On 3/4/15 8:35 AM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 3/4/2015 8:17 AM, Keyser Söze wrote:
On 3/4/15 8:14 AM, True North wrote:
KC
- show quoted text -
"Ha, haven't shoveled in weeks... Just drive through it That's why
God
made 4x4 and snow tires. It's so funny at work listening to everyone
complain about driving in the snow when they won't even spring for pair
of snow tires"


Pair of snow tires???
Up here they recommend all four.


We're supposed to get 4" to 8" of snow tonight. As long as I can "blast"
my way out the driveway with my old SUV, I'm happy. If it is more than
8", though, I'll have to call the plow guy.

Do you have part-time 4WD on that Toyota? If so, does it do the job in
the snow?





My truck has regular 6 ply truck tires on it. My wife's Mountaineer (or
whatever it is) has all season tires. Her's is automatic, all wheel
drive. My truck is conventional (selectable) 4 wheel drive with a
limited slip rear differential, so it's really 2 and a half wheel drive.

Neither of us have any problems going through fairly deep snow. Only
problems is ice, especially where the driveway slopes up to the house.
Snow tires offer no advantage on ice.

The reason I plow our driveway is because it is long and oil delivery,
propane delivery and other large trucks would have a difficult if not
impossible job trying to make it from the road to the house or barn.
I also have emergency vehicles in mind. It would be a bitch to have a
fire or medical issue and the responding vehicles couldn't make it to
the house.

If I can expose a good amount of the driveway the high
emissivity of the black asphalt absorbs enough radiation energy from
the sun to warm and either melt or sublimate any ice that forms, even
when ambient temps are well below freezing.



My 4Runner is selectable 4WD and it runs pretty well in snow and slush,
so long as I don't try to use it as a snow plow. I can usually get out
of the driveway so long as the snow is not too wet and isn't more than
8" deep. I don't try, though, until a couple of neighbors with bigger
vehicles cut furrows in our little private road. Once I get to our
traffic circle, typically, the county's contractors have at least plowed
one lane in the road, and by then all the "numbered" state and county
roads have been plowed.

Our propane dealer is pretty good at making sure the underground tank is
topped off on a schedule that coincides with bad weather. One of our
heat pumps uses propane for heat and electric for backup. The other is
only electric. But we need propane to run the hot water heater,
stovetop, and fireplace. No hot water = unhappy wife.

My 4Runner has about 225,000 miles on it. I don't need a boat tow
vehicle any more, which is why I am thinking of stepping down one size
to the smaller Toyota SUV that Don has...or maybe a Honda SUV. I like at
least part-time 4WD for the snow. I don't drive off-road at all.


--
Proud to be a Liberal.

On 3/4/2015 8:54 AM, Keyser Söze wrote:
On 3/4/15 8:35 AM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 3/4/2015 8:17 AM, Keyser Söze wrote:
On 3/4/15 8:14 AM, True North wrote:
KC
- show quoted text -
"Ha, haven't shoveled in weeks... Just drive through it That's why
God
made 4x4 and snow tires. It's so funny at work listening to everyone
complain about driving in the snow when they won't even spring for pair
of snow tires"


Pair of snow tires???
Up here they recommend all four.


We're supposed to get 4" to 8" of snow tonight. As long as I can "blast"
my way out the driveway with my old SUV, I'm happy. If it is more than
8", though, I'll have to call the plow guy.

Do you have part-time 4WD on that Toyota? If so, does it do the job in
the snow?





My truck has regular 6 ply truck tires on it. My wife's Mountaineer (or
whatever it is) has all season tires. Her's is automatic, all wheel
drive. My truck is conventional (selectable) 4 wheel drive with a
limited slip rear differential, so it's really 2 and a half wheel drive.

Neither of us have any problems going through fairly deep snow. Only
problems is ice, especially where the driveway slopes up to the house.
Snow tires offer no advantage on ice.

The reason I plow our driveway is because it is long and oil delivery,
propane delivery and other large trucks would have a difficult if not
impossible job trying to make it from the road to the house or barn.
I also have emergency vehicles in mind. It would be a bitch to have a
fire or medical issue and the responding vehicles couldn't make it to
the house.

If I can expose a good amount of the driveway the high
emissivity of the black asphalt absorbs enough radiation energy from
the sun to warm and either melt or sublimate any ice that forms, even
when ambient temps are well below freezing.



