Did i mention I hate the cold..

[socca]

During my first couple of years near Chicago I lived in an apartment with outside parking. On the very coldest nights, I would go out and start my car at 1 am and 4 am so that my car would start up nicely at 7 am so I could drive to work. Unpleasant? Absolutely. However, when dealing with Mother Nature you do what you gotta do …

 

[MRG]

During my first couple of years near Chicago I lived in an apartment with outside parking. On the very coldest nights, I would go out and start my car at 1 am and 4 am so that my car would start up nicely at 7 am so I could drive to work. Unpleasant? Absolutely. However, when dealing with Mother Nature you do what you gotta do …

Back in the 70s we had two VW bugs. I'd run extension cords out and put heat lamps in close to the battery. While they never were warm they started.

 

[Sprink-Fitter]

I wonder why people that hate the cold stay in the cold state they live in.

 

[Music Lover]

I wonder why people that hate the cold stay in the cold state they live in.

Because there's a lot more to life than weather.

 

[Nick12]

Because there's a lot more to life than weather.

In Florida, it's all about the weather, no state income tax and low property taxes compared to liberal states out West or up North. For improved traffic, health care, education, smaller roaches, getting out of hurricane alley, a state with landscapes, better drivers, and a state that can read a voting ballot correctly, you need to look outside of Florida.

 

[jimandthom]

Back in the 70s we had two VW bugs. I'd run extension cords out and put heat lamps in close to the battery. While they never were warm they started.

Yeah--- the heaters/defrosters were a tad deficient in heating. Always had to have a scrapper or similar handy to keep the windshield from icing up on the inside.

We had oversized snow tires on ours, and it could go through most anything.

 

[W2R]

Back in the 70s we had two VW bugs. I'd run extension cords out and put heat lamps in close to the battery. While they never were warm they started.

Yeah--- the heaters/defrosters were a tad deficient in heating. Always had to have a scrapper or similar handy to keep the windshield from icing up on the inside.

We had oversized snow tires on ours, and it could go through most anything.

I can't even imagine going out in weather like that! I'd probably stay inside with the heater on full blast, and have everything delivered until temperatures were above freezing.

It's warmer here, which probably sounds like bragging but check back with me in August.

Today I wore my shorts and sandals again, although TBH I was really pushing it. The high was 66F, and usually I wait until it is around 68F-70F first. Today was sunny for a while, which helped. All in all, I wasn't too cold since we didn't stay outside very long.

 

[Carpediem]

On the very coldest nights, I would go out and start my car at 1 am and 4 am so that my car would start up nicely at 7 am so I could drive to work.

Brings back memories of my days in MN when I'd have to go start my car a couple of times during the workday so it would start at the end of the day. Of course I was usually parked in the back 40, which meant quite a cold walk to the car each time.

 

[txtig]

To me, "cold" is anything with a high below 65F. :[/.QUOTE]


I’m with W2R on this. I just like hot weather better and don’t give a hoot for cold weather. I live in the Houston area, and we’ve had quite a bit of too-cold weather this winter. If I could talk DW into being a bit further away from our grandkids, I’d be all-in on moving to someplace that it never gets below 70 degrees.

 

[Bigdawg]

From earlier, I'm in Milwaukee this week taking care of a buddy after surgery. I was scheduled to go back to MD on Wednesday. With the wind chill expected to be -55 on Wednesday I changed my flight to tomorrow. In the next 24 hours Milwaukee is expected to get 7-14 inches of snow. Temp's hovering around 0. Lovely.

 

[RAE]

I wonder why people that hate the cold stay in the cold state they live in.

Lots of reasons - family, friends, dislike of extremely hot/humid weather during the summer, financial considerations, recreational opportunities that would be hard to duplicate elsewhere, etc, etc.. In our case, we live in an area with a cold climate, but we snowbird for 3 months (might be 4 soon) to escape the worst of the winter. I will probably never move my permanent home out of the Upper Midwest, for all of the above reasons, but that doesn't mean I have to stay there for 12 months each year.

 

[Moemg]

Florida has been cold . I have had the heat on a lot more than previous years.

 

[aaronc879]

Florida has been cold . I have had the heat on a lot more than previous years.

I'll be sure to think about you sad souls in Florida when i'm getting out of work and getting into my car that's been sitting outside for 12 hours when it's -20, -45 with the windchill in a couple days.

 

[NW-Bound]

The local temperature here has been in the high 40s for the low, and high 60s for the high.

I have been exercising my DIY solar power storage system for testing, and not yet having it hooked into the house wiring system, been using the harvested power to run portable electric heaters via an extension cord to burn off the collected power.

