5 Mar
2002
5 Mar
'02
10:19 a.m.
On Tue, 5 Mar 2002, Merle K. Peirce wrote:
I hate getting started early in the cold anyway!
Isn't that what ether's
for, anyway? Only yuppies use glow plugs. :)
We had electric heater dipsticks for the auxiliary light-plants on my
drilling rigs. Kept the oil, crankcase and block heated to about 55-60F
even in sub-zero weather.
Not that you could do this on the road, but I've also been able to
start mud-pumps (Cat 379 power-plants) by warming a drum of oil for an
hour in the heated doghouse and doing an oil change. It's really the
viscosity of the cold oil that makes a deisel hard to start, more than
the temperature of the cylinders.
I remember getting our old coaches going when it was
bitterly cold. Lots
of either, batteries that sounded half dead, then a rattle and a start,
the old Detroits chugged away until they were warm, and lef tan exhaust
trail like a cra. Of course, the next worry is th air system so be sure
the tanks are drained and crarry alcohol.
Oh, yeah. And don't store the alcohol next to the doghouse heater.
This is on-topic. I quit roughnecking well over 10 years ago. :o)
Doc