'Bout to get reeeaaaaal cold, who's ready?

[woodgeek]

Just got up to 7 here, too. Unfortunately, both stoves were left go cold. Got in from work at 11pm last night, after two nights of less than 6 hours of sleep, was too tired to reload and wait out cat light off. In a rush to get back out the door this morning, both stoves sit cold today.

On the bright side, the cost only comes about once every 20 years around here. I think I used >200 kWh of wind yesterday.

 

[bag of hammers]

A block heater would be a much cheaper option,besides diesel is expensive and i dont think its good for the motor to idle for hours on end.

God bless the block heater - tired old vehicles starting up like its mid-June - that's a thing of beauty. But I speak of my own gas engine vehicles sitting in my driveway.

Unfortunately, GM added a temp controlled block heater to it's vehicles - I wasn't even aware of this when I got my last truck. The heater does not come on until it's -18 deg C (0 deg F) . So on all those balmy -17 deg mornings I get to go out and start a stone cold engine . Probably some EPA or other requirement driving this, I dunno. Yeah it starts, but in the big picture, I probably waste more energy (gas) than I save (electric) due to the idle and warm up time in the driveway. Not to mention any add'l wear on engine parts from the many many cold starts like this.

I'm not dumping my kid into a -18 deg vehicle for a freezing cold ride to his school, looking through frosted up glass, so it warms up before I go anywhere. My wife's 12 year old clunker with block heater starts throwing heat by the time the windshield gets brushed off but my new(er) truck will sit and idle for 5 minutes or more before I get some heat. Thanks GM...

Sorry for the side track / rant

 

[bag of hammers]

I don't think the lake here ever really freezes. We do get ice floating around, and we'll get ice frozen along the shoreline for 20-30' out. I'm betting we get a LOT of it floating by soon from what blew over the ice boom by Buffalo and is currently jammed up in the upper river. Every darn spring they let that thing go JUST as it's warming up here and it throws up back into colder temps for a few weeks while it works it's way through (I can leave work and it's 65/70 and get home to 40/45 degrees).

Wow the delta's are crazy. Windchills approaching -40 this past week, but the weather forecast here for saturday is +3 deg C with light rain. I think my head is going to explode.

Speaking of freezing lakes, this is a really cool pic that kind of puts the insane cold in perspective. Yep that's the Great Lakes down there....

(broken link removed)

 

[jharkin]

Same wild swings here ... -10f (-23c) last Friday, almost 60 (14) monday, back down to single digits now then up to the 40s again this weekend..

 

[begreen]

Wow the delta's are crazy. Windchills approaching -40 this past week, but the weather forecast here for saturday is +3 deg C with light rain. I think my head is going to explode.

Delta's always been a bit dizzy, but we still love him

 

[yooperdave]

Wow the delta's are crazy. Windchills approaching -40 this past week, but the weather forecast here for saturday is +3 deg C with light rain. I think my head is going to explode.

Speaking of freezing lakes, this is a really cool pic that kind of puts the insane cold in perspective. Yep that's the Great Lakes down there....

(broken link removed)

View attachment 123338

That is where I live
Our wind chills bottomed out at -50 the last couple nights. Tonight, its -22 but I don't know what the wind chill will be. Friday is warmer...hang on!

 

[begreen]

Here's something to ponder.

 

[bag of hammers]

Delta's always been a bit dizzy, but we still love him

Oops - do I need to apologize to all the "delta's" on the forum?

 

[Jags]

Oops - do I need to apologize to all the "delta's" on the forum?

Don't worry. The negative vibes just bounce off of his tin foil hat.
@Delta-T

 

[begreen]

Oops - do I need to apologize to all the "delta's" on the forum?

Would you apologize face to face to a guy wearing a mankini in winter?

 

[Mrs. Krabappel]

 

[BrotherBart]

The reason Martians don't live in the UP either.

 

[Doug MacIVER]

which is worse? the "POLAR VORTEX" , or from the old oil heat ads,"THE MONTREAL EXPRESS"?

