Thanks for the replies.  I was really looking for information on how it
would affect collections, mostly on display and some not in cases, that
include paitings, natural history objects, textiles, wood, ivory, glass,
paper, and other materials.

Thanks

Beau



> Beau,
>
> It makes more sense to change out or repair your furnace in the later
> spring / summer. Trying to let the building freeze to eradicate pests
> will be at its best half effective and more than likely less so. Pests
> are like us, they will find the warmest and most insulated places to
> ride out a freeze. When it warms up they come out and are hungry
> again! It is a pretty blunt approach.
>
> Pest control is most successfully and far less dramatically
> accomplished by having a good IPM (Integrated Pest Management Program)
> in place.
>
> If you are located in a climate where freezing pipes are a concern
> then you should already have that heat pipe tape with the tiny
> electrical wires already wrapped around the water pipes where they are
> exposed. The same issue is also of concern with fire suppression pipes
> and valves - a bad flood happened from these at a major institution
> when a fire suppression pipe valve froze one winter's day. And having
> been a volunteer disaster rescue person on that project I have to
> volunteer that it truly sucks having to recover wet objects and
> documents in the cold! When I lived in Virginia we had one year where
> ice storms killed power for nearly two weeks and then a couple of
> weeks later it happened again. So relying on your furnace to keep the
> heat is sometimes not an option. Your most senstive collections should
> be stored in the best insulated core of the building - and this does
> not include rooms with exterior walls. The answer is to always be
> prepared!
>
> Cheers!
> Dave
>
> David Harvey
> Conservator
> Los Angeles, CA
>
>
>
> On 12/19/07, George Harris <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> Hello,
>> The collections manager at my museum thought that when we have our
>> furnace
>> replaced early next year that it might be a good time to let the
>> building
>> freeze to try and kill any pests that are in the collections.  I think
>> it
>> is not now going to happen, but some responses she got from a posting on
>> a
>> different listserv said that it wouldn't hurt the collections to have
>> them
>> be frozen.  This is completely wrong for some types of collections, of
>> course.  Are there any resources that anyone can suggest that show how
>> tempreature changes alone and tempreature in cunjunction with its
>> relationship with relative humidity can damage collections?
>>
>> Thank you.
>>
>> Beau
>>
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