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Nitrodist wrote:

Aren't you supposed to have some anti-freeze in there anyway to combat algae growth?

Hance is a "straight, no chaser" kind of guy.

It's amazing what a little acquaintance with -40° will do for your perception of "cold." Not to mention your appreciation of simple survival (I'll always remember a friend who went to grad school at the University of Alberta after a lifetime on the west coast: "Every time I step outside," he complained, "It's like the air is trying to kill me!").

Don't anybody lick any flagpoles....

Last year there were a couple of freezing weeks here. Of course we are amateurs comparing to Canada and Montana, maybe -16C tops. But one day it was -19C with wind chill making it around -30C. That was the only day in last 2.5 years when I spent over 10 minutes trying to start my car and almost drained the whole battery before it reluctantly started. Wasn't fun at all, almost considered renting a car to go to work. Hope this doesn't happen this year.

Synchromesh wrote:

Last year there were a couple of freezing weeks here. Of course we are amateurs comparing to Canada and Montana, maybe -16C tops. But one day it was -19C with wind chill making it around -30C. That was the only day in last 2.5 years when I spent over 10 minutes trying to start my car and almost drained the whole battery before it reluctantly started. Wasn't fun at all, almost considered renting a car to go to work. Hope this doesn't happen this year.

Block heaters FTW. Actually, since you don't need to go that far, you can do what the old-timers did: if you know it's going to get that cold, go out and get your battery and bring it inside for the night, then take it out and hook it up in the morning. Cold batteries crank a lot more juice than warm ones do. Of course all the presets on your radio will be gone (some alarm systems also don't like it).

david00214 wrote:

DrDillyBar wrote:

It's supposed to be a solid week of crap up here too. It's hovering around -32C here right now, not sure what Windchill would make it, but I'd bet it's in the -45C territory at least!

Please stop what you are doing, take your PC outside, and see what kind of OC you can get ON AIR

Yeah... hanging out in -35C weather to snag another 600MHz out of my CPU isn't very high on my list of things to do.

It's only -19c. That's barely even below 0F. If your car won't start in that either it sucks, your battery sucks, or you're using the wrong oil. Modern cars should start just fine at that temperature.

This morning, it was 45F here. By 4:00 today, its supposed to be in single digits. A 50+ degree drop in 3+ hours

DrDillyBar wrote:

Yeah... hanging out in -35C weather to snag another 600MHz out of my CPU isn't very high on my list of things to do.

You just have to hang the radiator out the window

mattsteg wrote:

It's only -19c. That's barely even below 0F. If your car won't start in that either it sucks, your battery sucks, or you're using the wrong oil. Modern cars should start just fine at that temperature.

Probably the battery -- a marginal battery can go on forever at room temperature and fail miserably when the temp drops.

I once ran out of washer fluid in June or July so I went around to the usual places in Seattle but everybody had "summer" fluid that was only good to 0°F. I didn't want to buy something that was good for only part of the year (and have it still in the vehicle come winter) so I asked the guy where the "winter" stuff was. He said they didn't put it out until October or so. A few weeks later I happened to be up north so I went into a Canadian Tire and there was a nice pyramid of the good to -40° winter stuff. I asked the guy when they put it out and he said "We never put it away"

UberGerbil wrote:

DrDillyBar wrote:

Yeah... hanging out in -35C weather to snag another 600MHz out of my CPU isn't very high on my list of things to do.

You just have to hang the radiator out the window

That could work, if I had water cooling to begin with. Zalman

Merged into the Winter Weather thread.

Thunderstorms in January. Something is seriously buggered with this planet

It's really cold on the north-west side of that map, BTW. the temperature gradient across the northern US is huge right now.

See, I use washer fluid enough that it doesn't matter - I'll have it all used up easily.

I run Rain-X stuff that's good down to -20 F, IIRC.

Anyway, I can attest to oil being important.

Try starting a GM 6.5L turbodiesel at 0 F, with 15W40 dino oil in it, without using the block heater. I dare you. (I got a lot of smoke, but no start.)

With 5W40 synthetic? Starts right up. It's pissed off, but it does start.

It's currently 7F here, with wind gusting to 50 MPH and near-blizzard conditions. Visibility is close to zero.

Yesterday it was in the 40s and raining.

WTF???

bhtooefr wrote:

See, I use washer fluid enough that it doesn't matter - I'll have it all used up easily.

I run Rain-X stuff that's good down to -20 F, IIRC.

Anyway, I can attest to oil being important.

