Im starting to think that Im a sadist. I keep seeing all of these reports from different sources saying that the winter here is going to be terribly cold and snowy, even worse than last year, and I cant help but get a little bit excited. Heres some tips to help you survive the coming cold. - If youve never done it, now would be a good time to flush the coolant system on your car. Flush out all your old anti-freeze and re-fill it with clean anti-freeze. Anti-freeze doesnt just keep your engine from freezing up and cracking, but it also acts as an anti-corrosion agent for the inside of your engine, water pump, etc., and it does need to be changed occasionally. Failing to do so could cause the water lines to rust/corrode, and losing fluid because of a leaky radiator in the dead of winter is not something you want to go through. Anti-freeze doesnt just stop the engine from over-heating, it is also where your cars heater gets its heat. - Drain your cars washer fluid and re-fill it with de-icer. - If your vehicles heater isnt working properly, now would be the time to fix it. - Make sure you have a secondary source of heat, if you heat primarily with electricity. A kerosene heater, coal/wood burning stove, propane, something to keep you warm when the electricity goes out. If you heat with coal, kerosene or wood, now would be a good time to build up a good stockpile. - Check the tread depth on all 4 tires of your car and make sure you have all weather tires, or at the very least have a good amount of tread left on the tires you do have. - Make sure you have some emergency equipment in your car like a blanket, flashlight, jack, tire tool, tow rope/chain, maybe even a small propane heater (the kind that take the little coleman propane canisters) to help you if you happen to break down in really cold weather. I also recommend a secondary mode of communication like a CB radio. Generally speaking, especially in the winter, myself and a lot of the locals leave our radios turned on pretty much all the time to channel 3. - Have your cars battery and alternator checked. Advance will check them for you for free. Your battery may work fine now, but you also want to know that itll reliably start your car when its 5 below zero. When it gets that cold, batteries lose juice, so take yours down to Car Quest, Advance, or NAPA and have them check the life of your battery, and that your alternator isnt showing signs of wear. - Purchase a NOAA weather radio. Many police scanners can access the NOAA frequencies as well. Whenever theres severe weather headed our way I try to record parts of the NOAA transmissions and post the audio to Facebook, but you should have a NOAA radio so that even if the local radio station goes down (because apparently they dont believe in generators at WRLV) and the power goes out, youll be able to keep up with the latest weather advisories and forecasts. Theres 4 or 5 frequencies within our listening distance that you can hear with battery operated scanners/NOAA radios even if theres no power or cell phone service. - Double check all of the insulation under the floor of your house. Make sure that your water lines are adequately protected from the open air, and that your underpinning is in good repair. - Take out any window air conditioners you have, or place a large plastic bag over the outside portion of it to keep cold air from coming in.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Sep 2014 05:10:41 +0000