-10 (f) here this AM...

[SidecarFlip]

It is cold out this fine morning. I cannot remember the last time it was this cold here. 6039 is in Notch 8 and eating corn like a drunken sailor drinks rum.... and still the central furnace is cycling on and off every half hour.

Always a bit concerned about running in the higher heat range's with my custom algorithms. Fuel feed in the higher ranges usually causes the 6039 to go into overheat shutdown but not this morning, she's hot though. I need to keep an eye on it. No point in having it shutdown when it's as cold as it is outside.

Supposed to get up to a hot 15 above today... Guess it's time to put on the shorts and go play in the snow...lol

We got 12" of snow night before last so we do have a nice snowpack on the roof to help insulate the shack.

 

[rickwai]

-7f here this am

 

[johneh]

-28 sorry Sidecare Flip -19 this morning
wind chill -31 -24 Suns shinning nice day

 

[Ssyko]

-14 this morning, 21 when i went to lunch. Back down to 4 now. I don’t wanna talk about snow im sooooo over snow
Out my front window

 

[FirepotPete]

-13 °f here this morning. 12th day in a row with temps below -0°f at some point of the day. Mostly at night of course which I suspect will make tomorrow day #13 of below the Fahrenheit egg.
Getting warmer in the next few days, so hopefully the end is near. Then again 3 years ago we got the 24" storm on April 14-15th I think. The year after another storm with ice then 6" of snow in April. Flash melt a day after and flooding everywhere, I had water coming in a window in the basement, never had that in this house in over 20 years.
Both make a mess, killed a lot of vegetation that had sprouted, even large areas of my grass got wiped out. Cedars burnt bad, a 10 year old Japanese Maple totally frozen out by the ice.
Well damn, that was encouraging...

On a positive side, like flip I'm running my old 6039hf pretty hard those days. Hadn't really used it much this winter, very mild, probably the last I will use it. I need to downsize and my pickup is the logical choice to sell at this point. I really only use it now to move corn two or three times a year, no camper anymore, boat is gone and I don't need one with relatives having them where I fish.

The 6039 has served me well over the years. My kids and their friends would flood the living room after being outside in the winter huddling around it like I did as a kid back in the '60's with the wood stoves and fuel oil standing heaters.

Just love the steady warmth and knowing a good portion of the money I spent on corn and some pellets didn't go to the energy monopolies.

 

[gfreek]

0 F here this morning, sunny and balmy 20 F degrees this afternoon. Don't really mind the snow, it's the darn cold..

 

[SidecarFlip]

-14 this morning, 21 when i went to lunch. Back down to 4 now. I don’t wanna talk about snow im sooooo over snow
Out my front window

View attachment 274821

I can relate to that real well. Had to put masking tape on my pantlegs to keep the powder out when filling the bird feeders today.

 

[SidecarFlip]

-13 °f here this morning. 12th day in a row with temps below -0°f at some point of the day. Mostly at night of course which I suspect will make tomorrow day #13 of below the Fahrenheit egg.
Getting warmer in the next few days, so hopefully the end is near. Then again 3 years ago we got the 24" storm on April 14-15th I think. The year after another storm with ice then 6" of snow in April. Flash melt a day after and flooding everywhere, I had water coming in a window in the basement, never had that in this house in over 20 years.
Both make a mess, killed a lot of vegetation that had sprouted, even large areas of my grass got wiped out. Cedars burnt bad, a 10 year old Japanese Maple totally frozen out by the ice.
Well damn, that was encouraging...

On a positive side, like flip I'm running my old 6039hf pretty hard those days. Hadn't really used it much this winter, very mild, probably the last I will use it. I need to downsize and my pickup is the logical choice to sell at this point. I really only use it now to move corn two or three times a year, no camper anymore, boat is gone and I don't need one with relatives having them where I fish.

The 6039 has served me well over the years. My kids and their friends would flood the living room after being outside in the winter huddling around it like I did as a kid back in the '60's with the wood stoves and fuel oil standing heaters.

