Ready for winter?

[oosik]

I don't really do that much different - winter or summer. Bring in a few little batteries off old mowers and ATV's. My new ATV is OK - use it all winter. I'll put a battery tender on the tractor and new mower.

Just hope we get some snow this winter. Things are getting pretty dry around here.

 

[ovrszd]

Oh yeah, dig the long johns out of storage. ;p

I lose track of a lot of sweatshirts and jackets this time of year......

 

[Alan W.]

For winter prep I usually move the little switch two notches to the right.

Plenty of wood stored up and dried.
Going through one of my generators and doing a little maintenance. Need to once again fire up the welder-gen and load it for a run.
We always have the freezers and pantry stocked.
Everything else Im always behind on.

 

[Torvy]

View attachment 763811

For winter prep I usually move the little switch two notches to the right.

Plenty of wood stored up and dried.
Going through one of my generators and doing a little maintenance. Need to once again fire up the welder-gen and load it for a run.
We always have the freezers and pantry stocked.
Everything else Im always behind on.

We have one of those fancy new ones that doesn't need that switch. Just give it a range and it will cool above X and heat below Y.

 

[Jchonline]

-Service the snowblower: grease, check chain tolerance, check hydraulic function.
-remove TnT from 3PT and replace with standard arms for blower. Store chipper.
-Winterizer fuel additive to all tanks.
-Wiper fluid for tractor and RTV
-check RTV plow for function
-Clean out the mouse nest in my RTV that seems to happen every year even if I kill 100s of the buggers.
- Check filters on all machines after dusty fall
-Check heaters in machines and engine block
-battery maintainers on tractor and RTV
-winterize chain saws (lighter bar oil)
-check all lights on machines


Many more these were just on the top of my mind.

 

[ArlyA]

I'm tying to get a new snowplow on the 6x6.... Plenty of time.

 

[Alan W.]

We have one of those fancy new ones that doesn't need that switch. Just give it a range and it will cool above X and heat below Y.

Having this manual one makes me feel relevant and needed.

 

[fatjay]

Best guess is prices will go up the 2nd week of November. Prices are artificially low due to dumping strategic reserves. That cannot last forever and the incentive to continue will end about then. Of course, world events could modify that.

How long does it take you to split 3 cords? By hand or with splitter? Hardwood or soft?

Splitting is the easy part. It's all walnut, from 3 tree's I took down in the spring. I split by hand, between 8"-24" rounds. I can do about a cord in 2 hours. The real time consuming part is getting everything ready and cut to length. After that it's just splitting with the maul. It's great exercise that I feel great after, but I can't do it when it's in the 80's. This week is the first week where temps are in the 60's, so I'll be swinging the maul this weekend.

 

[wolc123]

I need to winterize my boat and shove if it the back of the barn, so I can move my field car (Dodge Durango) in front of it. I need to put the snowplow on the back of my tractor and move that out under the barn side porch, where I plug the block heater into an outlet that is switched from in the house.

I need to split about (4) face cords of rounds that are stacked on a trailer. I need to get up on the roof and clean the chimney and install electric heat tape in the gutters to prevent ice cycles from forming over the wood stove. I got up there last weekend and replaced all the shingles that got blown off in wind storms last winter.

I killed a big doe two weeks ago and butchered her last weekend. I need to kill and butcher a couple more deer before winter. We have plenty of fish in the freezer and just finished harvesting and freezing the last of the sweetcorn yesterday.

I need to tarp a pile of hand hewn posts and beams that I recovered from my great great grandads old 1883 barn, so that I can use them to frame in a wood shed on the back of my new pole barn next spring. They turn to powder if you leave them out uncovered thru the winter.

 

[ovrszd]

We have one of those fancy new ones that doesn't need that switch. Just give it a range and it will cool above X and heat below Y.

Yeah, mine does too. My HVAC guy said they are more expensive to run using that "auto" feature. He said if you run your thermostat on a narrow range as daylight progresses the AC will overrun enough to cause the heat to come on. Then it'll overrun enough to cause the AC to come on.

I run my thermostat on a narrow range. One half degree. So I manually flip heat to AC or vice versa.

I don't have any quantitative data to support any of this.....

 

[ovrszd]

Having this manual one makes me feel relevant and needed.

Me too.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Yeah, mine does too. My HVAC guy said they are more expensive to run using that "auto" feature. He said if you run your thermostat on a narrow range as daylight progresses the AC will overrun enough to cause the heat to come on. Then it'll overrun enough to cause the AC to come on.

I run my thermostat on a narrow range. One half degree. So I manually flip heat to AC or vice versa.

I don't have any quantitative data to support any of this.....

A wider range would solve the problem, but don't want the AC to kick on when the wood stove is hot.

 

[5030]

This winter I'm not doing squat. No plowing, no blowing. Tractors can stay in the barn and sleep. I'll be in my Lazy Boy toasting my feet in front of the fire. One of my new renters has a Power Wagon with a plow. He can plow the drives and I'll let him. About the only outside activity will be walking the pup and feeding the corn burner of course.

 

[Torvy]

A wider range would solve the problem, but don't want the AC to kick on when the wood stove is hot.

We cool to about 75 and warm to about 68. Never had that problem. Temp at the thermostat doesn't vary by more that 1 degree either side, typically.

 

[BravoXray]

I'm tying to get a new snowplow on the 6x6.... Plenty of time.

Yeah, like maybe a week?

 

[ovrszd]

We cool to about 75 and warm to about 68. Never had that problem. Temp at the thermostat doesn't vary by more that 1 degree either side, typically.

I've never quite understood that, other than to reduce cost. We set on 72 yearound. When we switch to hydronic floor heat we will get a degree or two overrun on unseasonably warm days.

 

[Oaktree]

We cool to about 75 and warm to about 68. Never had that problem. Temp at the thermostat doesn't vary by more that 1 degree either side, typically.

Seems like overkill to me. Don't have (or need) A/C here, but just keep the (manual) thermostat at it's lowest setting, if we're cold we can turn it up though the oil furnace is mostly to keep the place from freezing if we're away. Woodstove takes care of our regular heat.

I really dislike the similar system most, if not all new vehicles have. I don't need the temperature to stay within some narrow range, bring back the old-style heater controls!

 

[Torvy]

I've never quite understood that, other than to reduce cost. We set on 72 yearound. When we switch to hydronic floor heat we will get a degree or two overrun on unseasonably warm days.

This was a compromise with my wife. I would put it at 78 and 65. There is a cost savings, but it also reduces pressure on the grid. As long as the government doesn't try to force me to so it, I conserve when it makes sense. Technically, we also vary by a few degrees while sleeping.

Our system is a true multi-speed unit that rarely runs full speed. The low speeds maintain the temps and manage humidity. It has saved us hundreds of dollars a month over our old system.

For me, indoor temperature is relative to outdoor temps. If it is 40 outside and I walk into a 65 degree house, it is toasty. The converse is true in summer. We have fireplaces to take the edge off in Master BR and Living Room. They rarely get used.

 

[5030]

Interesting. How my wife's Suburban operates. You set the cabin temp (digitally) and the ac or heater maintains it within a degree. Personally, I don't like it but it's not my buggy.

 

[ovrszd]

I have no problem with selected temp by degrees in newer vehicles.

I burned wood in my previous shop. I missed the romance of it the first Winter in my current shop. I got over that. Wouldn't want to go back.