My 4Runner is selectable 4WD and it runs pretty well in snow and slush,
so long as I don't try to use it as a snow plow. I can usually get out
of the driveway so long as the snow is not too wet and isn't more than
8" deep. I don't try, though, until a couple of neighbors with bigger
vehicles cut furrows in our little private road. Once I get to our
traffic circle, typically, the county's contractors have at least plowed
one lane in the road, and by then all the "numbered" state and county
roads have been plowed.

Our propane dealer is pretty good at making sure the underground tank is
topped off on a schedule that coincides with bad weather. One of our
heat pumps uses propane for heat and electric for backup. The other is
only electric. But we need propane to run the hot water heater,
stovetop, and fireplace. No hot water = unhappy wife.

My 4Runner has about 225,000 miles on it. I don't need a boat tow
vehicle any more, which is why I am thinking of stepping down one size
to the smaller Toyota SUV that Don has...or maybe a Honda SUV. I like at
least part-time 4WD for the snow. I don't drive off-road at all.




Our house has two stoves, two clothes dryers and two gas fireplaces.
They are all fed from one, 100 gallon (80 gallon) propane tank. We
disconnected the fireplaces from the gas years ago, so we no longer use
them. The single 100 gallon propane tank will last for a year and a
half running the other items.

We also added a "Hot Dawg" heater to the main garage that is attached to
the house which is fed by a second, 100 gal propane tank. We use the
garage a lot and the dogs live and play out there so we keep it at 68
degrees. This winter (particularly February) has been much colder than
normal and we have had to fill it's propane tank every 4 weeks or so.

The other garage (where I keep the tractor) was re-finished back when I
was storing a couple of classic vintage cars in it. I added central air
conditioning and also two levels of electric heat in the air handler
(similar to heating systems in the south). The main heater is 10kw
and it has an additional 5kw "kicker" element if needed. I've never
needed it. For the winter I set the thermostat to about 40 degrees, so
it rarely runs but it keeps the garage warm enough that the little
diesel engine in the tractor has no problems firing up when needed
(which has been often this year).

On 3/4/2015 8:54 AM, Keyser Söze wrote:
One of our heat pumps uses propane for heat and electric for backup. The
other is only electric. But we need propane to run the hot water heater,
stovetop, and fireplace. No hot water = unhappy wife.

Do you even know what a heat pump is?

--

Respectfully submitted by Justan

Laugh of the day from Krause

"I'm not to blame anymore for the atmosphere in here.
I've been "born again" as a nice guy."

On Wednesday, March 4, 2015 at 2:05:28 PM UTC-5, Justan Olphart wrote:
On 3/4/2015 8:54 AM, Keyser Söze wrote:
One of our heat pumps uses propane for heat and electric for backup. The
other is only electric. But we need propane to run the hot water heater,
stovetop, and fireplace. No hot water = unhappy wife.

Do you even know what a heat pump is?

--

Respectfully submitted by Justan

Laugh of the day from Krause

"I'm not to blame anymore for the atmosphere in here.
I've been "born again" as a nice guy."

Yeah, I caught that. I'll have to ask my HVAC guy if he can install a "heat pump" for me that runs on propane.

On 3/4/2015 3:15 PM, wrote:
On Wednesday, March 4, 2015 at 2:05:28 PM UTC-5, Justan Olphart wrote:
On 3/4/2015 8:54 AM, Keyser Söze wrote:
One of our heat pumps uses propane for heat and electric for backup. The
other is only electric. But we need propane to run the hot water heater,
stovetop, and fireplace. No hot water = unhappy wife.

Do you even know what a heat pump is?

--

Respectfully submitted by Justan

Laugh of the day from Krause

"I'm not to blame anymore for the atmosphere in here.
I've been "born again" as a nice guy."

Yeah, I caught that. I'll have to ask my HVAC guy if he can install a "heat pump" for me that runs on propane.



Your HVAC guy will probably recommend a hybrid heat pump system. Yes,
they make them. It's a traditional air or ground water heat pump with
a propane fueled heater as well. Makes sense for climates where the
air temp drops to the point where the heat pump side becomes too
inefficient.

