Heat on Carom Tables

[bud green]

Anyone have a solid idea about how cycling heat on and off on a heated billiard table affects the table long term?

A pool hall I play at has a heated table, but it is connected to the same switch that controls the lights. Meaning it gets turned on in the morning (usually 10 am), and turned off at night. Midnight to 2am.

They might have a chance to get a good condition Gabriel in the future so I'm curious if the heat changes might end impacting the way the cushions play, especially long term. I guess part of me wonders how rubber reacts to the heat going on and off. I honestly have no idea if its a big deal or not.

Shame to finally get a top quality table and not take care of it, but I'm not the guy paying the electric bill.

 

[philly]

Played on a heated Gabriel Kronos for a few years at a room nearby.
Loved that table.
Talk about solid!

Gabriels Kronos

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www.spinandmore.com

 

[Bob Jewett]

The advice I've heard is to keep the table no more than 10 degrees over the room temp. It seems like that shouldn't take much power if you put a cover on the table. If it's only a kilowatt-hour per night, you could volunteer to pay for the heat.

Do they let the room get down to freezing on winter nights? Do they keep it above 60 degrees? How big a swing are we looking at?

In any case, I think your best source of info will be the manufacturer or one of the mechanics in the mechanics forum. But I suspect that few mechanics in the US have dealt with this problem. Maybe Yura?

 

[bud green]

Hey Bob, thanks for responding. Never heard about the 10 degree suggestion, there have been many times the table has felt way warmer than that, especially when someone turned the heat up and covered the table with a heavy cover.

Its for the pool hall in Petaluma your familiar with. LS is serious about getting a good condition Gabriel.

It seemed the Soren they bought a few years ago aged more than I would have guessed. Curiosity made me wonder if the rubber heating and cooling all the time was a factor.

I play 3-C there all the time so there is definitely a selfish reason for keeping the table playing well.

 

[3kushn]

I don't see why heating and cooling would make much difference with the rubber, it may make other parts move a little as it expands and contracts but I still think it would be minimal. The biggest thing I can think of is the cost of heating after its cooled. It takes a few hours to get from say 70deg to 75 since slate is a poor conductor. These tables have a thermostat. At least that's how they come new. Bob's suggestion of covering it before locking up would minimize the costs of maintaining temp. Since slate is a poor conductor, it retains heat for a longer period. Cover it up and the heating elements will only cycle on a couple short periods till its uncovered the following day.

I used to unplug an old table I heated with incandescent bulbs (actually used a timer) but put a cheap thick sleeping bag on top of a thick table cover. The table cover kept the dog hair and other crap off the cloth LOL.

Mostly educated speculation.
I've been completely wrong at least once before.