A dear friend has bought her husband a very nice LCD TV and has asked if she might store it in my garage until Christmas. She has asked if cold temperatures will harm the “liquid” in the Liquid Crystal Display. I started to respond in the negative, suggesting that I’ve had an outdoor thermometer for years with an LCD that works just fine, but then I thought better of it - that thermometer display is about 2" and may be slightly different in design, composition and function than this 46" monster lurking in my garage. Since I love these friends dearly, and since I some day hope to actually watch this TV, and since I would prefer not to feel obliged to help replace it if it does indeed suffer some damage from the temperatures it will be exposed to in my garage, I figured I had better take this inquiry to the highest source in my arsenal of knowledge. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
PS: Temperatures around here typically drop into the high 20’s at night and rise back into the mid-50’s during the day. I don’t have a thermometer in the garage, but it sits on a concrete slab, is finished with tape & textured sheet rock on the ceiling and three walls, has two south-facing metal bay doors on the fourth, and has a second-story storage area with fiberglass batting insulation between the rafters. The TV is in its original packing box and is resting on two 2x4’s keeping it off the concrete floor.
I’d be more worried about strains due to differential expansion due to rapid temperature swings myself. One hopes that the manufacturer took that into account…
Expanding on Sunspace’s comment: Make sure the TV is under the tree in plenty of time to warm to room temperature before it’s unwrapped and plugged in. This may be less crucial with an LCD TV than a traditional one with a big glass tube (glass really doesn’t like temperature swings), but at least it will ensure any condensation in or on the TV dries out before electricity is added to the mix.
The box, which occupies the space formerly devoted to my old friend, Datsun 280-Z, says “Samsung LT-P468W” on its considerably large side. I’ve since looked it up to find the specs for that particular unit, and I almost fell over when I saw how much this baby costs! I’ve installed a thermostatically controlled electric heater now in the garage, set low enough to keep me out of the poor house, but high enough to keep the frost away. I also threw a couple of mechanic’s blankets over the box, half to keep the chill off, and half to save me from temptation…
I’m thinking that the electric heater I mentioned above, my friend’s heated Ram Van, and our unseasonably mild temperatures (so far) should mitigate these concerns. I also hung a small thermometer on the side of the box, and this morning it read 41° F. The heater was slightly warm to the touch, so it had come on during the night. I’m beginning to feel like an expectant hen, fussing around a gigantic incubator.
Beats me, too, but frankly, I don’t know the difference, so it never occurred to me to ask! I still watch a three-year old 36’ Sony CRT-style TV that took four grown men to haul into my living room. I swore at the time that I would burn the house down before buying another damned TV, unless it came with its own forklift. Something tells me, however, that this brush with greatness may signal new and exciting things around here, if not this year, maybe next… post-season shopping and all that.
My friend did mention that it took her “forever” to find this TV for her husband (the luckiest guy in this neck of the woods!), so maybe her choice had more to do with availability than selection. She shopped in Phoenix, which, while being the largest city within a 600-mile radius, might not have the variety or stock-on-hand that one might find in, say, Los Angeles, San Diego or even Denver.
I can think of several reasons. LCD’s have no burn in. They’re lighter (a consideration when wall hanging), use less power, and typically have a longer life. They’re also less fragile.