GadgetGeek
Cook
- Joined
- Jan 24, 2008
- Messages
- 55
It's chilly with some wind in Atlanta but................
My bud "Artic Chef" wrote me a note the other day... I just have to share it here.
____________________________
It was -44.5 C (-48 F) here today and will remain at -41 or colder for at least another 5 days if not longer. That's the coldest weather we've had since 12 years ago when it hit -51 C one night during a week of -40 or colder and six weeks of continuously below -35.
Let me tell you a few things that happen at -44.
Propane freezes if the tank doesn't have a heater and furnaces go out resulting in frozen water lines in 1 to 3 hours if not addressed sooner.
This morning my favourite furnace repairman told me he took 8 such calls before 7 AM then took the phone off the hook and stopped taking calls.
Paraffin precipitates out of fuel oil and plugs filters and nozzles knocking out oil furnaces unless the proper additives have been added to the fuel in advance. Lots of those calls today too.
Furnaces in poorly insulated homes run continuously, without pause, until a fuel pump or other critical part fails.
Mechanical devices break down and lubrication freezes up. My timer that controls the extension cord to the car's block heater won't advance and turn on so I have to plug the car in at bedtime without a timer and use power all night instead of just two hours before I get up. And even then I have to idle for 15 minutes before moving and drive slowly at low revs for another 10 minutes to avoid blowing a power steering pump or having the rear axles seize because the grease is frozen.
We had a 90 minute power outage last night and over a hundred homes,including my own, have frozen water mains underground because the re-circulating pumps on the lines were inactive. The steamer guy had 100 calls logged by the time I called in and even though he's running 24 hours a day he won't get to me for 4 days. So we are showering at my daughter's place and lugging home 15 litres of water a day for coffee and brushing our teeth and melting snow to flush toilets. Laundry and dirty dishes will just pile up. 5 of the 40 rentals I manage have similar problems. Non-essential service calls like drippy taps and broken Jacuzzi pumps are simply on hold indefinitely.
Vehicles that have not been plugged in will not start even with a boost and the tow truck operators are backed up 5-6 hours. Garages are charging $100 to park cars overnight to thaw and have a three day inventory waiting in their yards. Tires go flat spontaneously and the repair shops are backed up
2-3 days.
I estimate that I am currently spending $30 per day on heat (30 litres of fuel), $2 extra per day on electricity just for the furnace blower, $3 extra per night plugging in the car and $12.50 per day in gas just idling.
Oh, the joys of northern living!
Two other things...
When the temperature really drops we often get ice crystal fogs.
Cold air can hold very little water vapour but yields up ice crystals not water droplets.
The fog is denser over the city than the surrounding countryside as the water vapour from chimneys and car exhausts add to it. We have been so fogged in since Monday that the sun is barely visible through it; no brighter than a full moon.
It turns out that Air Canada's jets are not certified for cold weather. They have suspended all flights to and from Yellowknife until the minimum nightly lows get above - 39. Northern owned Canadian North and First Air routinely fly from Yellowknife to points further north and have cold certified planes so they are still flying everywhere with just a few small delays due to the fog.
Cheers
Jim in frozen Yellowknife
____________________________
My bud "Artic Chef" wrote me a note the other day... I just have to share it here.
____________________________
It was -44.5 C (-48 F) here today and will remain at -41 or colder for at least another 5 days if not longer. That's the coldest weather we've had since 12 years ago when it hit -51 C one night during a week of -40 or colder and six weeks of continuously below -35.
Let me tell you a few things that happen at -44.
Propane freezes if the tank doesn't have a heater and furnaces go out resulting in frozen water lines in 1 to 3 hours if not addressed sooner.
This morning my favourite furnace repairman told me he took 8 such calls before 7 AM then took the phone off the hook and stopped taking calls.
Paraffin precipitates out of fuel oil and plugs filters and nozzles knocking out oil furnaces unless the proper additives have been added to the fuel in advance. Lots of those calls today too.
Furnaces in poorly insulated homes run continuously, without pause, until a fuel pump or other critical part fails.
Mechanical devices break down and lubrication freezes up. My timer that controls the extension cord to the car's block heater won't advance and turn on so I have to plug the car in at bedtime without a timer and use power all night instead of just two hours before I get up. And even then I have to idle for 15 minutes before moving and drive slowly at low revs for another 10 minutes to avoid blowing a power steering pump or having the rear axles seize because the grease is frozen.
We had a 90 minute power outage last night and over a hundred homes,including my own, have frozen water mains underground because the re-circulating pumps on the lines were inactive. The steamer guy had 100 calls logged by the time I called in and even though he's running 24 hours a day he won't get to me for 4 days. So we are showering at my daughter's place and lugging home 15 litres of water a day for coffee and brushing our teeth and melting snow to flush toilets. Laundry and dirty dishes will just pile up. 5 of the 40 rentals I manage have similar problems. Non-essential service calls like drippy taps and broken Jacuzzi pumps are simply on hold indefinitely.
Vehicles that have not been plugged in will not start even with a boost and the tow truck operators are backed up 5-6 hours. Garages are charging $100 to park cars overnight to thaw and have a three day inventory waiting in their yards. Tires go flat spontaneously and the repair shops are backed up
2-3 days.
I estimate that I am currently spending $30 per day on heat (30 litres of fuel), $2 extra per day on electricity just for the furnace blower, $3 extra per night plugging in the car and $12.50 per day in gas just idling.
Oh, the joys of northern living!
Two other things...
When the temperature really drops we often get ice crystal fogs.
Cold air can hold very little water vapour but yields up ice crystals not water droplets.
The fog is denser over the city than the surrounding countryside as the water vapour from chimneys and car exhausts add to it. We have been so fogged in since Monday that the sun is barely visible through it; no brighter than a full moon.
It turns out that Air Canada's jets are not certified for cold weather. They have suspended all flights to and from Yellowknife until the minimum nightly lows get above - 39. Northern owned Canadian North and First Air routinely fly from Yellowknife to points further north and have cold certified planes so they are still flying everywhere with just a few small delays due to the fog.
Cheers
Jim in frozen Yellowknife
____________________________
Hmm, wait, no I probably will. 
