I have a friend in Powell River who built an insulated wooden box outside for his sump and water change system. Since it's well insulated, its had never had any temperature issues, (neither too hot nor too cold). Something like this would be ideal for use in your garage or outdoor space. He stained the wooden box so it looks nice and not ghetto.

Anthony

If the snow/ice is melting off your car over night, you're all set I think.

I've got cases of water, juice, etc out there. And it never freezes, even when near the main door. Makes a great beer fridge. ;)

You can probably get away with storing without freezing. Especially if you add a small pump for movement.

The water will likely be near freezing during the winter. It would take a bit of effort to get it up to temp for water changes, but doable if you bring what you need inside first.

If you're putting the ro/di unit in the garage you'll definitely want to insulate it. The ro membrane is less efficient at colder temperatures. I lose at least 10%-15% production with the rodi in the house just from the change in incoming water temp in the winter. I know some people run the water line through a sort of heat exchanger before the rodi in the winter, or carefully tie in hot water as well.

One of my clients has the same sort of setup, and buckets of water freeze in there even when they're up against the house wall when it's about -25 even though the snow melts off the cars.

Using a cooler is a good idea though, and may be a good solution.

Another option that we use around dredges and barges is aerators for de-icing. They use a lot less energy than heaters. A good size air pump and some ait stones might work as well.

Charles