JoJo

[Buck]

I hope JoJo is okay. It sounds like some nasty weather has hit Scandanavia.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4022943.stm

 

[The JoJo]

Still alive and kicking, thanks for asking!

Although we did get winter here pretty darn quickly, and with a bang. Heavy snowing, and some major wind, but boy does it look pretty when everything is white again!
Very slippery hear at the moment, and about 7 degrees Celsius cold here now.

The only worry is that we only have one parking spot with electricity, so the Saab will take that place (no, it's not the Saab in the picture ). The younger one, Opel Vectra, will just have to suffer. I've been wondering about solutions to heat it up, but getting a vebasto is just too costly for me to justify it.
The Vectra is from '93, Saab from '84.

Take care everyone!

 

[Tea]

OK, I'll bite. What's a vestabo? Some sort of electric blanket for carz?

 

[The JoJo]

It's a pre-starting heater that can be installed in a car, to heat the engine and possible the passanger compartment. It uses fuel from the car as it's energy source. You can even have controller systems attached to it that start when you send it an SMS with a cell phone.

 

[Buck]

Those types of heating systems are a must for Diesel engines.

 

[Buck]

By the way, good to hear that you are doing well JoJo. Come, I'll buy you a drink to help you warm up in that freezing weather.

 

[Bartender]

Two rum and cokes coming right up.

 

[Buck]

PS: http://www.defa.com/heating4.php3?aid=394&lang=3&ndid=

 

[Tea]

Ahh. It is, then, essentially a higher-tech version of the old trick of lighting a fire under your car to thaw the oil. Thankyou JoJo.

Sometimez I'm glad I live in a warm place.

 

[e_dawg]

I used to have both a block heater and a car interior heater when I lived in Red Deer, Alberta. I had an outdoor parking spot, unlike these days when I always have an underground spot (at home, anyways... nothing I can do about it at work). When it's -10 to -20 C at 7 AM, it definitely helps the human drive to work without freezing his ass off.

Not only would I have the block heater and interior heater timed to turn on 45 min before going to work, I would also use the remote starter and start the engine 5-10 min before I left the apartment. Nothing like getting into a car that's already half-warm and not having to scrape the windows for 5 minutes.

 

[RWIndiana]

Glad to hear you are doing okay JoJo. Don't you just love winter? I especially like getting up early in the morning when it is 15 below zero and scratching the ice off the windshield with anything I can find (since the ice scraper is perpetually lost, except in the summer when it's always in the way) and wondering if I will be able to feel my fingers again someday. . . This is what makes winter, uh, winter.

 

[The JoJo]

Two rum and cokes coming right up.

Thanks Buck and Bartender!

I've found a new love concerning rum, Captain Morgan's Spiced Jamaica Rum! Excellent stuff! Recommended for everyone!
A bunch of people at work, and I, ordered some alcohol from Germany a few weeks ago. I dared to order 5 bottles of the above mentioned elixir, and thereby got 2 friends to try it also. After they had tried it, they told even their wifes liked it! And no, not all bottles were for me. Because of father's day, I'm three bottles short . And I only got four bottles, the place we ordered from didn't have more .

 

[The JoJo]

Glad to hear you are doing okay JoJo. Don't you just love winter? I especially like getting up early in the morning when it is 15 below zero and scratching the ice off the windshield with anything I can find (since the ice scraper is perpetually lost, except in the summer when it's always in the way) and wondering if I will be able to feel my fingers again someday. . . This is what makes winter, uh, winter.

Gotta love that !

And it's even more fun when you find some quiet place to try some high-speed skidding turns on top of ice

 

[The JoJo]

PS: http://www.defa.com/heating4.php3?aid=394&lang=3&ndid=

Here it's quite the norm to use something like Defa in all cars, and to hook it up to an electricity source in the evening so you can have a nice, warm car (interior and engine) in the morning when you go to work.

Some tests suggest that starting the car when it's -10 celcius outside is equivalent to driving 800km with the car. That's the wear and tear on the engine.

 

[The JoJo]

I used to have both a block heater and a car interior heater when I lived in Red Deer, Alberta. I had an outdoor parking spot, unlike these days when I always have an underground spot (at home, anyways... nothing I can do about it at work). When it's -10 to -20 C at 7 AM, it definitely helps the human drive to work without freezing his ass off.

Not only would I have the block heater and interior heater timed to turn on 45 min before going to work, I would also use the remote starter and start the engine 5-10 min before I left the apartment. Nothing like getting into a car that's already half-warm and not having to scrape the windows for 5 minutes.

Here it's against the law to have the engine running on idle for more than 2 minutes, due to environmental concerns. Although no one will call the cops if you run it for longer

-7 here at the moment, and it's been a GREAT day, lot's of sunshine and lot's of snow!

 

[Buck]

The mid-west here in the U.S. has been hit hard by a Winter storm.

I also read that Finland was hit terribly hard by a recent storm.
article I hope JoJo is okay.

 

[The JoJo]

A lot of people had a really dark and cold chrismas, as thousands were without electricity. They did get everything working during the weekend, but not for the 24th.

My family was ok, and we had a nice, quiet, christmas.
Too bad there weren't that many days off from work.

Take care!