Keeping LEGO bricks happy...

[WhiteHexagon]

I know they are shy about sunlight, and as we recently discussed, being stored in a stacked fashion. But how temperature sensitive are they? I'm not talking about sunblock for them, but rather will they need woolly jumpers in winter? eg is -30c going to be an issue? I'm thinking outdoor garage in Canada mid winter here...

[Buttons]

I am not sure but I don't think that it will affect the parts but how abot you conduct a little test envolving mabey a freezer and some of your parts that hold a grudge against you for some reason

[brickzone]

Fortunately for Irish AFOLs, I don't think Lego is affected by dampness!

There's a possibility I may be moving some Lego to an outdoor shed, but the temperature is unlikely to range anything beyond -5C to 25C.

[CP5670]

High temperatures will reduce the gripping strength of bricks if they're left attached for a long time, but I haven't heard of anything with colder environments. Although the kind of temperatures you're talking about seem a bit extreme (by my standards anyway ) and it may become an issue.

Edited November 9, 2008 by CP5670

[JimBee]

For a short time, I think it's okay to keep Lego out in the cold, but in the conditions you're talking about, the plastic might break, even TLG's high-quality plastic. I'd keep your minifigs and small pieces inside if you really have to keep your bricks out in the cold.

[WhiteHexagon]

hmm I have a few fleshies I could throw in the freezer It's only -20c, but might be a good test. Thanks all for the feedback!

[Dadster]

Fortunately for Irish AFOLs, I don't think Lego is affected by dampness!

There's a possibility I may be moving some Lego to an outdoor shed, but the temperature is unlikely to range anything beyond -5C to 25C.

I'd worry about possible mold growth and/ or damage especially in the spring and summer months.

As far as the cold is concerned, I'd think that bricks would have to super-cooled (Liquid Nitrogen) to become brittle enough to break (unless its a thin antenna and someone purposefully tries to snap it...). I bet they'd be fine as long as they stay dry, out of any sun, and (perhaps) away from any animals looking to nest out of the cold.

[Eskallon]

Just get some bricks and throw them in a freezer for an amount of time then come here and tell us what happened

[WhiteHexagon]

A couple of minifigs have been held in ice-olation in my freezer for the last week or so! don't worry, they were only fleshies, and actually have been providing a good supply of brick shapped ice cubes

They don't seem any worse for their adventure, although they keep giving me cold looks. Maybe I'll build a small winter scene for them with an igloo to live in hehe

[Zarkan]

A couple of minifigs have been held in ice-olation in my freezer for the last week or so! don't worry, they were only fleshies, and actually have been providing a good supply of brick shapped ice cubes

They don't seem any worse for their adventure, although they keep giving me cold looks. Maybe I'll build a small winter scene for them with an igloo to live in hehe

I'm outraged - just because you don't like their color of skin doesn't mean you have to torture them! This is minifig racism!

[NewRight]

I'm outraged - just because you don't like their color of skin doesn't mean you have to torture them! This is minifig racism!

Maybe they weren't coping with his rules of house.

Great test. I would love to see what a LEGO igloo could possibly look like.

[Deepwoods]

I know they are shy about sunlight, and as we recently discussed, being stored in a stacked fashion. But how temperature sensitive are they? I'm not talking about sunblock for them, but rather will they need woolly jumpers in winter? eg is -30c going to be an issue? I'm thinking outdoor garage in Canada mid winter here...

Being Canadian myself I figured I'd have some input (for my first message on here!) I've had buckets & buckets of lego in long term storage for years (7-8 or more) & this is what I've found...

Your general everyday ABS elements are pretty much sound & unaffected by even wc-40 and extream swings in temp from -20 one day to +20 the next seem to be ridden out just fine.

HOWEVER: ...there's always a "however" :-)

the older cellulous bricks can become noticeably brittler in the cold (not to the point where they will shatter when dropped, but they just feel like they would)

elements with stickers will have an unusual effect where the stickers become "dry" and glue that once held them firmly inplace seems to loose allot of it's adheasion & become almost crystalline (eventually the stickers just dry up & fall off) sometimes the sticker will turn a darker colour almost as if there is an oil stain on it? (I have no idea why this happens)

(I would assume paper stickers can become a home to mould too)

newer elements with printing can loose some crispness around the edges of the print (becomes flakey), I assume this is due to differential expansion of the plastic & the ink - it's not a huge affect but would be noticable to a veteran collector.

soft elements like ship's masts, rope bridges, plants & plastic sails do become brittle & begin to show a weird veining in the plastic - kinda looks like the ice crystals you see form on a window in the cold... just not as pretty. These veins are perminent as far as I've been able to experiment with. An additional worse affect on the soft plastic (especially on the rope bridges) is that it tends to de-laminate ie: the outer most surface seems to want to peel off like sunburned skin (yuck - couldn't think of another example) oh yea, transparant portions of plastic sails will begin turn yellow or cloudy.

one more affect I've found is that throughout periods of cold changing to warm & back & so on any dust that was on the elements seems to become more fused to the part - it's much harder to clean off but not a perminent affect - I think the humidity changes might allow the dust particles to work themselves deeper into the microscopic poors of the surface.

also rubber tires turn a lighter weathered colour much quicker, they just seem to age faster.

thin edges like the taper of a ramp, & corners of baseplates become brittle too - they are easily broken if impacted while still cold (again this is not a perminent affect once they warm up)

Have a nice day!

Andy M.

[WhiteHexagon]

wow, thanks for the detailed response Deepwoods, and welcome to the site! I think most of my bricks fall outside the problem list, so that's hopeful at least. Can I ask if the bricks you had stored were loose or actually assembled. I'm thinking that might make a difference with the extra stress on the bricks.

Cheers

Peter