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Yesterday I played with a group contracted for a local village xmas celebration. They had horses pulling wagons around the village. Santa, mrs, and a grinch with sleigh. We played, attempted to play, for an hour. It was around 20 degrees, light breeze. They had large outdoor propane heaters around us. Our valves were freezing up....

has anybody tried some sort of de-icer in valve oil?

It was not cool. Also, hazardous for our instruments.. possible to crack valve casings.... I'm thinking about getting a battery powered heated throw to wrap my tuba if I'm asked to do this again...

I have bought some hand warmers to strap to my valves. I have not had to do it yet, but it is and idea.

Practicing for TC in Portland, OR,
CCC

If you wanted to use some heat tape that is usually used on pipes -- if you ever consent to do this again (!) - I love my Jackery batteries and what they can do. The little one doesn't weigh much and would (I think) easily run heat tape for several hours. It will run a standard plug-in old fashioned stand light for four hours.

The approximately 15 cents per ounce lamp oil that I use on all of my instruments (none of which I would classify as budget instruments) freezes at -5 centigrade aka 23 Fahrenheit. I don't know what else to tell you. You're not going to see me marching or standing outside playing when the temperature is 23... trying to play a B-flat that comes out a flat a at best...ok... maybe graveside, but it needs to pay good.

I guess you could stop at the liquor store and buy a small bottle of Everclear and mess around with that, because it has to be mighty cold before it turns into a solid.

I have been asked to do this gig again....

My mom is a pretty talented seamstress and when I bought my king tuba (recording bell) she made a gig bag for it out of black vinyl'ish material. Other than the zipper, It has held up well. 30 some years.

With this gig coming up again I have experimented with playing with the tuba in the bag. I pulled the bell out of the top of the bag. Used a bungie to hold the bag up under the bell. Cut a small hole to poke the reciever out. Then sliding my hand into the bag, can play.

Next I'm going wrap a small blanket around the body and reinsert it into the bag. Before the gig, I'm going to stick a couple "hot hands" hand warmers into the bag. Hopefully this will take care of the actually frozen valves issue. The only problem will be getting water out during the gig. The only water keys are on the main tuning slide (pig tail on leadpipe) and after the valve block. 3rd valve and 1st have to be pulled. Maybe I'll leave 1st uncovered and 3rd will just have to fart when I use it.

If my horn doesnt freeze up, this gig will be a lot of fun.

Past few years playing for musikhjälpen i've played in -10C and below. First year had the same, valves froze up quickly.

What worked best for me was stealing hair ties from my partner, and hand/footwarmers. Strap several around the valve casing. Not had an issue since.

I also put them in my shoes, gloves, etc. As after sorting the horn out I became the limiting factor of how long i'd play at a given location.

I'm planning the same strategy this year.

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I mix my valve oil to be about 10% rubbing alcohol and it seems to keep the valves moving in the cold

I raised this issue once and somebody suggested tire heaters they use on race cars. That, powered by a Jackery ought to keep the horn warm but for the mouthpeice.

Playing in tune is another problem. In our current performance hall I sit by the HVAC's cold-air return and learned not to set my tuba next to it but on my other side. Otherwise with the main slide fully in I'm 25c.+ flat.

Success. About 8 of us played for the village tree lighting tonight. My car showed the temp outside was 28*. I wrapped my tuba with a couple bath towels. Inserted 3 hand warmers. Put it in its carry bag with the bell out. Bungie under the bell holding the bag on. Slipped my hand in to play. I could feel that the hand warmers were keeping it just warm enough to play well. We played for about 20 minutes, then they lit the tree, the mayor yapped, some state legislator yapped, then we played for another 20 minutes and everyone disappeared. No frozen valves like last year. Not much of a gig but it was fun.