Discovering my freedom in Minnesota

Came home from spending Christmas with the kids and grandkids in the cities. We were gone for 16 hours away from the homestead. When we left at 8:30 this AM, it was -20 F. I banked the wood stove and turned a propane fish house heater on. When we returned, it was -23 outside and was 44° in the house, not bad. My problem was the number 2 off road Diesel fuel was gelling up in the first filter which is outside which inhibited the generator from starting. I placed 2 rocks on my wood stove for a half hour. I then snuggled them around the filter and covered them with a blanket for a half hour. The generator fired up and we have power again.
There are plenty of obstacles being off grid and using fuel to make power. I can’t imagine what I’m going to learn trying to charge the battery bank with wood gas.
The dog has been laying on my side of the bed while I was warming up the house, so it will be warm when I hop in and call it a night.
I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and enjoyed your time with family and/or friends.

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The auto parts store will have diesel fuel treatment.

The Indians in this area lived in huts. They had one community fire pit that they would heat rocks in. Then the rocks were place in their huts to keep warm! At least that is what the local professors said.

Jeff, I used Diesel 911 which is supposed to remove any water. I even used more than the recommended dose. Either I used the wrong treatment or it was just that cold. I honestly don’t know. I did make a call to a local transport company to get 150 gallons of number 1 diesel delivered. Come to find out it’s 50 cents cheaper per gallon than for me to drive to town and pick it up myself. Whodda figured?

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Interesting post.
I have a diesel farm tractor that does’t get a lot of use anymore, so I either buy #1 or add a gell-PREVENTING suplement all the time.
But I just googled “Diesel 911” and got some initially conflicting info here:

It seems that the stuff in the red bottle is a “rescue” or “emergency” product, but doesn’t (according to their own website) “prevent” gelling.
I use their “Diesel Fuel Supplement” in the gray or white bottle for that.

I still learn something every day. I had never heard of these “rescue” products before today.

Pete Stanaitis

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Bill i heard that the red bottle heet dry gas is for diesel.It got down too neg. 25 f hear in michigan, Chilly enough, one year before i ran a better insulated water line from wood burner, i had too sleep next too my radiator too stay warm and woke up with my pejays stuck too my plywood floor.that was a cold snap.

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I think that is the one I use, white bottle. Yes, red bottle is the rescue stuff. Diesels suck, if they get a chill they go on strike and they like to eat thousand dollar bills ! !

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Yes,Bill you have to love this weather. No better way to sort out system weakness. It looks like it’s not going to get much warmer anytime soon. Single digits above zero for Thursday so it can snow a little then highs below zero for another couple weeks here.
I usually don’t care but I have been doing day care of my granddaughter for 12 + hours a day . My wood stoves like to be fed a little more often than that. I most always have enough coals to get them going pretty easily and enough thermal mass to come home to a warm house.Still I don’t like to be away that long, to much can go wrong
I have had the points stick on my thermostat twice now on the shop furnace. That leaves the draft door wide open. Furnace gets dangerously hot if loaded up. Very scary when not insured.
Stay safe and stay warm.

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Ufda! Yup, you’re a northlander. :laughing::laughing::laughing: I grew up in Vermont, and worked on a dairy farm, and developed the same attitude over time. I can get anything with a spark plug runnng though. A rag soaked with gas, a can of WD-40… -35F isn’t really a problem so much as the fact equipment manufactures don’t quite seem to believe there are people out there going stuff in it.
Rindert

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Bill,
I remember talking a U of M student who said his father would mix in a quart of kerosene when he filled up his truck. About 20 gallons, I guesse. He was from Mesabi. Them ol iron rangers got some funny ways, I know. But I just wonder if that kerosene would help him start easier. Would you have heard anthing about that.
Rindert

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Years ago we added trans. fluid, and kerosene as an anti-gel, pump lube.

