Warming up the truck still necessary?

I'd imagine fish aren't in the wind that often.

 

The worst I experienced was working in Wyoming at -35°F with a -56°F windchill; the worst I experienced in locations where I've lived was -25°F with a windchill of -42°F, so yeah, I have experienced "subzero" temperatures.

 

Thanks for stating the obvious.

 

That's quite true. That very cold engine is quite noisy during a cold-start like that. It sounds like is ready to break apart, so I just let it warm by itself while drinking a cup of coffee or having breakfast. By the time I walk to it, usually 25 minutes later, the cab is starting to get more comfortable. Now, if -30F or so and the truck has been parked overnight, the only thing that "cures" the flat spot on each tire is driving the truck at highway speeds. It will be bumpy, though. Colder than -30? Just forget it unless it is a life/death emergency (not worth the trouble unless you aren't retired like I am).

 

If you're retired, then maybe you remember the bias ply tires in days of yore (before steel-belted)? It could be 95*F and they'd still bump on the flat spots for the first mile or so.

 

WOW ! -30F - that IS pretty cold ! I can't imagine how that feels. How do you heat your home? Oil?
Tonight is the total Lunar eclipse and the low will be about 45F. I'll be wearing my winter coat if I go outside.
-30F... yup, that's cold .....

 

That’s not completely true. Wind chill affects everything, including cold fish. Wind chill is simply a condition in which heat is removed from an object faster than under normal conditions due to wind effectively removing the heated boundary layer surrounding it. A fish taken out of the water will cool down much faster in a wind than without wind. Think how much faster a fish you just caught and chucked on the ice freezes when it’s -20° and windy compared to when it’s -20° and dead calm.

 

I've been on my snowmobile at -28... it's pretty damn cold when you're doing 70+ across a lake. No idea what that equates to for windchill temps but its cold. Most homes in those regions will use propane or natural gas for heat.

 

You missed the key word there. If there is -no- heat, then wind chill is negated. But the point of it all was correcting another's thinking that only living items experienced wind chill. Not a big deal. Discussions on TW can run the full gambit of informative, interesting, fun, and other no so exciting terms. All good.

 

Do you mean "-no- heat" as in 0°K?

 

Most homes in the interior of Alaska are heated by heating oil boilers and furnaces. Homes have to be well-insulated, and one has to wear appropriated winter clothing. But right now we have relatively warm temperatures. For example, the forecast calls for today 27 degrees F, and 13 degrees tonight, but we still have over 2 feet of snow on the yard.

Yes, I remember.

 

You are correct. The something happens to the truck's radiator if standing still versus driving the truck. In this case the air traveling though the radiator's air passages cools that antifreeze sooner than when the truck is parked with the engine idling and not having the cooling fan rotating. Windchill doesn't make the radiator colder than the ambient temperature, but it cools it faster.

The weather app in my phone shows the following during cold and windy days: "Temperature" (lest say...-20), and then "It feels like -30 degrees." The "it feels like..." is the windchill factor added to the equation.

 

I'm trying to figure out why anyone cares about the temperature of the coolant in the radiator, all we need to care about is the temperature of the coolant in the block, heads, and heater core; the thermostat will take care of the rest.

 

Boy did I ever dilute my oil today. Stuck on the interstate for 1 1/2 hours due to a semi laying on its side. Creep up 5 feet then stop for 10 minutes, creep up 5 feet then stop for 10 minutes. I changed my oil about 500 miles ago, maybe I should change it again, lol.

 

At that level dilution, I would just trade the truck in, you don't want to deal with the damage that caused 23 years from now

 

Nah, with the engine fully warmed up, the oil dilution would have been minimal.

 

In my younger days had to put cardboard in front of the radiator just to keep engine temp up where I could use the heater in a snow storm crossing Utah. Just having the thermostat closed wasn’t enough, still too much really cold air being ingested and passing around the block of a 1.5l engine. Without it coolant temp was ~160 and my blood ~97. Had to pull over an de-ice and rebuild the Weber carb to get to SLC.

 

In the 60's and 70's most around here had to put cardboard in front of the rad just to get any sort of warm air. The 1st objective was to get some warm air on the windshield to defrost. Had to remember to cut a circle in the middle of the cardboard or engine would overheat if it got somewhat warm. Had to be that way for 6 months not just an isolated snow storm. Some things about the current over engineered vehicles is good.

 

Have we figured out who can pee the farthest at -20 degs yet?

 

There are some local shops around Fairbanks that design and install front grill covers fitted to the Tacoma and other vehicles. These covers are made of a strong vinyl material, and have a zipper in the middle. If it is very cold the covers are zipped close,. and when it warms a little one can unzip it to prevent engine overheating.

With all the warm clothing one has to wear at -20, it can take some time to "find it" before one can pee. It just turns into a short corkscrew