Extreme Cold

it gets to -35 or -40 for 1-2 weeks a year here. we just had a week long stretch.

- dont touch metal with your skin, it will stick.
- propane doesn't evaporate. butane lighters need to be kept inside your coat or they also wont work.
- if your not careful your eyelashes freeze together when you blink
- gloves dont warm your hands. put them on while you are warm and they delay how long it is before your hands are cold.
- facial hair helps keep your face warm, but your breath freezes up in it. careful picking the ice out.
- be careful with anything plastic, like turn signal stalks and the like because they get very brittle.
- we have frost free hose bibs that dont freeze, you bring in your hose or keep it in the shed for winter.
- there are rules about where you can run plumbing in a building so it wont freeze. you will often find a row of urinals on an outside wall has a ~4" ledge above them. the wall is built and insulated, then a wall is built in front of it for plumbing.
- watermain comes in from underground in the basement. its atleast 8 or 10 feet below grade
- keep blankets and such in the vehicle if you leave the city, or even if you dont. i also keep a tow strap and booster cables in my truck.
- i have owned 3 second gen durangos with the 5.7. they all have started fine, with the exception of my current one which probably needs a new battery. many people use block heaters or heated battery blankets. modern EFI and synthetic oils have really improved things in this regard. I knew a guy who worked on the original alaska highway in the 40s. if a machine stopped running because some guy shut it off, they just marked its location to go back for it in the spring.
I work mostly indoors. I put on thick wool socks from bass pro, wool long johns, regular carhart type work pants, a t-shirt, a thin/cheap hoodie, a bit thicker hoodie with a zipper or a fleece, a cheap down filled coat from costco and a wind/waterproof outer jacket and my normal work boots before i leave in the morning. if I have to spend much time outside, I have some german surplus snow pants and good winter boots I put on. I also have cheap magic gloves, then a pair of wool gloves and a pair of heavy mittens. I wear a toque and a wool tube scarf under my hoods as well.