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" . . I can get anything running with a sparkplug though . . "
Great observation and sentient RinhertW.
True story from just yesterday… I am down to needing to starting up the hydraulic wood splitter after a full year of setting idle, unsued. Got a cord or so of full tree weights made really tough wavy grained gnarly butt-cuts DF 50-70 pound chunks needing reduced down to woodstovable 10 pound splits. Just getting these reduced down from 300-500 pound round cutoffs was a four steel wedge and full bar ripping sweating pain.

Splash of old gasoline preservative/restorer and a fresh tank fill of of non-ethanol gasoline. Three pull cranks and the 10.5 B&S fired right up.
Ha! First had to jump start the four months set aside Club Cadet Kawasaki V-twin rider mower to move it out of the way and out into the now cleared out wood-used up open space.
Same-same. Splash of preservative/restorer; gallon of new fresh gasoline and 45 seconds of cranking time did it.
30F; 100% humidity (for the last three months) and was then currently wet-wet snowing.
Ha! I really love my gasoline spark ignition hand cranked the best of all.
My diesels? Lots of TLC baby sitting the colder it gets. Cold metal mass’s really quenches the fire in compression ignitions types. Chemically forcing them may/can lead to engine damage. Continuously heating them for cold weather start-abilty is just so energy wasteful.
I save that energy expenditure for the layer chickens to get winter eggs.

regards
tree-farmer Steve unruh

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Hi Steve,
I’ve been running 70% ethanol gas in my '91 Ranger since last March, and good. But it DOES start a little harder in the cold. Like here in the Denver area we recently got some -5F temps at night. If we switch to higer blends would you think manufacturers will start puting in higher pressure fuel pumps to give better atomization? Some sort of a glow plug? What do you think manufacturers will do about this?
Rindert
PS. Some of your little alcohol burning model engines use a glow plug. Why I brought that up.

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Thanks for your input Steve.
After purchasing a plow/dump truck, generator and a skid steer with diesel engines, I appreciate gasoline engines more. The gasoline engines without computers are my most dependable power units. Easy to start even in subzero weather. Once it gets below 20 F (-7C), plugging in diesels is a must. Fortunately it stays above 20 F in the generator shen even when it’s -30F. Largely because I can run the generator for quite awhile with the windows and door closed while charging.
Energy…being plugged into the grid is so much easier. The benefits of being off grid is, I’m in charge of my power. Downfalls of being off grid is, I’m in charge of my power. Just over 2 years ago, a friend of mine brought everything I needed to have my own power. What he didn’t leave was experience. Matter of fact, most of his installations are grid tied systems. My ignorance bought me 2 years of problem free power. This has caught up with me this Winter. Thinking I just ruined my battery bank, I started reaching out. I really didn’t just want a fix, I wanted to be educated. David B from DOW here was a Godsend. He gave me a lot of time to explain many things to me. The time he gave me and time I spent on the phone with the battery manufacturer, I’m glad to say I’m back up and running with a greater understanding of proper maintenance and actually revived my batteries. I have a small system. It’s a system I could afford at the time. In the Winter when the sun is out, I only need to run my generator one time per day. This summer, it may not need to fire up when I have full sun. The difference? Much is due to battery temps. I lose half of my battery capacity with our wonderful temperatures. I store my freezer food outside so the water for the chickens can remain in liquid form.
I can’t say enough good about the people on DOW here. Today I am less ignorant yet short of getting a diploma in energy use. I hope I continue to learn everyday.

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A little update on the Garage Mahal. One more sheet of tin for this side.
Nothing about this roof do I like when having to crawl up there.

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Bill, are you closing in the section below the upper roof, or windows? Anything clear would really light up the shop.

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So far just those two openings are getting windows. That is the only glass I have collected. I also have one window for the front. The side you see here is facing West.

Bill, do you have an extension ladder with hooks on the bottom section? I always flipped the ladder over so the hooks would hook over the ridge and then use the ladder like chicken slats to climb safely up the roof.

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Hmmm. I have an extension ladder… Hooks?
That gives me an idea though.

Maybe I should have said wooden extension ladder. Those aluminum ones probably won’t work.

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If you tie each section of a ladder together, put one on each side of the roof works great.

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