Ever reschedule a customer because it's TOO hot?

Window AC units use less power than you might think. Mine is a 5000 BTU unit and it uses only 4 amps. That's less than a third of what a air dryer uses. Yours might use more since it looks bigger, but if your circuit is 30A, you should be fine. The freezer won't use more than 15A so you have plenty of room for other items.
 
001jigsaw said:
Thanks fellas, glad to see I'm not the only one. I was expecting a lot more "Man up!" responses :laughing:

I'm only 24, but I'm recently learning how to properly deal with hypoglycemia, so Don - I definitely know what it feels like when blood glucose drops that low. The garage isn't mine, it's a family member's that lives next door, and he has some work equipment in there as well. Maybe I can convince someone to help me carry our portable A/C from the basement to the garage.. then I have to convince him to let me use it in there. Stubborn family members!

The customer is dropping it off soon, and wants me to decide whether it only needs a Wash, Clay, AIO + Seal, or if it needs compounding as well. Boy, for once I'm hoping it needs less LOL. Either way, I have several ice packs in the freezer, plenty of water bottles to put in a cooler, and I found one of those "cool" towels that you can keep around your neck, so I have a big ice pack that I'm going to throw in a bucket of water so I have an ice cold source to re-wet the towel in. I'm going to go grab some more Gatorade's. Now it's just the matter of listening to myself and YOU guys, and restrain from pushing myself to finish the job. I'm awful with that as well!
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Anyone who has been affected by heat will know better than to tell you to man up. And mobile detailers are very likely candidates for it since we are working very hard in sometimes insane conditions.
 
I don't detail for a living, but I work outdoors and I detail my car on weekends at home. We are in the middle of the hottest week of the year, with temperatures in the mid 90's and the humidity making it feel as if it's over 100 degrees. My advice is to do anything strenuous early, and if you can't work in a garage that 's air conditioned, think of some way where you can do it without risking your life. This heat is brutal, and regardless of your age or physical condition you can die if you over exert yourself in this type of weather. Every year at this time you hear of football players dying because some fool thinks they should "man up", and deal with the conditions. You're doing this job so you can live, not so you can die.
 
Guys I also install commercial audio systems like those you find in a church, stadium, school etc. This often means working at ceiling levels for extended periods of time where the temp is easily 20-30 degrees warmer than floor/ground level. Other times it means being up 40 feet outdoors on a Genie lift in the scortching heat - and once while installing speakers up on a pole, my hands clamped shut and would not open. I past dehydration unknowingly long before that, ignoring the signs, and now I was up 40 feet unable to operate the controls to get down. But that was an extreme situation granted, as hanging 80 pound speakers high up on poles isn't easy let alone in 95 degree weather.

But I digress. With regards to the detail job, you also don't want to compromise the quality of your work by rushing the job because of the heat. If possible do part of the job in the morning, say 7 am to 10 am, and then the rest from 6 pm to 8 pm. Provided this is enough time for what you plan.

ScottH
 
Since I'm not a professional detailer and thus don't have customers, I can't say I've ever rescheduled a customer due to heat...

... but I CAN say that I've put off doing my own detailing due to heat. I've been doing it this summer. Living in Phoenix, we regularly get over 100F, and so far this summer, we've hit 120F. I had a long key-induced scratch on the passenger door that I put off for months, but finally got to when the high was "only 98F".. and after doing that, I was dripping with sweat. The front of the car is covered with hood rash chips in the paint, and there are little chips and nicks here and there all over the car, that I want to do.. but there's no way I'll be getting to them until it starts really cooling down, so probably not until September. I just don't have a cooled garage.

I've thought about putting an A/C unit in the garage so I CAN work on the car in summer, but in all honesty, I'm not sure how much I'd use it. If I was a pro detailer, I'd definitely put one in.

I get what you're saying though. When it's that hot (and in your case, humid), you just lose all the energy to do a detail. Never mind that it's easy to screw up a good detail job by sweating all over the paint.
 
I know what you mean about the heat. I am a plumber and worked 20 years in the field new construction before going in the office 10 years ago. I also played travel softball tournys for 20 plus years and dealt with some terrible heat health issues a few times. The one thing that you must do is stay hydrated no matter what, little old school secret is pickle juice and cool rag on back of neck and wrist.
 
I washed, dried, and wiped down the wheels on 8 dealer cars today on a blacktop lot. The temperature was 89 and the weather man said it felt like 96. He joked that the humidity was off the charts
 
I detail in all weather no matter the heat. I used to work doing drywall in 108°+ weather and no guessing what it was in the skylights. I no longer am mobile (thank god) and can control my work temp to a degree (fans etc, no AC)
 
OP, I agree with you that some times it's unbearable to work when it gets this hot and humid. I have lived in Illinois Chicago area since 1999 and the summers here can be nasty. It's not the heat that gets you, it the heat combined with the humidity. The key is to keep alot of fans running, stay in the shade, drink lots of cool water. If you have the luxury of installing an A/C unit, that would be ideal but most shops (including ours) doesn't have that. Some days you feel like dying. I don't think we ever cancelled a job (paint correction, etc.) due to heat, but I remember years ago we could not Opti-Coat (Pro) a jet black SUV because we had no fans or A/C and it was this time of year. Customer was pretty patient with us, but it's definitely an inconvenience to have to keep a car for several days for both us, because it limits shop space, and the customer who doesn't have a car.
 
Real Riders said:
I washed, dried, and wiped down the wheels on 8 dealer cars today on a blacktop lot. The temperature was 89 and the weather man said it felt like 96. He joked that the humidity was off the charts
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I'm glad you made it! That would've been a nightmare for me.

Glad to report that I got the garage down to about 75*, and also that the A8L fit in the garage.. by 3 inches LOL. Interior is almost completely done. We decided to go with a wash, clay, AIO & seal - so that won't be too bad at all. I refused to touch the outside until I get it out in the sun to take before pictures, they're gonna be drastic. Poor car doesn't look like it's been washed in years.

I listened to you guys though, and put my inside macho voice aside for once. Got the A/C in there, (thank you Richy), had water, gatorade, and snacks in there with me, and I had the cool towel around my neck. best part about that is the freezer being in there - once the towel starts to get warm, I throw it in the freezer for 5 minutes! After each area that I finished, I got out of the car, had a drink and a bit to eat and then got back to it. Thanks for that guys!

I'd have to say, if a garage isn't an option, DEFINITELY either work early in the morning (5AM when it has cooled off the most from the previous day's sun), work later in the evening, or find shade - any shade. I wouldn't hesitate to park it under a tree down the block if that were my only option.

Be safe guys. I'm glad I took the advice on taking breaks more often. Oh, and I'll have a thread up once the car is finished!
 
Use a cooling neck towel, worked well when I was in the Philippines!!! Now that's hot and humid.
 
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