Hats off to you cold clime guys and gals

Jeez, yesterday started replacing the ol' water heater.

You know the drill, get the item, make two more trips to the hardware store to get the right fittings and all, get exposed to modernism in the form of some quick connect fittings - good for water only I suspect.
Cut the door flange thingy a touch wider so the 22" water heater can go through the useta was 22" opening - I think GEs tape measure is different than mine.

Anyway, shoulda been pleasant yesterday, 56 degrees max, but the jet stream is dropping down and the north wind was cold, but livable.

Today, the high is 34 so far, 15-20 mph north winds with a lower jet stream.
Figure, hey, I'm a guy, I can handle this.
On with levis, T-shirt, sweatshirt, insulated Carhart bib overalls, Carhart blanket style work coat, knit hat, gloves.
Sumbich, half hour of moving a dead car around to the back, couple of looks inside the water heater closet that's on the outside corner of the house and that was it.

Rainy looking, none predicted and if it did rain it'd be snowing.

Gave up, came inside me & granddaughter off to the store for the pizza stuff.
You know, beer, red wine, Papa Murphy's pizza, got a movie around here somewhere.

I'll suffer the poor heating, but not leaking hot water heater for a couple more days before I venture out into that again.

I thought I was handling the cold pretty good by driving the roadster to donuts on cold Saturday mornings.
Last Saturday, 24 degrees, personal best 16 degrees and then watching a Harley rider with no fairing or windshield slide by.

'Course, donuts is a short run with maple bars & coffee at the end and doing the water heater fandango is hanging out in the cold for a couple hours.

I guess I could always get cold weather advice from the Canadians . . . but, seems like below 32, skiing, above 32 body surfing is the norm for them....

 

10 here this morning. The real bitch is when the inside of your windshield frosts over - always fun to deal with on the way in to work.

To keep it on topic, I've been working in my unheated garage the last few weeks (ranging from 25-35 degrees) and found that UnderArmour clothing, while expensive, really does keep you warmer than regular cotton underclothes.

dan

 

Up here, the mailman wears shorts all year round.
But not for me.....

 

You know it's cold in the garage when you try and blow a part off with your breath and you don't see the part anymore from the steam...

 

You get "numb" to it after awhile. 34 is pretty tolerable up here. I've been pretty unmotivated this winter to go out in my poorly heated garage. It's not to bad once you fire up the welder or a torch for a bit... but.
Last time I took the coupe out this year it was in the low 20's, fun as hell but cold!! I need to get the side glass in this year...

 

Snow flakes this afternoon, west central Ga. Never thought I'd want heat in the shop here.

 

bah! better than 120 degree heat in the summer!

it get's pretty bad when you're out riding your snowmobile in the middle of nowhere VT near the canadian border 60 miles from camp and your carb gets plugged with shit. try pulling off and cleaning out a set of carbs in the snow, at -10 degrees before your hands get numb.

 

I find when it gets down around 0, I start to wimp out and put a jacket on. Must be a getting old thing. hahaha. Pat.

 

We prefer to keep our hats on up here...spent the weekend in sunny Missouri and I still haven't adjusted to coming home...but I gotta get out to the shop soon and get something done...where's that global warming when you need it?

 

Well this has been the most productive January for me in years. Mid 20's to as warm as 65. This weekend we will get back to the norm and see highs around 16, that 10 degrees below normal and I hate it. Carharts and a heater will make you forget about the outside weather thou.

 

It's been between -15c (5f) to -32c (-26f) for the last month at the drill site here in Russia.
Had 2 days of -51c (-60f) with 10mph wind thrown in.
3 days of "white out" cyclone tossed in and it's been a "kind" winter so far this month. Just another day in the oil industry.
Leaving today for So. Cal. to thaw out again. '22

 

We got that same freak here 10 degreesand he parades down the street in boots and USPS issue "hotpants", they really are disturbingly tight

 

The key to it is becoming used to is, slowly, as the season rolls in. For instance, don't start layering as fall winds through and your blood will thicken.

I don't care who you are though, or what new technological underwear you have. A concrete garage floor shoots right through your clothes.

 

I think one benefit from having a small shop is that with it sealed up and me in there working, it can get tolerable.

Wool sweaters are key for me.

The average person produces what? like 240 btu/hour?

 

Hey, It was -15 here today and I didn't even take my gloves. You actually get use to it. The big key is dress in layers with a nylon outer shell to stop the wind.

