My January is now doomed

I just looked at the extended forecast.....there will not be cleaning for some time. Starting Monday night, we will be between -5 to 5 above for overnight temperatures.....until the 18th!!! Daytime highs only being low teens.

That is a horrible way to start the new year. Instead of making money, I will be frantically trying to keep things from breaking in the cold and likely fail so there will be repairs waiting for me at the end of the month.

We were in the upper 40's just yesterday and the phone was still active, but this forecast is exactly why I hate winter as a cleaner...it is hard enough to stay afloat, but to have to fight nature is just too much.
So screw the holidays, heavy drinking will now commence.

Never give in, never give in. Never,  never give up. .. we have only to persevere, and conquere. Winston Churchill.

Its not over till you say its is. Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl harbor? It ain't over now... cuz when the going gets tough.... the tough get going.
Where's the spirit, where's the guts? Huh?
Werner..dead
Niedemier.. dead!
    -Pluto, animal house

Well said Matt, you quoted two of my favorites....actually looking forward to the Churchill movie.

It was just that I am trying to line up the annual bank cleaning which is pretty big ticket deal, but it will likely have to wait until the latter part of the month now...or they might decide to wait until Spring.

I just hate worrying about freeze damage every night. Both trucks are winterized and unloaded, but there are always those little things that seem to freeze anyway no matter what you do.

milspec6 wrote:So screw the holidays, heavy drinking will now commence.

This is the only thing I understand completely from all that you typed, been not in the mood for the holidays for the last few years now, every year for the last few years there is always something / someone that made me despise the holidays, I think I AM getting older, lol.

Sorry about the weather Bob, we hit low 40s 2 nights ago and I was freezing my butt off, I can’t imagine being in sub zero temperatures.

Holidays have been just something that I have to "get through" anymore.  It makes it tough that all my family members are quite successful and spend much of the time rubbing my nose in it.

This year, that event will be tomorrow and I am already contemplating on just staying home.  Even my nieces and nephews are old enough now to be just spoiled brats, I normally just end up shaking my head when I see them.

Oh well, there is still the major Grinch holiday when we gather to celebrate it being over for another year.

Bob, I know what's your saying,
My frustrations are different than your. But I'll take mine.
Right now I'm going thru the 2nd episode of being sick(other was just b4 thanksgiving), when I can't afford losing jobs while I'm out. Been out since wed, might be up and able by Christmas. Which means day after.

I hope you bounce back quickly Matt, having to push when ill is not fun. I have been lucky this year to not get ill, but I have passed 2 kidney stones while on the job thus far.

It was a long day of not choking my relatives, but I got through it. It was touch and go while my brother was telling me about how his estate in Hawaii was almost done and that he was going to build another home here to visit in the fall each year. The entire time that he was showing me the pictures I was wondering how high my electric bill will be in Jan.

Humbug

These are the temps forecasted for the next 7 nights:

2, -6, 10, 11, -1, -15, -13

If anything is going to freeze and bust this winter it will be this week...especially over the weekend when the daytime highs will be ZERO!!!

Just the thought of what is coming has me angry and helpless.

That's nuts Rob. I postponed a hotel job cause I couldn't clean in 20 degree weather.

You would have been proud of me. They put out 93 chairs in the parking lot took me.4 fricken hours. Surprisingly my back wasn't sore but my shoulder and ankle hurt the next day.

Getting sick of the cold here. All my joints hurt. As soon as my daughter goes to college, im
retiring to Thailand or central America. You can live like a.king there with 2k a month

93 chairs can cause a lot of soreness in odd places. I never get shoulder pain and although the back will be tight, it is always my left knee that gets me from lunging forward.

My neck is composed of two 3 inch metal plates and 32 screws so when it gets cold, it gets painful and stiff. It makes the winter a miserable time of the year regardless of everything else.

I've been to Central America....I'll take the cold, but you might be on the right track. Philippines might be nice.

Rob, I know people in Hawaii.
I can have someone run over, leave a brown paperbag with... some dog crap and a note "happy new year"

Then there's the story of one fed up family member put some shrimp, (yes, shrimp); in the curtain rods, of an annoying, selfish family member house.  Days later, as the smell got worse.....

Mo wrote:That's nuts Rob. I postponed a hotel job cause I couldn't clean in 20 degree weather.

You would have been proud of me. They put out 93 chairs in the parking lot took me.4 fricken hours. Surprisingly my back wasn't sore but my shoulder and ankle hurt the next day.

Getting sick of the cold here. All my joints hurt. As soon as my daughter goes to college, im
retiring to Thailand or central America. You can live like a.king there with 2k a month

Mo, with all the crap we have to deal with; taxes, politics, selfish people, melinials, news....
Finishing in Thailand or some other "low cost of living" country.... Looks more enticing.

Matt; My carpet cleaner wrote:Rob, I know people in Hawaii.
I can have someone run over, leave a brown paperbag with... some dog crap and a note "happy new year"

Then there's the story of one fed up family member put some shrimp, (yes, shrimp); in the curtain rods, of an annoying, selfish family member house.  Days later, as the smell got worse.....

I already got even with him about 10 years ago in a fashion that has long-lasting effects....I gave his daughter a box of puppies for Christmas. My Brother doesn't like animals and was not about to tolerate 6 puppies. He told me to take them back and I decided to help his daughter name them instead.

