Stuck in cold, no block heater

[escavader]

Sorry. I grew up cooking and heating all our water with a Queen Atlantic, parents still do. Portland Stove Foundry was in Portland Maine and built cast iron stoves for years. Great cook stove. I went to the 3d large fire at PSF when it burnt the second to last time. The major fire in the late 80's? put it almost out of business, the following fires and market conditions put it under.

They're very common around here.

ALAN,
Ivisited a lady in FREEPORT once and she had one that had crome all over it and was real fancy.Wish i had a camera that day.Nicest stove i ever saw.Imust be mistaken,but i could of swore it was white.
ALAN

 

[atgreene]

ALAN,
Ivisited a lady in FREEPORT once and she had one that had crome all over it and was real fancy.Wish i had a camera that day.Nicest stove i ever saw.Imust be mistaken,but i could of swore it was white.
ALAN

Yup, enamel was an option, as well as chrome. I like the black myself, but the enameled loaded up with chrome were something else. Bryant Stoveworks in Thordike Maine has acres of parts for all kinds of stoves.

 

[jimmysisson]

Once went to look at piece of land in central New Hampshire with an old fella. He had a Bucyrus-Erie dozer way up in the woods he logged with. Used to drain the oil out, build a fire, heat it up, pour back in and then start the old beast. (Can't remember if it was crank start or not.) Took an hour, during which he cut trees. Pretty efficient, really, though I thought he was crazy at the time. Didn't buy the lot.
Jim

 

[rut3556]

>>hahaha...i think only the locals will understand this one.<<

Oh, but I knew you Mainers would get it!!

 

[RadarTech]

uh oh-- does this mean we are going to start picking on the folks way up north? Come on, he can't help that he is barely still in the US!!! he didn't draw the map!


J

 

[randy41]

hahaha...i think only the locals will understand this one...good work!

I think some of us that qualify in the tourist category get this one too. And I haven't been up that way in almost 30 years.

 

[Farmerford]

Jim:

In the late 1940's (as far back as I can remember) my grandfather also heated the oil in his John Deere B hand cranks, but he didn't bother to drain it first. He just built the fire under the belly of the tractor. He made a heat shield for the magneto and spark plug wires. There was nothing else to hurt. I never quite understood why the gas tank did not explode, but it didn't. Sure made for a nasty tractor, but that never bothered him.

 

[atgreene]

We had to light a fire under a JD 440 skidder when it got real cold (-30). 2 Trucks with jumper cables and a fire for 1/2 hour or so and it would usually start.

As for Ogunquit, I don't go there, never visited and don't plan to go anytime soon. Too many tourist and folks from away. Nuff said.

 

[keeney]

The classic technique here in Minnesota for vehicles that are too cold to start and don't have a block heater or are out of extension cord range:

1. Get a bag of charcoal.

2. Burn the charcoal in some kind of pan. You can also use a large (metal) shovel.

(if gasoline is involved in getting the charcoal ignited - stand well back!)

3. Let it burn down until there is no open flame.

4. Slide the glowing embers under the engine and let it warm for maybe an hour or so.

5. Have a chemical (non-frozen) fire extinguisher handy.

With a tractor, it helps to have some kind of covering to hold in the heat, but under a car or truck, the hood keeps in enough of the heat.

- Rick

 

[WilliamBos]

I keep reading about tractors that can't be started because of sudden cold snaps, faulty or no block heaters, burnt out glow plugs, etc. People have towed them to heated barns or rented salamanders just to get them fired up. We used to just put a charger on the battery, then cover everything with canvas, plastic, sleeping bags, whatever we had for insulation that would drape over the hood section and reach down to ground level.
Then we would stick one or more portable electric heaters underneath and give things a few hours to warm up.
With the hood of our old N9 tented this way, even a 200W light bulb under the engine would often let us get it started back in the 50's.

My Dad always covered our MF 35 with an insulated blanket, which was big enough to touch the ground. After a few hours, if you stuck your hand under the blanket, you could feel the heat. Made starting so much easier.