Exposing components / soldering in freezing temperatures

[FuzzTony]

Hey all, bit of a noob question here.

We moved into a new place in Aug and I set up my pedal workshop in the garage, which already had a nice little bench/pegboard area.  We're in Canada and temperatures have now begun to be below 0C/32F overnight. 

I guess I'm wondering a couple of things:

1:   Is there any harm in storing components (ICs, diodes, pots, etc) in the garage over the winter?

2:  At what point does a colder environment create potential issues with soldering?

I'd love to hear some thoughts.

[GermanCdn]

Considering all of the components I get in (I'm in Calgary) come via Canada Post and likely have sat in my mailbox for a day or two in January, I'd say in general most components are not affected statically (i.e. storage) by cold temperatures.  There are some I'd likely not store in the garage (i.e. germanium diodes, they're fragile enough without freezing them).  I wouldn't, however, work on cold components, I'd bring them inside and let them warm up to room temp ( 16 - 20 C) before working with them.  I don't think any component benefits from an additional 50 degree thermal shock.

Soldering (I'm assuming you're not soldering outside in Winnipeg in January) slightly below zero shouldn't be too bad, it might cause accelerated cooling which could yield more cold solder joints so you'd have to watch for that.  I'd warm up the soldering iron in the house as well before hand, ceramic elements might be a little brittle at -20 or -30, and a rapid increase in temperature could lead to failure.

[midwayfair]

Most data sheets give you temperature ranges for the components. You could look up a few if you're curious about the low temperatures. Hint: most of the time they give you the highest temperature the components can stand before failure.