Just love the steady warmth and knowing a good portion of the money I spent on corn and some pellets didn't go to the energy monopolies.

You need to keep it. Just grab a few bags of pellets for those real cold winter evenings...

 

[SidecarFlip]

I have to say, I set a new corn-pellet usage record today. In the last 24 hours with the cold, I've loaded in 3 full buckets of mix or about 130 pounds total. It's been on high fire (Notch 8 out of 9) for the last 24 hours and it's a hot potato too. I never run that high up. Usually, anything over 7 and it will kick itself off from overheat (high limit) not this time. Just eating fuel like a drunken sailor downs rum...

Got plenty to burn and more where that came from if I need more so fuel is a non issue.

The outside air pipe to the stove has a nice layer of frost on it too and I was outside filling the bird feeders and noticed the top of the venting (above the roof line), there was vapor coming out from the rain cap. Only ever seen that once before, years ago when it was real cold. Saw it again today, not smoke, vapor.

House is at 70 and I'm eating water pretty fast in the humidifer too. RH is about 45% according to the humidistat in the kitchen. Central furnace ran a couple times this morning and that was it.

Cats and wife are all enjoying it. All around the 'hot box'...snoozing.

Just checked the outdoor temp. Down to 9 again already. Hope the buggy starts in the morning I have a doctors appointment at 10am. She groaned a bit today when I warmed it up. New battery time this summer.

people blame the cold on killing a battery when in fact it's the heat of summer that kills a battery (flooded cell). Heat kills them but your motor don't need s lot of CCA to start when it's 70 out but when it gets cold, the starter requires a ton of CCAs and a tired battery cannot deliver it.

 

[railfanron]

We were -15 this morning in Central Michigan. Had my "Yuppie" Harman (LOL) on manual all night so it stayed burning on low fire all night ramping up a couple of times an hour for a few minutes. Kept the family room (26 x 32 with a vaulted ceiling ) at 67 the night time set point. It also supplied some of the heat for the front part of the house as the furnace didn't run any more than normal. Put her back on full auto in the morning when the sun came out and ran the temp up to 71 the daytime set point. Did my one burnpot scrape (about a 20 second job) and dumped a bag of pellets in it. Burning about a bag and a half a day in this kind of weather. The most I burned in a day was about this time 3 years ago or so. The furnace blew an Igniter on a Friday night. I had a spare but dropped and broke it when I was installing it. So we went the weekend on just the pellet stove and 2 small cube heaters. It was -20 every night until Monday and we kept the front of the house at 68 and the family room at 75. Those were close to or a little over 2 bags a day.
Ron

 

[Lordtimothy200]

We are on a warming trend here. 2 nights ago though it was -31. Very little wind and that is a huge help to keeping this old house warm. Main thing I hate about winter time is that stuff breaks. Both our Van and truck had engine pulleys shell out on them in the last week. Years ago I had a snow clearing business and the only time things would break would be 3am on Sunday morning with -30 wind-chill. Learned to hate winter because of that.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Thank the Lord my big cabbed Kubota starts right up no matter how cold it is. 5 seconds on the pre heat, a short crank and it's running. I give it a 15 minute warm up, back it out of the barn and start plowing and blowing snow and yanking stupid drivers out of the ditch (did 2 yesterday and could have done another this morning but I passed). Too cold to be fiddling around with an idiot. He finally got with a wrecker. Bet it cost him at least 100 bucks.

Car was slow to crank. new battery time. it's a 2014 battery, past it's useful life anyway. I usually change them out every 5 years anyway. Got a little lax and almost paid for it today.