On Wednesday, March 4, 2015 at 3:30:51 PM UTC-5, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 3/4/2015 3:15 PM, wrote:
On Wednesday, March 4, 2015 at 2:05:28 PM UTC-5, Justan Olphart wrote:
On 3/4/2015 8:54 AM, Keyser Söze wrote:
One of our heat pumps uses propane for heat and electric for backup. The
other is only electric. But we need propane to run the hot water heater,
stovetop, and fireplace. No hot water = unhappy wife.

Do you even know what a heat pump is?

--

Respectfully submitted by Justan

Laugh of the day from Krause

"I'm not to blame anymore for the atmosphere in here.
I've been "born again" as a nice guy."

Yeah, I caught that. I'll have to ask my HVAC guy if he can install a "heat pump" for me that runs on propane.



Your HVAC guy will probably recommend a hybrid heat pump system. Yes,
they make them. It's a traditional air or ground water heat pump with
a propane fueled heater as well. Makes sense for climates where the
air temp drops to the point where the heat pump side becomes too
inefficient.

Yes, I know they exist.

On 3/4/15 3:30 PM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 3/4/2015 3:15 PM, wrote:
On Wednesday, March 4, 2015 at 2:05:28 PM UTC-5, Justan Olphart wrote:
On 3/4/2015 8:54 AM, Keyser Söze wrote:
One of our heat pumps uses propane for heat and electric for backup.
The
other is only electric. But we need propane to run the hot water
heater,
stovetop, and fireplace. No hot water = unhappy wife.

Do you even know what a heat pump is?

--

Respectfully submitted by Justan

Laugh of the day from Krause

"I'm not to blame anymore for the atmosphere in here.
I've been "born again" as a nice guy."

Yeah, I caught that. I'll have to ask my HVAC guy if he can install a
"heat pump" for me that runs on propane.



Your HVAC guy will probably recommend a hybrid heat pump system. Yes,
they make them. It's a traditional air or ground water heat pump with
a propane fueled heater as well. Makes sense for climates where the
air temp drops to the point where the heat pump side becomes too
inefficient.



It is indeed a hybrid system...air heat pump/furnace that runs on
electricity in temperate or hot conditions, propane backup when it is
too cold outside to extract heat.

Your buddy in Florida is a moron.

--
Proud to be a Liberal.

I was mildly surprised last winter. We had a 9 1/2" snowfall and they had not yet plowed my condo complex. It came time for me to leave for work and I was as I said mildly surprised when my 2014 Ford Taurus FWD only drove right through it to the street which had been plowed.

It came with Michelin all season tires and they seem to do well in the snow of course being FWD helps a lot.

On Thu, 5 Mar 2015 08:15:52 +0000, RGrew176 wrote:


I was mildly surprised last winter. We had a 9 1/2" snowfall and they
had not yet plowed my condo complex. It came time for me to leave for
work and I was as I said mildly surprised when my 2014 Ford Taurus FWD
only drove right through it to the street which had been plowed.

It came with Michelin all season tires and they seem to do well in the
snow of course being FWD helps a lot.

We had a Jetta for four years in Germany, with lots of snow, and another Jetta now -
both front wheel drive only. The little buggers can handle snow pretty well, although
the manual transmission helped a lot on the earlier one.

It's snowing here again. I suppose we're on our way to the 6-8" we're supposed to
get. They were at least partially right on the forecast last night. They said the
rain would change to snow o/a 8-9am. It just changed.
--

Guns don't cause problems. The behavior
of certain gun owners causes problems.

On 3/5/2015 3:15 AM, RGrew176 wrote:
I was mildly surprised last winter. We had a 9 1/2" snowfall and they
had not yet plowed my condo complex. It came time for me to leave for
work and I was as I said mildly surprised when my 2014 Ford Taurus FWD
only drove right through it to the street which had been plowed.

It came with Michelin all season tires and they seem to do well in the
snow of course being FWD helps a lot.

Try it in 30, 40 or 50 inches of snow. :-)

Back in November I bought an old, 1988 Lincoln Town Car to fool around
with and drive locally. I parked it beside the house just before the
first major storm in February. By the end of February you couldn't tell
there was a car there. It was completely covered and hidden in snow and
snow drifts.

I finally dug it out last week. Battery was dead because of the cold
but a quick charge brought it back to life and the car fired right up.
Don't think I'll be driving it for a while yet though. It's in really
good condition ... looks almost new ... with no rust or rot. No sense
in driving it around on salt treated roads.