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Timer

Doggggboy said:
I don't think so. Unless the pan was big enough to park the whole vehicle in , which is kinda the same as having the mat, sans the float valve.
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Maybe a leak rope to trigger a relay? Or maybe just a slower vacuum that can be on longer and work better with a cheap timer
 
TorontoBuilder said:
frankly I'm aghast that anyone from SK would suggest parking outside.

I could not start my car at U of R at least 100 different occasions due to the cold
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I park my truck outside. Just have to keep the battery in good shape and plug in the block heater. I want my wife to park outside, so I don't have to clean up the mess and I almost double the floor space to pile stuff on permanently.
 
mbond said:
Maybe a leak rope to trigger a relay? Or maybe just a slower vacuum that can be on longer and work better with a cheap timer
Click to expand...
So a leak rope would trigger the relay to turn on the timer to turn the vacuum on and off??
And then once the leak rope had dried out or frozen solid the relay would shut off and the vacuum would quit?
Seems a little more complicated than I was looking for.
 
Hruul said:
I park my truck outside. Just have to keep the battery in good shape and plug in the block heater. I want my wife to park outside, so I don't have to clean up the mess and I almost double the floor space to pile stuff on permanently.
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Win win.
The deal with us is she got the new Yukon but has to park in the unheated garage.
I got the old car but I can park it in the heated shop if I want to.
And I want to.
 
Grind a slot around the area the water pools and drill a hole at the deepest point through the floor. Water gone. That is what my dad did in his garage.
Pierre
 
pdentrem said:
Grind a slot around the area the water pools and drill a hole at the deepest point through the floor. Water gone. That is what my dad did in his garage.
Pierre
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Given that the frost here runs about 4 feet deep in the winter I think that would only work the first time.
 
Hruul said:
I park my truck outside. Just have to keep the battery in good shape and plug in the block heater. I want my wife to park outside, so I don't have to clean up the mess and I almost double the floor space to pile stuff on permanently.
Click to expand...
I never got a spot with a plug in Uni.. but the only reason I made it there is the first place was because I had block heater plugged in at home
 
TorontoBuilder said:
frankly I'm aghast that anyone from SK would suggest parking outside.

I could not start my car at U of R at least 100 different occasions due to the cold
Click to expand...
Hot tip of the day ...... how do you start a POS car that has been sitting in -40 for a few days or longer and no plug anywhere to plug in the block heater.

Get a metal tray, we used and upside down metal garbage can lid back in the day, put some charcoal in light it up and slip it under the oil pan. 20 minutes later the car will turn-over and start like it's the middle of July.

We did this on more than one occasion in Winnipeg and further North.

One of the cars in that video is a dead ringer one of our winter beaters, (the 67 Falcon). My buddies and I all had Hot Rods that never saw the snow, so we would buy winter beaters going price back then was $100+/- a bit. If you were really lucky someone would run into you because you would get more than you paid from Autopac and if it was still driveable they would sell it back to you for half the offer.

Favourite beater was a 69 Galaxy paid $125, that thing would blow warm air by the time you exited the parking lot even if it was 30 below and had been sitting in the cold for a couple of hours, best winter beater ever it lasted a good 5 very abusive years with zero problems until the tranny gave in. My buddy drove it home clear across Winnipeg in reverse because it happened at work. The looks at the traffic lights was priceless.

Works well for a frozen septic cap, they wanted to charge $350 to unfreeze it with heated steam, F that, 1/2 hour later the grass was burning around the perimeter of the lid with the $10 charcoal approach.
 
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slow-poke said:
Hot tip of the day ...... how do you start a POS car that has been sitting in -40 for a few days or longer and no plug anywhere to plug in the block heater.

Get a metal tray, we used and upside down metal garbage can lid back in the day, put some charcoal in light it up and slip it under the oil pan. 20 minutes later the car will turn-over and start like it's the middle of July.

We did this on more than one occasion in Winnipeg and further North.

One of the cars in that video is a dead ringer one of our winter beaters, (the 67 Falcon). My buddies and I all had Hot Rods that never saw the snow, so we would buy winter beaters going price back then was $100+/- a bit. If you were really lucky someone would run into you because you would get more than you paid from Autopac and if it was still driveable they would sell it back to you for half the offer.