Try starting a GM 6.5L turbodiesel at 0 F, with 15W40 dino oil in it, without using the block heater. I dare you. (I got a lot of smoke, but no start.)

With 5W40 synthetic? Starts right up. It's pissed off, but it does start.

dirty, poor-quality-from-the-start run of the mill cheap 15-40 practically solidifies below 0F. I've had stuff that wouldn't even turn over. You can't use thinner/nicer oils in these old engines either, as it breaks apart the goo that makes the seals still work after 30 years.

Seventy miles of I-90 is closed until they get the avalanches cleared out of the pass. Since they're forecast to get another 20" overnight, they aren't really making any progress.

bhtooefr wrote:

See, I use washer fluid enough that it doesn't matter - I'll have it all used up easily.

I run Rain-X stuff that's good down to -20 F, IIRC.

Anyway, I can attest to oil being important.

Try starting a GM 6.5L turbodiesel at 0 F, with 15W40 dino oil in it, without using the block heater. I dare you. (I got a lot of smoke, but no start.)

With 5W40 synthetic? Starts right up. It's pissed off, but it does start.

Whats your point ? The GM 6.5 was a complete POS the day it came out. I could get it started it isnt really a safe way to do it but it can be done

Hance wrote:

bhtooefr wrote:

I could get it started it isnt really a safe way to do it but it can be done

what does that mean? I've driven some trucks that if you can make it turn over, you could just hold the glow plug on for a few minutes to heat up the cylinder heads, assuming you had a good battery, and get things started that way. There really is no alternative to block heaters though.

Turn the key on wait for the glowplug light to go off and then wait about 5 minutes for things to cool down. Grab a can of starting fluid give it a little shot and crank they almost always start that way. You do it wrong or dont know what you are doing you have a very good chance of doing severe engine damage. I know a guy that blew the intake manifold off of a 7.3L powerstroke that tried that trick with out letting it cool down first Block heaters really are the way to go though. My truck will start at -40 with out being plugged in. It doesnt like it but it can be done. Normally if it is going to be 0 or colder I plug it in just because you have instant heat and save on engine wear.

just brew it! wrote:

It's currently 7F here, with wind gusting to 50 MPH and near-blizzard conditions. Visibility is close to zero.

Yesterday it was in the 40s and raining.

WTF???

And we always get your shizzle like 12 hours later.

PRIME1 wrote:

just brew it! wrote:

It's currently 7F here, with wind gusting to 50 MPH and near-blizzard conditions. Visibility is close to zero.

Yesterday it was in the 40s and raining.

WTF???

And we always get your shizzle like 12 hours later.

0 degrees F now and still dropping. My office is kind of drafty when the wind kicks up like this... I'm sitting here at my desk wrapped in a blanket!

It's 8 C (46F) here. Canadian winter?

just brew it! wrote:

0 degrees F now and still dropping. My office is kind of drafty when the wind kicks up like this... I'm sitting here at my desk wrapped in a blanket!

Sounds like you need more folding machines.

PRIME1 wrote:

just brew it! wrote:

0 degrees F now and still dropping. My office is kind of drafty when the wind kicks up like this... I'm sitting here at my desk wrapped in a blanket!

Sounds like you need more folding machines.

There are four systems running in here already!

Close your window!

Nitrodist wrote:

Close your window!

Heh... yeah, I know the window does not seal as well as it should. That is part of the problem...

Edit: And we're still dropping... now at -2F... official forecast still says the low for tonight is supposed to be -1F.

pikaporeon wrote:

It's 8 C (46F) here. Canadian winter?

Wait for it. It's coming. The weather you're having now was the weather JBI was having yesterday, and he's a little more than a day upwind from you I'd guess.

Ugh, my car doors were frozen shut this morning.

Anyway, ether is cheating. Especially on an indirect injection diesel, don't use ether, even when the glow plugs aren't hot. The piston rings in an IDI diesel aren't designed to handle the combustion event happening in the main combustion chamber, and run a high risk of breaking when you use ether. (The main combustion event happens in the prechamber, and spreads to the main combustion chamber, on an IDI diesel.)

Like I said severe engine damage can result. I have done it quite a few times on stuborn construction equipment and have never hurt anything yet. Either isnt cheating it will get the job done. Dangerous to the engine and a good chance of screwing something yes.

It's nice and toasty in my office.

It was in the 50F range here yesterday (rainy and windy) and it dropped to 11F-ish this morning. The water stopped, but the wind decided to stick around and make the commute interesting. It's still around 12F and not lkely to get much warmer today. We're not talking -40 or anything but still: burr!