 

Yeah, I pretty much do the dress in layers thing and the colds not so bad, but when the wind blows and the wind chill index sets in....
The water heaters on the N/W corner of the house and the wind is out of the N/W so things are pretty exposed there.

Since it's only a problem and not a complete failure I can wait for some calm and higher temps on Saturday - low 50's, not too windy - to finish the job.

I do ok in the garage/shop.
On the coldest days I can usually get it into the low 50's with the heaters and thats handle-able with the T-shirt/sweatshirt bit and a down vest.

Knit caps are a big help as well.

Monday/Tuesday they're predicting snow here.

In Sunny SoCal, we used to body surf in winter without wetsuits - no such animal at the time - so a genuine winter is somewhat of a new thing for me.

And to think, last summer I was bitching about the hundred degree temps and spinning down the highway in shorts an T-shirt....

 

I've used a thin piece of building styrofoam (blue, silver, pink, whatever) to lay on while under a car on the cold garage floor.
Works great!

Haha... Jay, you are an engineer, aren't ya? I deal with moving those btuh's around buildings (HVAC) every day at work.

Malcolm

 

Come on up.. Its fucking cold here and getting colder for the weekend.. When you live up here theres only one way to live and thats with a good heated garage or nothing would get done.. I haVE 1000 BTU GAS FURNACE IN A 20X24 GARAGE CAUSE IT WAS THE OLD ONE FROM THE house WHEN I REPLACED IT.. Damn caps lock I keep the garage at a minimium of 50 in the winter and 70 when im working out there . It only takes a couple minutes to get the temp up... .. Were used to the winters but working out side when its cold and snowy is just plain foolish.. Wrenches break and blood flows..
Dave

 

Ah man...it was only 8 here this morn...and I had to relight the thermonuclear heater in my stomach...but I'll warm up quik enuff...

It's only as cold as you think it is...but I will agree with those that live in the midwestern states...the humidity will go right thru you...I lived there a long time ago...

Considier yourself lucky Jay...your 24 degrees ain't anything like Rocky's 24 degrees...

R-

 

Nah, no engineer.
I just like to think I'm interesting and not afraid to try most anything....

 

Helly Hansen baselayer is good too. Anything with some synthetic content to it is better than 100% cotton.

Cotton = thermodynamic nudity!

 

Been pretty mild this winter, so far anyway. Only a couple of nights where the temperature dropped below freezing. But the hawk is coming. Supposed to be 19 Saturday night.

Made a run with a friend a couple of weeks ago. To Mineapolis. To pick up a car. It was 17 when we got there and snow was on the ground. The seller said befor global warming it used to be worse.

So I guess it is all relative.

 

I just wait for spring. It just isn't fun trying to play in the garage at this time of year.

 

C9 should have come to Lake Havasu, it was about 45 today....and being an ex NY' er I thought it was HOT!!!

 

Ain't it nice to be able the choose the conditions that you work in? I've been lazy and haven't gone out in the cold garage lately. I made hay while it was mild. I deserve a break.

 

When I was stationed at Elmendorf AFB, AK, I remember putting a CD player in my ex's car one winter. I had given it to her for Christmas, and had spent a week or so waiting for the weather to 'warm up' a bit. Well, this 'balmy' day was -10 and had a light breeze, so windchills were only around -20 or so that day. I'd go down, work on the car for about 15 minutes, then go back up and spend 45 warming back up a bit so I could feel my hands. Took me almost 2 days to get that damned CD player in that car. But... it was worth the 'payment'!

 

It's strange, in September if it gets down into the 30's it feels really cold. In Janruary it feels too hot. I don't mind it if I'm out of the wind, until it gets down around 0. But it's a bitch working with gloves on.

 

I can remember changing a clutch in a Chevelle, outside in the snow in below 0 weather, the bolts would freeze to the ground from the heat in my hands. You did what you had to do.

 

Just be carefull grinding and welding in modern synthetics! I finally killed a Patagonia Polar T while grinding one night, melted a swath across the chest Damn this is still wearable but I shelved it after 12 years of steady winter use.

 

Yeah.. working in St. Louis this week. It's a nice sunny break from Detroit. My pregnant wife was complaining to me how she had to shovel snow back home yesterday. I can't wait to get home to a projected low of 5 degrees this weekend just to be sleeping in the dog house