Gelled diesel fuel

[Dr Crankenstein]

I've never had gelled fuel in the 12 years I've owned a diesel.

Where I come from, the pumps are loaded with "winter fuel" long before winter arrives. (The additive is in the fuel before you buy it.)

.

 

[williej45]

I recently moved from Fargo ND to just north of Boston MA. The weather man was sniveling about an "Arctic Blast" that could drop us to SINGLE DIGIT TEMPS!!!!!!! I about fell of the couch laughing.
It was 0*F this morning and my wife finally decided that a hoodie wasn't going to be enough and broke out her coat.
I'm told that it only takes 2 winters to loose your "Dakota blood"

When people say you can't go out at -50*F air temp, I ask if they think we don't go to work for the month of February.

I tell people that it keeps the rif-raf out of our state. The flaw with that theory is that the rif-raf that is born there doesn't know any better.

 

[billy]

Warmed up to -17f and wind chill -30f.
The love boat started easily but it has to run for about 10 minutes then I fiddle with the shifter until it loosens up enough for me to get it in reverse
Then I drive for a mile or two in 1 hi to warm everything up down there.
Then it drives normally and I thank my lucky stars I had brains enough to buy the biggest badass 40000btu heater I could cram in this thing
5 minutes and can't see my breath at 20 below
10 and I don't need gloves

 

[Old Iron]

I thought I had it happen one time. I pointed a hair dryer at the lift pump and in 10 minutes it fired off.
Must have been moisture who knows [S
Oh yea, the hair dryer was plugged in and turned on too [ddd

 

[ssimpala]

It accidentally froze once here in Tejas this winter! [ddd

BoB

Fixin' to do it again Tripper...already getting cold here and maybe a little icy too for the next three or four days. I don't know how our northern friends do it...if I can't work outside in shirtsleeves or drive my favorite convertible anytime I want, I'm miserable. I was in Korea in the Army and also Vietnam....I preferred Vietnam.

 

[BillM]

Sometimes I wonder how we do it as well.....summer here can be a humid 35C, and six months later it's -30C.

 

[MercuryMac]

I'm north west of you in Texas, but we're getting that cold snap too. And it's going to be cold again tonight. This morning, as the sun was coming up it was -37C* or -35F*. I put on a little more clothes when I went for my usual walk in the bush today, I tell you. It was nice in the shop though.

Tripper, could I put a story about building a tractor in the Build section, to prove that I'm not just sitting around spouting hollow opinions?

 

[Willowbilly3]

Warmed up to -17f and wind chill -30f.
The love boat started easily but it has to run for about 10 minutes then I fiddle with the shifter until it loosens up enough for me to get it in reverse
Then I drive for a mile or two in 1 hi to warm everything up down there.
Then it drives normally and I thank my lucky stars I had brains enough to buy the biggest badass 40000btu heater I could cram in this thing
5 minutes and can't see my breath at 20 below
10 and I don't need gloves

Old trick I used to do with my 4x4s in the winter, leave the T case in neutral and the tranny in gear when you park. Then when you start it up, the tranny grease is loosening up whilst the engine warms up.

 

[billy]

A real nice young rancher i met on Facebook is lending me his diesel/Kerosine torpedo heater so I can thaw out the fuel lines in the cummins.
My 60000 BTU propane one can't do it alone.
I learned my lesson about the need for fuel additives early and often

 

[Willowbilly3]

With this warm snap, you should have it un-gelled.
Dang I remember being out on I-90 in 20 below with 30 mph wind trying to thaw out trucks that had big tanks and had filled in Texas. Lordy, don't want to see that movie again.

 

[billy]

Got it running thanks to 2 farmboy marines I met on Facebook
One was a diesel mechanic in the corps
Air in the lines