I’ve a dilemma ..
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I’ve a problem. @Renauda ?? Anyone.. advice?? I really should drive 160kms north (yellow->blue circled temps) to check on a condo & a truck parked outside in minus-fvck-40 weather. The condo should be okay, but I’ve a 2014 truck with its block heater plugged into an extension cord rated to -40 & it’s exposed to wind. I usually start any vehicle to run it a bit daily when it’s this cold, but these block heater & extension cords get real brittle, & I worry they’ll snap. So, should I sit & wait til it warms up 10 degrees? The highway should be better plowed today. I want to go & be home for Christmas. I’ve no one up there to check things for me (they’re in sunny Mexico)
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Road conditions and visibility between Calgary and Red Deer are good.
As for the truck (which I assume is a 4x4 with gasoline engine and not diesel) how old is your battery and how many miles since last oil change? If battery is five years or older and you are close to next oil change, I would wait. Regardless of block heater, extreme cold like it is right now reduces batteries by at least 45% and does strange things to engine lubricants.
If you are comfortable with the battery and are at least half way between oil changes you should be good to go. You might want to consider stopping at a Canadian Tire on the way and pick up a battery saver that you can plug-in and it will keep your battery at full charge while it is parked over night at -40 or colder. Between your block heater and that you ought not to have a problem.
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"My pronouns are FA/FO." - Mik, 2024
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“Little by little I am learning the art of being quite content by doing very little slowly” ~ Lionel Hardcastle
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@Renauda said in I’ve a dilemma ..:
With the wind here it’s -43C. Sun is shining and just finished shovelling the sidewalks. Elm trees are snapping like gunshots from the cold. City roads are sheer ice and I see no sign of any sanding trucks.
Life is good.
I had quite enough of that in Madison, WI. -28F before wind chill.
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Thanks. I’ve been going back & forth what I should do. It’s likely too late to leave now & get back before it’s cold again (4pm). I am not staying overnight in that weather because I’d be driving an older, lighter SUV. Im not worried of the parked truck’s battery ( it’s good). I’m most worried of snapping its tight fitting block heater cord-plug in -40 weather. Could this happen??? Is it really worth it just to drive up there to check things? The truck is in full sun facing south. That’s good for daytime. I’m now thinking just to be patient & let it sit til it’s a bit warmer .. my dad might even say that if he were alive … like too many risks to take when things could go bad in bitter weather.
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When I lived in Peterborough, Ontario we used to have a weekly conference call with a sister company based in Edmonton. In the winter months it always reminded me that as bad as things were, they could always be worse.
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Current wind chill here is -15F, will bein the -30s later this week after we get about 8" of snow tomorrow. Fun times. During my lunch break just now I was outside working to clear a carburetor on a snow blower (just bought at an estate sale) and it's funny how quick the cold reminds you of your limited time working with your hands on anything.
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I have never had issues with block heater chords. Nor have my friends who own diesel trucks with block heater and battery warmers.
I would be more wary of drifting snow leaving black ice patches and, of course, the speeding yahoos on the winter highways.
“Little by little I am learning the art of being quite content by doing very little slowly” ~ Lionel Hardcastle
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@Renauda said in I’ve a dilemma ..:
I have never had issues with block heater chords. Nor have my friends who own diesel trucks with block heater and battery warmers.
I would be more wary of drifting snow leaving black ice patches and, of course, the speeding yahoos on the winter highways.
This!
Black ice is scary stuff. One of several reasons to not travel when the weather gets bad.
Speeding yahoos add to the trouble of traveling in bad weather.
Renauda and I are in full agreement.Got a blizzard headed our way starting tomorrow. Errands are done. Just want to keep our power and heat so no pipes freeze. Have not had any problems with that, but this one is supposed to last several days. Trees here are heavily loaded with snow already, and more snow with high winds could create downed powerlines.
Stay safe everyone!
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Black ice is scary stuff.
It’s unpredictably bad around the area where Blondie is planning to go. Right now we have just a cold arctic high with clear skies. Pavement is 98% free of ice. But there are also gusting NW winds which blow and drift snow across the highway. That can create black ice. Switch off your 4 wheel drive because you’re on dry pavement then hit that at 60 mph, you’re in the ditch in a heartbeat, and lucky if you didn’t roll.
“Little by little I am learning the art of being quite content by doing very little slowly” ~ Lionel Hardcastle
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Yup, Renauda is right on. I've experienced black ice many times with a scary result. The worst part is that it looks like normal pavement, dark, maybe dry, or maybe looks wet. Even worse at night. Then you hit it, and everything's fine, until the car starts into a slide. And if you have posi-traction and rear wheel drive, you will most assuredly end up in the ditch, and nothing you can do about it. It's one instance where a limited slip differential is not good, especially if combined with non-ABS brakes.
