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The Novel Use of Carmen's Warm Bags,
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thinking a lot about the impellor. He said that there was a
thermostat involved. The thermostat had to get warm enough to
allow the impellor to operate. He suggested trying to start the
engine that evening after it had been in the sun all day and see
if it would run.
Don’s thought
reminded me of how my dad, who was a physician, would get a call
in the middle of the night, talk on the phone for a little
while, and then turn out the light and go back to sleep, only to
sit up some time later having thought the situation through more
fully and make another phone call to give the person further
thoughts on what they should do.
That evening
we did try to start the engine, and it ran right
away, with the water pump running a strong stream of water out
the tattle tale! I left Craig a note on his skiff and we went
home. When Craig got home, he called and I arranged to borrow
his staple gun for my current freeze-up project, paneling the
pantry. We also discussed the freezing problem and how to keep
the engine warm. He suggested running the engine for two minutes
and, if the water pump was not running, to shut it off to let
the heat soak into the engine, then start it again to see if it
would thaw.
The next
morning, at 16.0ºF, I went down early with the corn bags,
prepared to thaw the steering, and then started the engine. The
water was not running, so I let it run a few minutes and then
shut it off and waited. The third |
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time I started it, the water ran! I was so happy! Running across
we saw more Northern Lights but couldn’t talk to each other very
well because of the engine noise. It had been nice when it was
so quiet the morning before, but this, we figured, was
preferable.
At 25ºF the
following Friday, the motor started up and the water coolant
flowed with no warming up.
My shoulder
was sore for two days, as was Gail’s. Paddling anything bigger
than a canoe, you don’t have the option of switching to the
other side when you get sore, so
we had just done what we had to do and kept paddling, with
starry night appreciation interludes. Why the thermostat
operates the way it does was something I had to find out from
Don. I would say it was magic, but that’s not the intent of this
story.
Later, Don
told me he took their pontoon boat in on Wednesday and wasn’t
sure if he was going to get through the one and a half inches of
ice on Mud Lake, but he just kept punching away at it and made
it though. He explained to me that the thermostat is on the
outlet of the water stream, and it’s there to keep a constant
temperature on the engine block. He said some people take them
out, but that’s not a good idea below about 40ºF, so I planned
to stick with the preheating I’d learned to do. This was at the
end of October in 2005.
So we settled
into our winter routine and appreciated the corn bags. They can
last all night because they can retain body heat. We are still
amazed that the corn doesn’t pop in the microwave. Amazement
aside, however, Carmen prefers to call them
warm bags so people won’t think they’re mundane.
Further
Excerpts:
The Freezing of Lakes
Water - 36o Six Inches Down |
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