Holiday Spirit

Well, I have been enjoying a week-long cold spell that forced me to just stay inside. I have not installed my propane tank yet, nor have I done much of anything else outside.

We have more ice and snow on the way starting tomorrow afternoon and the the temps drop to -12 overnight for the weekend. That means extra effort to protect the equipment to include the diesel since the stations haven't switched to winter grade diesel yet.

Lots of bad things start to happen with those kinds of temperatures no matter what you do, so I will likely be needing some repairs next week when things try to warm up a little. I have everything outside winterized with RV anti-freeze, but that hasn't always been full-proof either when temps get down that low.

Hard to get into a festive mood when there is no work and Mother Nature is going to make your life miserable and expensive. I hope you all are doing better.

-12 ?? Damn, that's cold ! I know I asked you this before but I forgot your answer, how much is your utility bill in the winter with all the heater going for the house and for the vans and garage ?
Do you see people outside at the stores and such at that low temperature ?

Oh come on Bob dont be a wuss you can clean in that weather. Let me know if your spray bar springs a leak I have plenty of spares

DP will probably turn into a statue if he were to clean in that weather and his arms would fall off trying while he was unwinding his reel

Last winter it hit 6% overnight here and I didn't have any water that morning. One of the pipes froze and I was out there with a blow dryer trying to heat the pipes luckily something didn't burst.

My electric bills jump another 75-100 bucks per heater each month....yes, it sucks.

You can clean at the temperature, but it has to be a good paying ticket due to the risks to both me and the machine. As for stores, traffic actually increases during the cold snaps as most stores are warmer than many homes.

Lol Mo, you're probably right, my hands probably stick to the reel as soon as I touch it and I would froze, ha..ha...
Damn, $ 75 x 5 = $ 225 plus lighting, water heater, electronics, wow, my electric bill was never close to $ 200, I think the highest one is one hot summer month at $ 160 plus some change.

It is one of my highest costs this time of year. I have it down to 2 heaters running at the moment since I can keep things winterized with business being so slow.

Always a good and bad this time of year.

Here I am at 2:30 pm....the warmest part of the day and it is 3 degrees. The ice is so bad outside that I didn't even make it off the porch before falling. Tonight, the temps will fall through the floor.

And a partridge in the pear tree.

Bah humbug.

Exactly correct.

Damn, I was complaining this morning at 7:30 am when I left the house at 42 degrees, lol.
It's 60 degrees now at 4:30 but it will go down to 41 tonight, brrrrr.

If I could throw a snowball that far.......

Geez, can't win here. We lost power over a 75 mile area for the last 2.5 hours. Temps in the house dipped to 55 degrees in less than 2 hours and had me worried.

After going into the garage to dig out my kerosene heaters and about 20 gallons of kerosene, I fell twice on the ice. With a sore knee and back now in play, I got set up to fire up the heaters when the power came back on.

Right now, it is -45 wind chill and -7 degrees.....if power goes out again, I am going to light this place on fire and relocate to Florida.

Bob you dont have a pellet or wood stove, or fireplace?

I called my friend in Tampa last night 9:00 PM his time. He was barbecuing in 80 degree weather

No stoves Mo. I grew up in a house that only used 2 large lincoln fireplaces to heat the house....I really miss sitting in front of them in the winter, but too expensive to install one now.

Florida in the winter is glorious.....just not so much in the Summer.

Is your garage detached from the house ?
Man, that's rough ! I'm thinking about some elderly, how can they survive the cold if power goes out for longer than 3 - 4 hours ?

Btw it's pouring rain here now, no one predicted it's going to rain today, temp still in the 40s in the morning, I already have 2 needle sized leak on my lead pressure hose this morning, was wondering if the cold has anything to do with that ?

Garage is detached....about 20 feet away. It has power and partly insulated, but no heat. There was just too much expense in finishing the insulation, replacing the roll-up doors for something taller, and upgrading the wiring. Every year I look at it and every year it comes back the same.....about $10,000 to make all the upgrades.

Every winter, we get at least 3 power outages that can last up to a week. I think everyone has a few kerosene heaters on hand these days with about 3 days worth of kerosene. It will keep the pipes from freezing, but the smell isn't the best nor the risks.

I rarely got any needle holes from the cold, but maybe. I went on a call today after checking / testing the butler over to make sure there was no freeze damage. The machine was fine, but the van's idle air control valve went to crap and left me with an engine idling WAY too high....drove home at 60 without my foot on the gas.

I get to repair that in the morning. Simple task if you can get to it, which van's always make interesting.

This is the first time I got needle holes on my pressure hose, it's actually the skinny schieffer, I actually have 2 of those tiny holes, one at the end and the other about 20 feet away from the end, my 100 footer lead hose become 80 footer now

Man, kerosene heater for inside the house ? Wow, I guess other than that option, you would have to have good size generators, but then I don't know how often you have to go out and refuel the thing ? 3 times up to a week is crazy, the power company would've gotten sued if that happens here.

I would love a good back-up generator, but that too would run about $15,000 for a whole-house unit.

The kerosene heaters actually work well minus the smell and risks involved. Last winter we were out for 4 days with temps in the teens during the day and single digits at night. Just one heater kept the house at 65 on the first floor and near 70 upstairs using about 5 gallons of kerosene per day.

I just don't care for the smell nor the open flame when I sleep.

If youre getting leaks in the middle of the hose DP, I would replace it. Its not worth the chance of black death

The skinny shouldn't cause the black death, but I do agree on replacement. I am very ocd when it comes to hoses. PSI hoses are replaced every year and vac hose as soon as a split occurs.

Well as of now I cut about 20 feet off, that left my lead hose to 80 feet, I just realized today that I have another needle size leaks right at the end by quick connect to the machine, I'm going to cut that stupid hose again another foot or so, but that is the last cut I'm going to do if I end up with another needle sized leaks, I'm probably going to toss the hose out, I think this would make it the least amount of time I got from any pressure hoses, I usually get a few years of use out of most of them.
And Bob is correct, no Black Death with schieffer hoses.

Wow, you go for a few years on a hose? It must be the winters that destroy them around here as I can never go that out of a hose. The longest before leaks was maybe 18 months for me....and I am not high heat.