What kind of snowblower? I do small engine repair on the side. It's snowblower season for sure, the prices of used ones are skyrocketing.
Winter is here already, ughh
- Thread starter NDSpeed
- Start date
I got a craftsman. It was $375, which was more in line with most of the ones that looked 20 years old and needed work. He probably could have got $500-600 but would have taken longer to sell.
Nice that's a fair price! Those are good engines. One thing I would do is make sure those little yellow caps on the side of the engine near the bottom for the oil fill are tight. I've had a few customers where those caps loosened up over time and it led to the oil emptying out while it was running. Besides that they are great machines.
Ah, Fairbanks. . . . A few years back I had the pleasure of working at EIL for two weeks outside in the middle of January when the daytime temp never got warmer than -20*F. Seeing the power plant plume flatten out against an invisible ceiling was an unusual site to see, and the accompanying air quality warnings were especially awesome while working outside.
I've been to Prudhoe Bay in August and seen snow flurries. F' that.
I've been to Prudhoe Bay in August and seen snow flurries. F' that.
I've never been as far north as you guys are talking, but I visited Prince of Wales Island last year and I think I would move there in a heartbeat. They don't get the snow like up north though. I don't think they even get as much as I do in Colorado.
ejay
TJ Addict
You say that now until you have snowy wind burning your face and it's so cold that the wind goes right through your heavy jacket into your bones. I've come to the conclusion that I just hate both extremes.
ejay
TJ Addict
Yeah, I know..I know. Been in some brutal snow in the past but not lived in it. I love to hike the Sierras outside of season. To put it simply, I'd rather be cold than hot.You say that now until you have snowy wind burning your face and it's so cold that the wind goes right through your heavy jacket into your bones. I've come to the conclusion that I just hate both extremes.
Honestly the biggest thing I hate about winter is the salt. If they didn't put millions of tons of salt on the road at the thought of a snowflake I wouldn't mind winter so much. I'm tired of my vehicles rusting out, even with extreme anti-corrosion care, my XJs still rusted away eventually.
same. There seems to be a lot of conflicting information about whether sprayed magnesium chloride is as damaging as granular road salt, but my skin still crawls when I see those plow trucks running down the road with the sprayers going full blast.
One thing we do seem to have going for us is that in either case, salt is only corrosive when wet, and the snow melts quickly and the climate is very dry here, so the undercarriage doesn't stay wet for long.
No snow on the ground here YET but we had our first frost last night. It was 34* at 3AM. My days of being able to work out in my garage are numbered.
I do too. I can normally handle down to 32 without a jacket if I'm moving. I wear the big coat for wind chills.
I could probably handle living further North if the days weren't too short in the Winter. I couldn't go with dark all day. It's bad enough driving to and from work every day in the dark. But if I had to choose between further North or a place like Dallas or Houston that gets 100+ days over 100 F a year, I'd move North. I might be able to do LV or Phoenix because of the lower humidity.
I get more work done in the garage over winter. But it's attached to the house, heavily insulated, and I can get it ~60F on even the coldest below zero weeks. I have enough LED lighting out there now that it feels like daylight. I have no AC so summer can get brutally hot if I need to do anything.
ejay
TJ Addict
We use Potassium Chloride out here. (red stuff) Probably because it doesn't get too far below zero if at all. Believe it or not, they close the roads about 20 miles from me in the mountains during the winter due to snow.
I've been saying I was going to insulate my garage for 10 years now and install heaters..... But it still isn't...
So once it gets below freezing I'm pretty much done.
OP
My toyota friend who lives in North Pole has a wood burner stove in his garage. Gets that garage well into the low 70s even in the -40 temps.I've been saying I was going to insulate my garage for 10 years now and install heaters..... But it still isn't...
in my head when I actually retire. I’ve got the ideas for in-floor heating and a wood stove for my future garage.
What the cost of propane in Fairbanks? Growing up, we had a wood burning stove in our garage. It would throw a lot of heat, but was somewhat localized. I have a ceiling mounted propane heater in my garage, and I don't have to load it every few hours or haul ashes.
I can wish I'd done a lot of things different with my garage. I'd love to have in-floor heat. Got to try that out at the shop in Ft. Greely made working on the floor NICE.
I'd really like to get a pellet stove in my garage. With a good fan to help move the air around.
After Yesterday, I'm looking for better tires.
X2 for in-floor heat. First, I need to figure out where put a 3 bay garage. Hey, NDSpeed, what do you do for winter tires on your TJ? I was sliding at the round-about in North Pole yesterday. I'm thinking of BFG KO2s in 30x9.5 for year round or just get Blizzaks for winter. I'd rather stick to 1 set year round, if possible, though.