 

[SidecarFlip]

We were -15 this morning in Central Michigan. Had my "Yuppie" Harman (LOL) on manual all night so it stayed burning on low fire all night ramping up a couple of times an hour for a few minutes. Kept the family room (26 x 32 with a vaulted ceiling ) at 67 the night time set point. It also supplied some of the heat for the front part of the house as the furnace didn't run any more than normal. Put her back on full auto in the morning when the sun came out and ran the temp up to 71 the daytime set point. Did my one burnpot scrape (about a 20 second job) and dumped a bag of pellets in it. Burning about a bag and a half a day in this kind of weather. The most I burned in a day was about this time 3 years ago or so. The furnace blew an Igniter on a Friday night. I had a spare but dropped and broke it when I was installing it. So we went the weekend on just the pellet stove and 2 small cube heaters. It was -20 every night until Monday and we kept the front of the house at 68 and the family room at 75. Those were close to or a little over 2 bags a day.
Ron

Gotta watch those hot surface ignitors, they are very brittle. I keep 2 spares on each furnace in the house and in the rentals too. They like to fail at the most inconvenient times.

 

[rickwai]

I have to say, I set a new corn-pellet usage record today. In the last 24 hours with the cold, I've loaded in 3 full buckets of mix or about 130 pounds total. It's been on high fire (Notch 8 out of 9) for the last 24 hours and it's a hot potato too. I never run that high up. Usually, anything over 7 and it will kick itself off from overheat (high limit) not this time. Just eating fuel like a drunken sailor downs rum...

Got plenty to burn and more where that came from if I need more so fuel is a non issue.

The outside air pipe to the stove has a nice layer of frost on it too and I was outside filling the bird feeders and noticed the top of the venting (above the roof line), there was vapor coming out from the rain cap. Only ever seen that once before, years ago when it was real cold. Saw it again today, not smoke, vapor.

House is at 70 and I'm eating water pretty fast in the humidifer too. RH is about 45% according to the humidistat in the kitchen. Central furnace ran a couple times this morning and that was it.

Cats and wife are all enjoying it. All around the 'hot box'...snoozing.

Just checked the outdoor temp. Down to 9 again already. Hope the buggy starts in the morning I have a doctors appointment at 10am. She groaned a bit today when I warmed it up. New battery time this summer.

people blame the cold on killing a battery when in fact it's the heat of summer that kills a battery (flooded cell). Heat kills them but your motor don't need s lot of CCA to start when it's 70 out but when it gets cold, the starter requires a ton of CCAs and a tired battery cannot deliver it.

I went out to start the wifes 2014 CR-V this morning and it was real slow cranking. It was in the garage out of the wind but got down to -7F. We traded it in yesterday afternoon on a 2021 Toyota Highlander. It would have been just my luck that the battery would have crapped the day I was getting rid of it! The Highlander has a battery that looks big enough to be in a diesel!

 

[SidecarFlip]

I never buy new cars or trucks, I don't do payment books. When I buy a vehicle, I always buy off lease, low mileage with the factory warranty still in effect.

My opinion is, it's a bad time to buy anything new anyway, the economy is teetering on the brink of a full blown recession.

 

[rickwai]

I never buy new cars or trucks, I don't do payment books. When I buy a vehicle, I always buy off lease, low mileage with the factory warranty still in effect.

My opinion is, it's a bad time to buy anything new anyway, the economy is teetering on the brink of a full blown recession.

Im with you on both. The difference between certified used and new was minimal. The inground swimming pool service/ repair business has treated us well over the last 30yrs. People have a pool in the back yard and want to keep it nice.

 

[tlc1976]

For the first time this season we had below zero temps. Yesterday -5f and today -1. Funny because all this time it stayed above zero and now that it’s supposed to be getting warmer, it’s getting colder.

 

[tlc1976]

I never buy new cars or trucks, I don't do payment books. When I buy a vehicle, I always buy off lease, low mileage with the factory warranty still in effect.

My opinion is, it's a bad time to buy anything new anyway, the economy is teetering on the brink of a full blown recession.