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@Rainman Im safe and sound, not travelling. What will be will be with my truck. Yes, a couple of terror points on that highway. Have been travelling it for decades. Black ice is bad .. I never realized how bad til one day I was pulled over in a queue waiting for an accident to clear, and then an hour into it decided to exit my truck to get a cup of coffee (rcmp had a warming bus for us). I fell flat on my arse waddling on the side of the highway despite grippy boots.
As an aside, climate people have their heads in the clouds of electric vehicles here in winter. There’s just no way. -
@Renauda said in I’ve a dilemma ..:
Black ice is scary stuff.
It’s unpredictably bad around the area where Blondie is planning to go. Right now we have just a cold arctic high with clear skies. Pavement is 98% free of ice. But there are also gusting NW winds which blow and drift snow across the highway. That can create black ice. Switch off your 4 wheel drive because you’re on dry pavement then hit that at 60 mph, you’re in the ditch in a heartbeat, and lucky if you didn’t roll.
Renauda, that's exactly what happened to our little family of three 25 years ago, except we hit it at 75 mph. Hubby was driving us home on Interstate 90 after visiting his grandmother in Luverne, Minnesooooooota. We were in my new 1991 Chevy 3/4 ton pickup truck. I saw what I thought could be black ice ahead on the highway, told hubby to take it off cruise control and three seconds later we hit the ice.
Fortunately, there were no vehicles near us. We slid forwards for a while, then very gradually began to turn sideways. We slid down the interstate across both lanes with this extended cab and 8-foot bed pickup. After a while, we gradually turned again to face the headlights of the vehicles following us. They had the advantage of seeing us sliding, and they had all slowed down before they reached the ice.
We slid backwards for quite a while. Hubby and I talked to each other during all this. I checked on our three year old daughter who was asleep in her car seat between us. I remember telling hubby I was glad she was still asleep. Eventually, the truck started sliding toward the outer ditch, not the median. By the time we began entering the ditch, we estimated we were still going 50 to 60 mph. With that much speed and the size of the truck, we had a significant amount of force. The ditch had a slight slope down from the highway. We entered the ditch almost parallel to the highway, and went backwards for at least the length of a football field.
The weeds in the ditch were halfway up the side of my window, as I was on the higher side of the ditch. The truck felt like it was going to roll. The pressure was incredible. Hubby was completely pressed up against the driver's side door on the lower side of the ditch. I remember saying over and over, "Please don't roll. Please don't roll." Both hubby and I really thought it was inevitable that we would start rolling. I still can't believe we didn't.
By the time the truck stopped moving, we were very far from the highway, and I wondered if we had entered one of the marsh areas along that stretch of the interstate. We could see tall weeds all around us, but no ice or water, just two very long tracks from our tires going through all those tall weeds.
Daughter finally woke up. After all the extreme shaking of plowing through the weeds, and the noise of them scraping against the truck, it was when the truck stopped and the ruckus was over that she woke up and looked around.
"Momma, where are we?"
"We're in the ditch, honey."
"Momma, why did Daddy drive us in the ditch?"
"Daddy didn't drive us into the ditch, honey. We slid in after sliding on some ice."
Hubby and I had our first laugh.Hubby and I were still very shaken. He asked me what we should do. I said, "Put 'er in 4, and let's try to drive out." Hubby said we would never make it straight up through all the weeds. He thought I meant to turn the truck sideways to drive up the steep slope to the road. I told him, "No, we're going to drive back out of here using the same tracks we made going in." He thought I was nuts.
However, this was my primary vehicle, not his. I knew this truck, and I had a strong understanding that it should be able to make it out. I insisted. I am a stubborn person, and I know when to persist. He couldn't believe how well it worked. Everything was icy, except that track we had already made, so why not use it. It was a long way out, but I don't think we had a choice.
There were several cars and other vehicles parked on the shoulder of the highway near the point where we had initially started going into the ditch. As we got closer to the road, we could begin to see them over the tall weeds. It took a while to finally get back to the highway, and they were so excited to see us drive out of that ditch! People were clapping over their heads, cheering, and laughing!
They asked us if we were okay, and though we were still shaking, we told them we were alright. One man just shook hubby's hand and said. "At least let me pull the weeds out of your bumper!" He pulled enormous wads of shredded weeds out from there and around the entire front of the truck.
We still had nearly 100 miles to go to get home, and we took it very slowly the rest of the trip. The next day, I had my truck examined at the dealership for any damage. There was none.
I still have my truck, and I dearly love it.
Blondie, stay off the roads for now.
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"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
