Certainly not ideal, really need a dining room?

Depends on the garage.

I would say the heat during the summer and cold during the winter, along with precip in the air - would not be good for pins. Also if your dryer vents into the garage - even worse. I think you would see things like planking, corrosion, delamination, etc.

You would need to have it temperature controlled and humidity controlled.

It is fine...People are too paranoid about games. ITS A TOY.....If this is what it takes to enjoy more games do it....Way better then them being throw away because nobody wants them. I have done it for 17 years now. No problem. The only thing I do is when it gets cold I put my backglassses inside in a box I made.

" I have done it for 17 Years . " says a guy in Texas . I would never do that in Michigan ! So - jonharvey123 because you never filled out your location we have no way to advise you .

Even with location known it doesnt really matter. Pins were made for indoor use and you risk issues without environmental control like wood planking. Can you do it and not have any issues? Sure. Can you do it and eventually have issues? Yup

Its just added risk..

The simple answer is "You can, but you shouldn't."

lol! Now we are going to have to differentiate between HUO and HUO/garage

Hey John
I live in southern Indiana It depends on your garage. My garage=another room due to how well insulated it is.
I have a double side steel insulated garage door.I cut in a aux. vent on bonus room feed so I can keep temps stable

Don't do it.

Your playfields will plank, your backglasses will flake, your cabs will get raised grain.

You are going to need this $400:

http://www.menards.com/main/heating-cooling/gas-kerosene-heaters/garage-heaters-and-accessories/vented/45-000-btu-direct-vent-garage-heater/p-2189170-c-6865.htm

6350002.jpg

Contact Rob Craig from the silverball podcast. He lives in southern illinois (which still has big temperature swings), and he has a remote building that's somewhat temperature controlled. I believe he uses a hotel heater, which is very efficient. Even if you set it at 40-50F, it shouldn't draw that much power. To keep heating to a minimum, I would attempt to block off a section of the garage so you're not heating the ENTIRE garage, and make sure you insulate it.

What he said....

If you live in Southern California: YES

If you live anywhere else on the effin' Planet: NO!

Socal is probably the only place you can have arcades and pinball in the garage and not worry too much about the elements ruining your games because of the mild weather we have. Nothing beats a nice dedicated gameroom tho.

Mediterranean Europe might possibly be the only other place to do a safe garage gameroom, but I don't think anyone of us live there to know, LOL.

I definitely wouldn't recommend keeping pins in the garage if you live in Death Valley! d

Parts of Norcal are fine too. See the map at the link below to see exactly where it's safe to keep pins in the garage.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_climate

Certainly not em's-for playability reasons. Switches will expand and contract with only a few degrees and cause you headaches.

Even in San diego, I'd be hesitatant about summer in my garage cause it gets pretty hot in my uninsulated/ open rafter garagem . but I think just putting in a ceiling w/ insulation would make it fine.. Heck that's what the rest of my house is (no wall insulation anywhere).

I was told by a local professional arcade/pinball technician that I shouldn't have kept a pinball machine, which I just transported after purchase in my van (parked outdoors in freezing temps), for four days this past winter due to the need to clear snow and ice in my way to the basement.

I would only keep the machine in a climate controlled room with limited exposure to excessive humidity. I also wouldn't allow a cat to climb on or inside my machines.

Here is video of someone putting together a new video arcade in his garage who lives in San Diego I believe. It's all where you live. That map phishrace posted is an excellent resource.

I think the answer is pretty clear if you ask the question this way. Would it be comfortable for you to play a pin in your garage at those temps on either end of the spectrum. If you need to put on a light sweater or go down to shorts and its comfortable, then you're pins are fine. If you have to suit up in a winter parka or have an ice pack on your head then its probably not a good idea.

^^^^ Exactly.

Is your garage like all the other rooms in your house - comfortable to go into without having to add extra layers to stay "room temperature" ?

Yes, well put.

My garage is my man cave, so the big garage door has been insulated and i installed a split A/C unit for temp/humidity control. My garage stays about 70F year round. The walls have also been properly insulated and finished.

The concrete floor was sealed to prevent moisture from seeping up through the concrete as well.

The only reason I didn't remove the garage door and just wall it off was for resale eventually.

Just don't ever put a BBB in the garage!

Too soon..

