* Crossposted from: COOKING


It was -44.5 C (-48 F) here today and will remain at -41 or colder
for at least another 5 days if not longer. That's the coldest
weather we've had since 12 years ago when it hit -51 C one night
during a week of -40 or colder and six weeks of continuously below
-35. 

Let me tell you a few things that happen at -44.

Propane freezes if the tank doesn't have a heater and furnaces go
out resulting in frozen water lines in 1 to 3 hours if not addressed
sooner. This morning my favourite furnace repairman told me he took
8 such calls before 7 AM then took the phone off the hook and
stopped taking calls.

Paraffin precipitates out of fuel oil and plugs filters and nozzles
knocking out oil furnaces unless the proper additives have been
added to the fuel in advance. Lots of those calls today too.

Furnaces in poorly insulated homes run continuously, without pause,
until a fuel pump or other critical part fails. 

Mechanical devices break down and lubrication freezes up. My timer
that controls the extension cord to the car's block heater won't
advance and turn on so I have to plug the car in at bedtime without
a timer and use power all night instead of just two hours before I
get up. And even then I have to idle for 15 minutes before moving
and drive slowly at low revs for another 10 minutes to avoid blowing
a power steering pump or having the rear axles seize because the
grease is frozen.

We had a 90 minute power outage last night and over a hundred
homes,including my own, have frozen water mains underground because
the re-circulating pumps on the lines were inactive. The steamer guy
had 100 calls logged by the time I called in and even though he's
running 24 hours a day he won't get to me for 4 days. So we are
showering at my daughter's place and lugging home 15 litres of water
a day for coffee and brushing our teeth and melting snow to flush
toilets. Laundry and dirty dishes will just pile up. 5 of the 40
rentals I manage have similar problems. Non-essential service calls
like drippy taps and broken Jacuzzi pumps are simply on hold
indefinitely.

Vehicles that have not been plugged in will not start even with a
boost and the tow truck operators are backed up 5-6 hours. Garages
are charging $100 to park cars overnight to thaw and have a three
day inventory waiting in their yards. Tires go flat spontaneously
and the repair shops are backed up 2-3 days. 

I estimate that I am currently spending $30 per day on heat (30
litres of fuel), $2 extra per day on electricity just for the
furnace blower, $3 extra per night plugging in the car and $12.50
per day in gas just idling. 

Oh, the joys of northern living!




Cheers

YK Jim


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