CONTENTS MAY BE HOT".
Yea, no shit, I'm ordering coffee! We all live in a freaking dream world now.

Sorry, rant over.
We now return to your regularly scheduled programming.

Can you put up an insulated 'curtain' barrier to help hold in the heat by the pins when the overhead door opens? Keep it open during decent weather, slide it shut during cold weather.

In Chicago, cold with snow and freezing rain equals awful humidity.

There was a nice article in GameRoom magazine about lowering humidity inside of EM machines in a garage. Basically add a porcelain bulb socket in each lower cabinet near the back. Install a 60 watt, old school incandescent (not CFL, not LED) bulb and connect to a timer. Run for aboot 2 hours every day.

so crazy. But there's a lot of ways to clean something potentially.. Sometimes like to deepclean with a blowtorch .. can I sue when it catches my game on fire?

Yup, just so long as the instructions do not say specifically not to!
We've lost all sense of common sense, apparently it is not so common these days.

Too much flux in solder would make it bad solder.

'The flux chosen for the selective soldering process has a direct and significant impact on solder joint quality, *long-term reliability* and overall soldering performance.'

http://www.us-tech.com/RelId/1707959/ISvars/default/In_and_Out_of_Flux_Choosing_the_Right_Flux_for_Selective_Soldering.htm

always had at least 1 game set up in my garage, usually a couple. left them out all winter for the last 10-12 yrs. Only issue i had was woz backglass peeled in a tiny spot. Just don't turn them on when they are cold and been exposed in temps below 40 or so. Like LTG said, id bring in the backglasses.