Not if you have glass back glasses due to temperature changes causing flaking

Otherwise
Insulate the garage doors

strap your water heater to the wall and run a hose from the over flow to a door etc
Incase your water heater takes a dump

What temperature should a heat controlled garage with pins in it be kept at?

I keep mine at 55 during the winter.

You would think just like any other gameroom: 60 > 90

Okay thanks for the advice. I've been keeping mine around 60 so I'm glad to know that it's doing fine at that.

Bad idea. We left our ac off during the summer in our apt and I had a game start to plank after a few months. Since then always had the ac/heat on to keep things in check.

I also live in Indiana and have a well insulated garage but would never keep games out there without heat/air!

I see were you went with that. Nice!!!

I live in So Cal and have dual pane windows, insulated door, insulated walls and ceiling and used electric heating in the winter.
I am in the San Bernardino Mountains with extreme temp changes in the winter, it can go from 60 to 17 deg. in a day.
There are also places in the desert that the temps can warp plastics and ramps.
Not all of Ca. has ideal weather for pins in garages.

Yea , The DFW area is pretty mild on pins for sure. Not a deep cold winter (very little freeze if any), and not a lot of humidity during the summer. North Texas is just not an issue. I think Michigan is another issue like you said.

Quite a few of us in N. Ca with games in their garages. No issues.

Just some food for thought (I hope my math is correct on this):

If you figure a pinball (hinged down and wrapped up) is about 2ftx2ftx4ft, and you wanted to calculate what it costs "per pin" to keep warm, and assuming you're in the midwest where it can easily get down to zero F (so you need a 70 degree temperature rise), that's about 1,000 BTU's, or 300 watts of energy. That means if you were to heat it by an electric heater (and built an insulated box for the purposes of a temperature controlled storage), at 12 cents/kwatt, it would cost you approximately 72 cents per day, or $21/month extra per pin.

My math seems fairly accurate, because this 5,000 BTU heater (which would heat 5 pins) uses 1500 watts of power, which would cost $4.32 /day:
http://www.lowes.com/pd_210641-24099-5622_0__?productId=3468413&cm_mmc=SCE_PLA-_-SeasonalLiving-_-PortableHeat-_-3468413&CAWELAID=1023718898&kpid=3468413&CAGPSPN=pla&k_clickID=07bbdca6-f60a-09a8-da5f-000031527b46&kpid=3468413

I would assume half that cost if you went the gas route.

These reptile heaters are 17 and 34 watts:

http://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-ReptiTherm%C2%AE-Under-Heater/dp/B0002AQCLO

They could provide an even heat when placed INSIDE the cabinet.

I maintain a few pins at a biker clubhouse that turns the heat down during the week, and I've used these herp heaters with good luck (so far at least).

Inland Orange County seems ideal. Never too cold or moist. But those Santa Ana winds sure can blow up a lot of crap in the air. That's when it is time to batten down the hatches. Oh yeah, I have 12 machines in the garage. And they like it.

My gameroom is 63 degrees today. I can't even imagine what the garage is. I try to not let the game room go below 50 but I'm sure it happens some winter nights. The only thing I worry about is the one backglass I have, and I try not to play them when they're cold, but otherwise, seems fine.

I like the idea that the pins are ok if you can comfortably play them wearing normal clothes.

Changing temps and changing humidity is the killer.

You could just leave the games on all the time, that costs about $4 a month per game.

When customer's basements flood, I always tell them to leave their games on a few months to keep mold from growing.

Hmmm
My pins are in a cabin outside, em the walls are 44mm thick, with 50mm insulation and plasterboard.
Ceiling is 12mm wood with roofing felt no insultaion.

And I have a BBB in there image.jpg

The temp drops to 9 degrees in winter and topped out at 40 degrees in Summer time, have been in there a year this week actually!

I have 2 4KW electric radiators in there that keeps it at around 10 degrees. Not had any problems.

Should I be worried!

Humidity is the #1 issue when storing games as it causes all kinds of issues with the metal and wood, can be solved with a dehumidifier. Extreme heat/cold fall a close second for which I like the following advice:

I've had over a dozen pins in my garage for over 3 years now...never have had any problems.

The garage is insulated and dry walled. It also has ac and heat. I keep a de-humidifier running at all times.

Sounds like you turned your garage into a house!