The daily power collection is around 15kWh, which is puny for a 5.5kW system, but that's because its orientation is optimized for summer operation (to operate the AC).

The "free" heat keeps the room where the heaters are located at the low 70s during the day, and the high 60s during the night. Yes, one heater is kept running throughout the night with the stored juice.

A gain of 3x to 4x in kWh would result if that power were used to run a heat pump, and this is in the plan.

 

[MarieIG]

I'll be sure to think about you sad souls in Florida when i'm getting out of work and getting into my car that's been sitting outside for 12 hours when it's -20, -45 with the windchill in a couple days.

 

[Dtail]

I'll be sure to think about you sad souls in Florida when i'm getting out of work and getting into my car that's been sitting outside for 12 hours when it's -20, -45 with the windchill in a couple days.

now now remember we will have 90+ degrees for 6 straight months soon enough.

 

[Nick12]

Some of the older homes and beach bungalows in the Miami area and Keys do not even heat. When the temps drop to 40 degrees for an hour or two, the locals just deal with it.

 

[Nick12]

now now remember we will have 90+ degrees for 6 straight months soon enough.

That's true and when the weather is hot I tend to eat less ( and drink more), and when the weather is cold I tend to go into hibernation and eat more.

 

[Music Lover]

I'm on my way to Florida (driving) and it's about 40F here. My hometown is currently -35C with a low of -39 expected. -40C and -40F are the same. Last night the windchill reached -51C or -60F. I definitely left at the right time!!!

 

[Pellice]

A question about cars -
Now that I'm FIREed, I have the luxury of staying home during this two day cold snap. Should I start my car daily? I am not planning to use it until this cold is over. It is not garaged. I am not in the extrem-est cold that people are experiencing. It has gotten up to 15 today and will be in the 20s tomorrow, and then above freezing on Saturday. My sense is that I don't need to - the car is fairly recent, 2017. But I wanted to ask, as there are people here who do know!

 

[Jerry1]

A question about cars -
Now that I'm FIREed, I have the luxury of staying home during this two day cold snap. Should I start my car daily? I am not planning to use it until this cold is over. It is not garaged. I am not in the extrem-est cold that people are experiencing. It has gotten up to 15 today and will be in the 20s tomorrow, and then above freezing on Saturday. My sense is that I don't need to - the car is fairly recent, 2017. But I wanted to ask, as there are people here who do know!

No. On a newer car, the most likely problem is that extreme cold will weaken the battery and you’d need a jump or a new battery. Starting it won’t change that and may even cause it. Being a 2017, your battery is not even old enough to have a problem. Relax.

 

[Which Roger]

My wife is from the UP. Just looked at forecast. brrr now I know the real reason she married me 49 years ago. She wanted to move to where it was much warmer

During a cold snap, the parts of the UP near The Big Lake are among the warmest places in the midwest. There was a morning last year (or was it the year before?) where it was +15 in the Keweenaw, the same temp as Atlanta. Directly west of the UP in the interior of northern Minnesota, it was a full 50 degrees colder. And Chicago was 30 degrees colder.

 

[rayinpenn]

A question about cars -
Now that I'm FIREed, I have the luxury of staying home during this two day cold snap. Should I start my car daily? I am not planning to use it until this cold is over. It is not garaged. I am not in the extrem-est cold that people are experiencing. It has gotten up to 15 today and will be in the 20s tomorrow, and then above freezing on Saturday. My sense is that I don't need to - the car is fairly recent, 2017. But I wanted to ask, as there are people here who do know!

Cold saps a batteries output and thickens the oil.. so harder to turnover with less juice.. newer car should be fine especially if you wait to a heat wave of 25 degrees. I remember skiing in Vermont teens below zero we got up every 3 hours and started the car all night long. Result ->car was fine in the morning. Girls with new trans am next to us vapor lock and no start

 

[bloom2708]

I wonder why people that hate the cold stay in the cold state they live in.

I can't convince anyone (anyone!) to move.

Moving by myself without the wife and 3 kids would have dire consequences.

They ask me if I'm ok when I say I want to get out of this winter hole. I think it is the opposite.

Stasis is hard to move.

 

[ckelly78z]

now now remember we will have 90+ degrees for 6 straight months soon enough.

Bring on the 90 degrees, I still got things done every day this last Summer, including a 200' trench for new 220V service for the shop I am building. and working on several cars/backhoe. We also went camping about every other weekend through the Summer.

This cold crap has kept me inside rebuilding a bathroom, but too cold lately to do even that .