I was the greatest uncle in the World and he had to be the one to take them away, minus one. Every time I see that dog I know that I am still winning that little battle.

Minus 3 and dropping....hate it.

I hope everything was winterized well for both TM's. I tried to be aggressive about it this time around.

On the TNT:

- Vacuumed out the water box
- Blew out the LG heater with compressed air
- Ran 2 gallons of RV Antifreeze (-75 rated) through the system
- Added 3 more gallons and cycled it through the unit for 10 min
- Disconnected the psi gauge
- WD-40 the blower
- Drained the waste tank / WS deicer added to residue
- Removed the injection tank
- Pushed antifreeze through booster pump and injection system
- Removed all hoses, tools, chems off truck and stored inside

On Butler:

- Ran system dry
- Pumped 2 gallons WS Deicer through system until dry
- Cycled an additional 2 gallons RV antifreeze for 10 minutes
- Removed Psi Gauge
- Drained water tank and disconnected feed line
- Dumped Tank
- WD40 Blower
- Covered with moving blankets
- Keep a ceramic heater running inside when at home

I "should" be okay, but every year I go through this and every year there is some damage before winter ends. Most of the time it is to the fresh water tank as you can never remove all the water from the SS tank, but losing the LG heater last year was a bad hit.

Have I mentioned how much I hate winter?

Never got higher than 4 degrees today with -6 on the way along with -20 wind chill for the overnight.

That 20 degrees midweek will feel like a tropical paradise. It will allow me to find out if anything cracked. Right now, even the RV antifreeze is slush and would probably not leak until it gets above 15-20 degrees.

Will know in another day or so just in time for another horrible round this weekend. I will say this, if I get through these next 2 weeks without damage....I will be ready for anything this winter.

Both the neighbor's diesel and my buddy's propane delivery truck had their fuel gel up on them last night when the temps were around -8. My Isuzu fired right up and I drove it around for about 20 minutes to get the warm fluids moving before shutting down.

I do not want a gelled fuel system....those are a mess to deal with in the frigid cold. Fingers crossed.

Here, we keep diesel fuel treatment in the tank in cold weather and keep the 911 on hand.

If there is ANY biosoy diesel in a tank in cold weather, it WILL gel.

Good tip on the biosoy stuff....staying away from that. I get mine from the local station which sells the winter blended diesel, but suggests running anti-gel when below 15 degrees.

Right now, we can't even get above zero let alone 15 degrees. I run anti-gel in it year round, but I don't know how well it will work at -20 degrees like it was last night. I tripled the dose of additive into a full tank...not much else I can do.

It fires right up and doesn't seem affected except for the fan belt started to squeal on me after about 15 minutes so that will need addressed when it warms up a little.

Nothing else I can do right now except ride it out and pick up the pieces after the cold front passes in another week or two. Just hate worrying about what the damage will be this year.

At least the Butler is nice and warm and winterized so there will be at least TM still in the fight....might still have some minor damage, but shouldn't be a big deal.

When I worked in Ag, we doubled the treatment dose when it was 0 and below. One winter it was -45 for two days straight. AS long as you were plugged in 2 hours before you tried starting equipment, you were fine. At those temps, nothing would start if it wasn't plugged in though. Engines sure did rattle for the first 5 minutes in that cold though.

Back when I was in the military, there was a couple things we did in the cold weather that I am sure that epa wouldn't like today. We had a maintenance tent with canvas sides. Stopped the wind that was about it. But it had a diesel heater what's a tanks on the outside. 55-gallon drums exposed to the elements. Needless to say we had jeling problems then too. What we did was mixed 5 gallons of gas to a 55 gallon drum of diesel. Never had a problem with giniling after that and the heater work perfect.
The other thing, was mixing kerosene about the same ratio into the fuel it's a little thinner fuel Burns a little hotter. But with the dyes that's in the fuels today you couldn't run that in your trucks on the highway. The filters in the fuel system would catch the die and EPA would have a fit. So I guess you just have to deal with what they have over the counter nowadays

That makes sense ACE, I can sure see how kerosene would help. I think I have heard that from the farmers around here as well in their tractors.

It was a balmy 15 degrees today, felt like 50 in comparison.  Looks like I lost my water softener in the van though.  I disconnected it, but didn't remove it this year since it weighs a ton and I run a heater at all times in that van....normally stays around 50 degrees.

The power went out briefly last night as I slept and by the time I was able to check on the van, the damage was done as that heater doesn't re-start without turning it back on after a power loss.

The Butler TM was fine and well winterized, but the spun fiberglass is more like "un-spun" now on that softener.  I guess even salt water can't handle -18 degrees.



Oh well, I planned on switching to a commercial softener at the house instead in 2018 any way.  Everything else is still good with another round of -20 lows all weekend on the way.

Fingers still crossed.

Anyone want to switch? New Years Eve should be interesting.

https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/arlington-ne/68002/daily-weather-forecast/334380

Ummm as much as I love snow, those numbers scared the @$!# out of me, I don't think I dare to even visit, how the heck do planes landing in those temperatures ? Or even better question, how do they prevent their @$!# from freezing ?

The answer is generous de-icer being sprayed on the wings and not staying long. I don't think many pilots want to be on the ground for very long around here right now.

Heck, I just found 2 squirrels that froze to death in my front tree. Not a pretty place to be right now and certainly not when you business relies on water.

I will not be able to do any work until probably at least mid-month. Just going to sit here and watch my money burn.