Favourite beater was a 69 Galaxy paid $125, that thing would blow warm air by the time you exited the parking lot even if it was 30 below and had been sitting in the cold for a couple of hours, best winter beater ever it lasted a good 5 very abusive years with zero problems until the tranny gave in. My buddy drove it home clear across Winnipeg in reverse because it happened at work. The looks at the traffic lights was priceless.

Works well for a frozen septic cap, they wanted to charge $350 to unfreeze it with heated steam, F that, 1/2 hour later the grass was burning around the perimeter of the lid with the $10 charcoal approach.
Click to expand...
Used to drive an Olds 88 wagon with one of those famously bad diesels in it. Block heater died so we just used one of the hubcaps full of charcoal one winter.
Even bad ideas work sometimes.
 
slow-poke said:
Hot tip of the day ...... how do you start a POS car that has been sitting in -40 for a few days or longer and no plug anywhere to plug in the block heater.

Get a metal tray, we used and upside down metal garbage can lid back in the day, put some charcoal in light it up and slip it under the oil pan. 20 minutes later the car will turn-over and start like it's the middle of July.

We did this on more than one occasion in Winnipeg and further North.

One of the cars in that video is a dead ringer one of our winter beaters, (the 67 Falcon). My buddies and I all had Hot Rods that never saw the snow, so we would buy winter beaters going price back then was $100+/- a bit. If you were really lucky someone would run into you because you would get more than you paid from Autopac and if it was still driveable they would sell it back to you for half the offer.

Favourite beater was a 69 Galaxy paid $125, that thing would blow warm air by the time you exited the parking lot even if it was 30 below and had been sitting in the cold for a couple of hours, best winter beater ever it lasted a good 5 very abusive years with zero problems until the tranny gave in. My buddy drove it home clear across Winnipeg in reverse because it happened at work. The looks at the traffic lights was priceless.

Works well for a frozen septic cap, they wanted to charge $350 to unfreeze it with heated steam, F that, 1/2 hour later the grass was burning around the perimeter of the lid with the $10 charcoal approach.
Click to expand...
Yup my dad used to light a catalytic heater under the engine in his VW while working in the winter in Norther AB in the winter.
 
 
phaxtris said:
Only downside is you need it to be within range of your wireless network.
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That's a dealbreaker. The garage is only about 80 feet from the house but my house is ICF with a brick exterior and the wifi barely makes it to the deck outside.
 
@Doggggboy

Hruul said:
BTW the obvious answer, and one I am surprised @Susquatch didn't mention is to not park in the garage. I have not been able to get that one to work unfortunately.
Click to expand...

I've harped on the advantages of that solution often enough elsewhere. If @Doggggboy doesn't care about how quickly his wife's car rusts, let him park it inside.

@Doggggboy - have you considered absorption socks?

If you don't like home automation, how about just a simple electronic timer. This one can be programmed to run as short as one minute. It will also handle 15 amps which should look after your vacuum. And it's UL approved.

 
Doggggboy said:
That's a dealbreaker. The garage is only about 80 feet from the house but my house is ICF with a brick exterior and the wifi barely makes it to the deck outside.
Click to expand...

oh sorry i missed that part of your post

that sucks for more than one reason....time for an outdoor wifi booster/repeter/extender!
 
Susquatch said:
If @Doggggboy doesn't care about how quickly his wife's car rusts, let him park it inside.
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It's my car now and we don't use much for salt out here in Saskatchewan.
I mean they do put it down but it either blows away or turns 30 below in a few hours.
I've been parking my work van in a heated building for 12 years and driving it daily for 10 of those and it looks like brand new still. No rust.

Susquatch said:
If you don't like home automation, how about just a simple electronic timer. This one can be programmed to run as short as one minute. It will also handle 15 amps which should look after your vacuum. And it's UL approved.

https://a.co/d/10zqiiY
Click to expand...
Not that I don't like it, just don't need it for something this simple. I think.
The timer may be the answer. I've already ordered the one TB recommended.
 
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