 

[woodgeek]

I thought it was an 'Alberta Clipper'...

 

[Doug MacIVER]

I thought it was an 'Alberta Clipper'...

that's a snowstorm! origin alberta swings so-east then e-ne, if you were kidding, over my head, have a day

 

[yooperdave]

The reason Martians don't live in the UP either.

Don't be so sure about that, BB! Sure do get a lot of out of state license plates here year around.

 

[yooperdave]

View attachment 123384

No matter how bad you think things are, you never have to look very far to find things worse!
99 says men are from Jupiter cuz they're stupider!

 

[bag of hammers]

Would you apologize face to face to a guy wearing a mankini in winter?

First time I read that, I thought you said "Would you apologize face to face to a guy while wearing a mankini in winter?"

Which is an even scarier thought...

 

[Retired Guy]

In theory yes, but logistically challenging. Let's say it's a fleet of 25 buses (I don't know the real number) which would be 25 block heaters drawing about 9 amps (That's what my old 7.3L drew) each = 225 amps. Not to mention the mess of cords stretched all over the bus yard. Idling diesels is common practice in very severe cold climates like the Upper Midwest/Canada, but it's usually only needed on older equipment. There is also the risk of a phenomenon known as "wet stacking" where unburned fuel deposits accumulate on valve stems due to the cool running temperature at idle and the cold outside temperatures, but it has to be much colder than single (positive) digits for that to be an issue Newer diesel technology, better glow plugs/intake heaters, and fuel additives help immensely. LOL...she just texted me as I write this that she had to move her class across the hall due to a burst pipe...

When a local district went all diesel for their fleet - they bus 9500 students/day in 200 buses. They had problems with starting at temps below -10F and went to all block heaters. Posts and wiring were a major expense.

 

[Enzo's Dad]

My programable thermostat decided to pick its own temp on tuesday night, It went back to the factory settting of 62, the stove keeps the second floor at 64. I figured out what was going on and spent 6 hours thawing the system. I had to take the day off but beats dealing with a burst pipe and the aftermath. I have two runs in cralw spaces and the froze, but the pipes were intact. Installed pipe heaters and went back to a honeywell round thermostat. It is set at 65 no problems so far. The temp inside the crawl spaces was 20F. That is crazy

On a positive note only about 75 days until motorcycle season

 

[Dix]

Don't worry. The negative vibes just bounce off of his tin foil hat.
@Delta-T

*laughing* even Rick's dog wore a tin foil hat for that one !!

 

[Dix]

My programable thermostat decided to pick its own temp on tuesday night, It went back to the factory settting of 62, the stove keeps the second floor at 64. I figured out what was going on and spent 6 hours thawing the system. I had to take the day off but beats dealing with a burst pipe and the aftermath. I have two runs in cralw spaces and the froze, but the pipes were intact. Installed pipe heaters and went back to a honeywell round thermostat. It is set at 65 no problems so far. The temp inside the crawl spaces was 20F. That is crazy

On a positive note only about 75 days until motorcycle season

The same for show season.

Woot woot !!

 

[woodgeek]

an interesting blog post about the weather from building science guru Holliday....

http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/twenty-below-and-grid

 

[woodgeek]

My programable thermostat decided to pick its own temp on tuesday night, It went back to the factory settting of 62, the stove keeps the second floor at 64. I figured out what was going on and spent 6 hours thawing the system. I had to take the day off but beats dealing with a burst pipe and the aftermath. I have two runs in cralw spaces and the froze, but the pipes were intact. Installed pipe heaters and went back to a honeywell round thermostat. It is set at 65 no problems so far. The temp inside the crawl spaces was 20F. That is crazy

On a positive note only about 75 days until motorcycle season

Nest update cause the prob?

 

[Enzo's Dad]

Nest update cause the prob?

No it was 6 years old, I think the unit died, some of the function buttons stopped working properly. I threw it in the trash and went to a honeywell dial, no programming no batteries. The second floor needs to be set at 66 at all times to keep the pipes from freezing in a cold snap, i am not taking any chances.