I buy cheap vehicles from individuals and have had good luck. I choose vehicles that are reliable and easy to work on. My opinion of dealers is you pay more and they are more skilled at lying and hiding problems. Except for my first car, I’ve never paid more than $1500 for a vehicle. That was for a 96 Cherokee I got in 2015 which is my winter daily driver.

One thing I might suggest buying now if someone is thinking about it, is a more fuel efficient car. If gas goes back to $4-$5 a gallon, it will be slim pickings and high prices. I remember before when a used Prius was more than a new one because you couldn’t get one, and people were reviving old Geo Metros and making bank when you previously couldn’t give them away.

Thankfully I only drive 9 miles to work and back, and the days of 700 mile weekends for child visitation are over.

 

[SidecarFlip]

I went out to start the wifes 2014 CR-V this morning and it was real slow cranking. It was in the garage out of the wind but got down to -7F. We traded it in yesterday afternoon on a 2021 Toyota Highlander. It would have been just my luck that the battery would have crapped the day I was getting rid of it! The Highlander has a battery that looks big enough to be in a diesel!

New batteries are a helluva lot cheaper than a new vehicle with a new battery but I appreciate you contributing to the economy anyway.

My wife's suburban came with ONE battery but had a tray on the opposite side of the engine bay for another so I added a second battery and used welding cable to tie it to the existing one. Two are better than one in my view, especially with all the electronics on the 'burb. Now I have 4000CCA to crank over the big V8 gas hog.

My diesel pickup has twin Group 31 Interstates. Same ones I use in the tractors.

 

[SidecarFlip]

I buy cheap vehicles from individuals and have had good luck. I choose vehicles that are reliable and easy to work on. My opinion of dealers is you pay more and they are more skilled at lying and hiding problems. Except for my first car, I’ve never paid more than $1500 for a vehicle. That was for a 96 Cherokee I got in 2015 which is my winter daily driver.

One thing I might suggest buying now if someone is thinking about it, is a more fuel efficient car. If gas goes back to $4-$5 a gallon, it will be slim pickings and high prices. I remember before when a used Prius was more than a new one because you couldn’t get one, and people were reviving old Geo Metros and making bank when you previously couldn’t give them away.

Thankfully I only drive 9 miles to work and back, and the days of 700 mile weekends for child visitation are over.

Being the hermits my wife and I are, we put less than 5000 miles on the cars yearly. Bank on the 4-5 buck gas, it's coming and soon. Tickled I get 40 mpg highway, 38 city. Wife goes to Kroger for her online grocery pickup and I go to the post office and bank about every week and thats it. No work miles at all. Retired. Lots of tractor miles though as I farm but that fuel is a write off as a farm expense.

 

[rickwai]

New batteries are a helluva lot cheaper than a new vehicle with a new battery but I appreciate you contributing to the economy anyway.

My wife's suburban came with ONE battery but had a tray on the opposite side of the engine bay for another so I added a second battery and used welding cable to tie it to the existing one. Two are better than one in my view, especially with all the electronics on the 'burb. Now I have 4000CCA to crank over the big V8 gas hog.

My diesel pickup has twin Group 31 Interstates. Same ones I use in the tractors.

Yeah It was not cheap. The last time I bought new was about 25 yrs ago. We had several Buicks between then and now. I loved the 3.6L v-6. I ran them up to 150-200K miles. I just got my first vehicle w/ power windows a couple yrs ago for myself. I would just keep a decent beater around for me and a good vehicle for the wife. I am in a work truck for the 7 warm months then run my '11 CR-V in the winter for stove service and such. May put 5k Mi./yr on it. This is the last year for college for our daughter, we have no loans car payments or mortgage, we were able to help her with a portion of her tuition out of pocket and she has minimal student loan debt and will have a 4 yr degree from Penn State. Could we have afforded to pay for her education out of pocket, yes but that does not teach a kid anything. They need some skin in the game and it is the parents job to guide and steer them in the right direction to keep them from getting way in over there head. Hence the proposed Biden student loan forgiveness!! Im a blue collar kind of guy, I did not go to college but it is not that hard to not spend more than is coming in. I have educated my daughter from a young age the importance of finance. She is married at 20 to a US Marine and is in North Carolina doing great. They are looking to buy a condo down there to live in until he is done then rent it as a income property. So I am thrifty just like you. The wife has nicknamed me squeaky! And I say, I dont mind spending money, I just dont want to waste it.

