Tire heater box

First time my new tires came in a box.
Ideally this should be an insulated sheet metal box but to try this out I’m fixing to find out.

I will be keeping an eye on it while I start my wheel removals.

Outside temps not too bad today 55 and rainy.

That's a good idea; it beats having to wait until spring for a tire change. What size heater is that?

Unless the space heater has the potential of getting the inside of the box to over 451 degrees, and there's nothing in the box that can combust at a lower temperature than that, I don't know that it is a fire hazard. A space heater than can generate even 150 degrees would be too hazardous to use around people, since you can get a third degree burn from just two seconds of exposure to that heat. The box obviously isn't sealed, so heat can certainly escape from it. I would say that lining the box with foil might make it more of a hazard, since foil is going to reflect heat back into the box. Whether or not that would be enough to get the temperature up to 451 degrees would depend on the heat source. The small one I have (which looks to be about the same dimensions as Richarddacats's) probably couldn't get that box up to more than 80 degrees. There's always the chance that the cardboard would somehow come in contact with the heating coil in the space heater, but that's kind of a remote chance.

You could always jam a digital thermometer through the side of the box, if you wanted to make 100 percent sure.

Ah, you're probably right Fennellg, and I didn't think it through. I was curious whether or not a space heater like that was capable of getting hot enough to set paper on fire, but I shouldn't have rendered an uninformed opinion without a little bit of research first. It may be safe and it may not, and I don't really know.

The rear is on, the rear is always a bitch.
A warm new tire definitely helped, getting the cold tire off not so much.

Front tire is still cooking while I eat lunch.

No threat of a fire hazard, this heater I’m using is thermostatically controlled, even all the way on high it shuts off periodically.
Thought about the foil but it’s working pretty good as is, nothing too hot to touch except the heater itself.

I look ever-so-often on eBay/CL for an actual tire heater used by racers but they never seem to come up for sale. That would be the ticket right there.

I tried the "hair dryer inside the tire" method once, but I think the hair dryer housing was in greater danger of softening from the circulating heat before any noticeable difference was made in the tire's flexibility.

My space heater also has that feature, where it shuts the coils off if the unit reaches a certain temperature (or if it falls over). If you do have a thermometer, and the box is still warming, I'd be curious if you could take a temperature reading both where the heater connects to the box and someplace furthest away from the heater.

Front done.

78 degrees in the box.

LOL, I guess I was almost on the money when I said no more than 80 degrees.

Ahhhh….our air temp is 74, and the sun is bright.

So, Richarddacat, did you get the second one on? Did anything catch fire?

Pretty slick idea Richard!! Good on you for thinking "inside the box"!! LOL

RCinNC said:

So, Richarddacat, did you get the second one on? Did anything catch fire?

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I did not have to call the fire department so everything’s cool. I did realize later that the cabinet behind the box holds all my spray paint and chemicals.

Scuffing my new tires in now, stopped for a bite at Subway.
Mounted TCK70’s, feel great and getting a rebate too. 6500 miles on the stock Battlewings.

I still like the idea. I'd never leave it unattended, but then again, I'd have never left a space heater unattended even before this thread. Maybe I'll replace your one cardboard box with a piece of metal dryer vent I have laying around.

You know, if you had an old clothes dryer, ahh, tires are probably too big.

richarddacat said:

You know, if you had an old clothes dryer, ahh, tires are probably too big.

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But, if you put the exhaust vent hose blowing into the cardboard box....

I just throw them in the passenger seat [ floor ] of the car , truck and turn the heater on high. Works good for me, softens them up in no time. Sure beats the box-heater looking contraption. Didn't know we had rednecks on this site. No offense but that looks a lot like a monkey f**king a football.

You haven't lived till you changed knobbies in a cold barn with flat head screw drivers. And pinched the sht out of the tube.

Move to a sunny and warm state.

If it's too cold to change a tire it's probably too cold for most to ride anyway so why bother? LOL
I like 12 month a year riding.

I take mine in the sauna with me, and we share a bottle of wine. The smell of hot rubber in the sauna really does make one miss the front row seats at the local race track.