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Life gets interesting when the temperature drops to -20 F and stays there for awhile.

1/22/13 – Life gets interesting when the temperature drops to -20 F and stays there for awhile. This cold snap was ushered in by high winds with gusts close to 50 mph. The wind blew out the propane tank heater on our diesel powered generator, so it failed to start automatically. Our battery bank kept us powered up while I started the heater to warm up the generator.
Once I got that fixed, I noticed that our propane backup furnace was also out. It turned out that the wind had packed snow into the fresh air supply pipe on the furnace, causing it to shut down. Our wood boiler was keeping up fine, but it always makes me nervous when we don’t have a functioning backup.
This morning, the diesel fuel stopped flowing from the fuel tank to the diesel generator. This time, ample sunshine kept us powered up until it warmed up enough (all the way to -12 F) to allow the fuel to become liquid again.
Meanwhile, our radio phone system went down, presumably from a power outage in Lutsen where our base station is located.
The fun never ends here at Sawbill! – Bill