 

[johneh]

I've been told I am as tight as a ducks ass
and that's watertight

 

[SidecarFlip]

My issue with buying new (besides finance charges) is, new vehicles depreciate pretty quick in the first 2 years and then level off somewhat, so you are 'in the hole' as far as value goes as soon as you drive it off the lot.

Why I only buy off lease (and has to be a manufacturers lease and not a private lease like a rental car company who never maintain anything anyway), and why I but them from a new car dealer where the customer turns them in and leases another of the same make from that dealer. My wife's Suburban LTZ came from a local GM dealer, off lease on a new lease and it loaded beyond belief. Sticker (I have it) was 87 grand. I bought it for 28 grand but it did have over the factory lease mileage on it with a clean car fax and all the maintenance records, serviced at that dealer and of course it's 4wd and of course it has a big V8 which you need to haul a bus around anyway. Paid cash of course. They wanted to throw in this and that for more (naturally). I passed. They did change all the tires to new and the brakes but of course I checked them anyway and replaced all of them with ceramic pads anyway. I do all my own work. Changed all the fluids too, I mean everything from brake fluid to differential lube.

My little Focus was also off lease (Red Carpet Ford, lease new every 2, I love that), leased by a gal, 22K miles with the balance of the factory warranty, clean car fax... It was a 5 speed which is a hard vehicle to sell anyway, new or used, people today, especially young urban people don't know how to drive anything with a shift lever that isn't PRNDL. Me, I prefer a standard box. I was raised on a clutch and my entire working career was driving a 13 double over. All my farm tractors are standards to...12x12 powershifts. No issue with that. I've never replaced a clutch and never wore one out in the big trucks I drove either and that includes the International Eagle double bunk conventional I have in the barn, hooked to my 40 foot hopper bottom grain trailer. During harvest season I contract out to local farmers to haul their grain to the local elevators.

Anyway, the Focus stickered for 23 (have that one as well) and I got it for 11 out the door, tax title included.; The original owner took the depreciation hit and it was mint too. All I've done to it in 55K miles is put on 4 new tires and replaced the front pads and rotors and of course changed the oil and will need a new battery in the summer. Ford uses cheap pads and linings as well as Chinese rotors. it got Stop Tech pads, DLC coated rotors and Stop Tech rear shoes. Tires, I buy them from Tire Rack have them delivered to the house and mount and balance them myself. I own a tire machine and spin balancer.

Half the cost battle is doing your own work and never, never taking your vehicle to a 10 minute oil change place. The idiots that work there don't have a clue for one and will put in the cheapest oil and filter and charge you for the best and you have no way of knowing what you get. Same goes with the bogus transmission flush. NEVER flush an automatic transmission, worst thing you can ever do. Just drop the pan (and pull the plug if it has one, every 60K miles. install a new (high flow) filter, clean the pan out, refill with the correct fluid at the correct amount (listed in your owners manual) and be happy.

The so called flushing of an auto trans circulates all the debris in the filter and the sump back through the trans and there are a ton of check valves and detent balls inside the valve body and the recycled dirt can and will cause them to malfunction. Bad business all around. But then I do all that myself and have for years. I will admit being old has slowed the process down a bit but I can still do it, just takes more time.

 

[SidecarFlip]

I've been told I am as tight as a ducks ass
and that's watertight

We all are. Why we use alternate fuels to heat with. It's about choices and being cheap.

 

[Ssyko]

I've been told I am as tight as a ducks ass
and that's watertight

I have been called that!! Don’t think duck was in the phrase though lol