Author Topic: Best ways to keep sliding glass door track from freezing?  (Read 7838 times)

ketchup

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Best ways to keep sliding glass door track from freezing?
« on: January 05, 2018, 08:52:21 AM »
We have a sliding glass door in our house that we use frequently to let our dogs into the back yard.  I didn't know it was there until this summer (long story), so this is our first winter using it.  I live in the Chicago area, so it's been cold the last few weeks.  We also keep that room colder than the rest of the house.  As a result, the sliding glass door has been freezing shut almost every day.

I'll hit it with a hairdryer to melt the ice and then dry it off the best I can, or spray the track with WD-40 (or both).  This will work short term, but it will usually freeze again within a day.  If I hit it with WD-40 literally every time I open or close the door (usually about 8 times a day), it'll usually be fine, but a) this uses a shitload of WD-40, and b) yesterday we realized that our dogs like to roll around on the track and managed to get WD-40 all over their coats, which is presumably bad for them and a pain to clean off.

Am I missing another option that would make this simpler?  The obvious answer would be to keep that room warmer, but we'd rather not do that.  Thanks.

Sibley

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Re: Best ways to keep sliding glass door track from freezing?
« Reply #1 on: January 05, 2018, 10:37:05 AM »
Is it only with this extreme cold? Or pretty much anything below freezing?

If it's only during the extreme cold periods, well, this cold stresses everything to the breaking point and just cope or not use it. It's supposed to warm up Sunday.

ketchup

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Re: Best ways to keep sliding glass door track from freezing?
« Reply #2 on: January 05, 2018, 10:47:43 AM »
It's been roughly a 50-50 crapshoot if it's just below freezing (worst first thing in the morning), but with the recent extreme cold it's been every day.

I'm fine if that's basically the answer, but I just want to make sure I'm not missing anything obvious, because it's been a pain (in a first-world kind of way).

Sibley

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Re: Best ways to keep sliding glass door track from freezing?
« Reply #3 on: January 05, 2018, 11:32:13 AM »
It sounds like it's missing something kinda important in installation, or is simply wrong for the use in some way. I don't know enough to go further.

So, to give other people more data - material, surrounding area, etc?  Let's give someone like Paddedhat something to work with.

ketchup

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Re: Best ways to keep sliding glass door track from freezing?
« Reply #4 on: January 05, 2018, 11:39:00 AM »
It sounds like it's missing something kinda important in installation, or is simply wrong for the use in some way. I don't know enough to go further.

So, to give other people more data - material, surrounding area, etc?  Let's give someone like Paddedhat something to work with.
It's definitely an older sliding glass door, and not super well-insulated (though I can't imagine something like this ever is all that well-insulated so I have no idea how it compares to an ideal case).  It takes up most of the wall that it's in.  The metal track is deep enough to accumulate significant ice.

Roadrunner53

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Best ways to keep sliding glass door track from freezing?
« Reply #5 on: January 05, 2018, 01:14:43 PM »
How did you not know there was a sliding glass door in your house?

I also had to use a hair dryer to get my screen door to open today. The glass door, no problem. We have an Anderson window and it is insulated properly. We used to have a junky cheap glass door that froze on the inside! Couldn't open it till temps warmed up outside.

You might try Silicone spray. Clean and dry the track out to clean out the WD-40 residue then spray the Silicone.

HipGnosis

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Re: Best ways to keep sliding glass door track from freezing?
« Reply #6 on: January 05, 2018, 04:37:30 PM »
It sounds like it's missing something kinda important in installation, or is simply wrong for the use in some way. I don't know enough to go further.

So, to give other people more data - material, surrounding area, etc?  Let's give someone like Paddedhat something to work with.
It's definitely an older sliding glass door, and not super well-insulated (though I can't imagine something like this ever is all that well-insulated so I have no idea how it compares to an ideal case).  It takes up most of the wall that it's in.  The metal track is deep enough to accumulate significant ice.

Where is the water that is collecting and freezing coming from?  Can you control or eliminate the water?  You can try putting a thermal curtain over the door at night (at least).
 

 

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