Installing epoxy in hot weather can be difficult and frustrating. The purpose of this paper is to understand hot temperature epoxy installations. I will talk about what the causes the problems with installing epoxy in hot weather. I will discuss how to eliminate most if not all of the difficulties in hot weather installation.
Epoxy cures by exothermic (producing heat) reaction. In cooler temperatures (50° F to 75° F) the epoxy produces all the heat that it needs to cure. Whith about each 17°F that the temperature of the epoxy increases it sets about twice as fast. That is great when you are talking getting back onto your epoxy for another coat. It is very bad when the pot-life (time it is usable after you mix it) is cut in half. A batch of epoxy that would have given you a 30 minute pot-life at 70°F will only give you a 15 minute pot-life at 87°F. At 104°F you are down a potlife almost to short to be able to use the epoxy fast enough.
This can be made worse if you store your material in a truck, in the sun or some other hot area. The hotter the material is when it is mixed the faster it will set. This makes for a short set time and a much shorter pot-life.
Epoxy generates it own heat. So the bigger the batch the quicker it gets hot, and the shorter a pot-life that you have. Pot-life is based on a small amount of material that is easitly quality tested in a lab. Pot-life is given to give you a comparison from one type or brand of epoxy to another. With bigger batches of all materials the material can set many times faster than the published pot life on the data sheet. That is why we encourage everyone to start with small batches and slowly increase the size on a given day.
Keep your epoxy in a cool area as long as possible. Store it in air conditioned areas, or even put it on ice in a Styrofoam cooler if needed. Ideally keep the material as close to the upper 60°s F. to lower 70°s F as you can.
Make very small batches. If you make a batch too small you can always make a bigger batch. Make it to large it WILL harden in your bucket, roller and roller. If this happens best case you lose a lot of material and job supplies. Worst case it makes a mess on your surface or you run out of material before you can complete your job.
If these steps are not working, you might want to consider delaying the job for a cooler day or starting work earlier in the day or overnight in the cooler hours.
For more information please contace Epoxy.com Technical Support info@epoxy.com.