Northern Raider wrote:Winter tyres are made of a softer rubber / carbon compound so they retasin their grip and felexability in cold weather, so sadly they wear quicker.
Sure! Are we talking the sort of mileages you might scrub out a rear tyre on a large sports bike i.e. 1500 - 2000 miles or is it more like 10,000 - 15,000 miles?
Northern Raider wrote:
Ten to 15 thou, depending on how much high speed driving on tarmac you do. the M + S tyres on my BOV have done 30,000 and need changing, but I bought the commercially rated 8 ply tyres.
Ah! That's acceptable. I don't do high speed any longer, I got that out of my system in the '80s on bikes. I figure I survived that period and had better not push my luck on the roads.
Highland-Bushcrafter, some good stuff about vehicle preps for a colder climate. Other than mentioning the waste pipe going to ground within the house you don't say about how else you've prepped you house against the cold.
I did much of the renovation on our cottage when we bought it so I know the roof insulation and double glazing is okay. Floors came up and were relaid with insulation at the same time with better damp proofing. This snow has highlighted the need for an insulating cover of sorts for the Velux lights as they clearly leak lots of heat. I'm considering some internal shutters for our windows too, we have thick curtains which work well to cut heat loss through windows and front door, they also cut light very well.
Can you suggest other ways to prepare a house for increasing cold?
[quote="Huorn"]Highland-Bushcrafter, some good stuff about vehicle preps for a colder climate.......
Can you suggest other ways to prepare a house for increasing cold?
H[/quote
I have no external waste pipes to freeze they all go underground inside the house and exit the building 3 ft under ground so they are very safe from the frost. I have tryed to replace all of the copper pipe i can with Plastic Alkathene pipe becuase plastic pipes do not split if they do freeze.
My enclose central heating loop uses a mixture of water, glycol and corrosion inhibitor to prevent freezing and corrosion.
The walls of my house are 2 foot thick stone and the thier is 8 inches of glass wool between the stone and the interior walls. I have 16 inches of glass wool on the loft.
I have exterior shutters over the windows which are double glazed to protect them from high winds and debris blowing and breaking them during storm which has happened before to me.
Wood burning stove with back boiler to support and backup the oil central heating system.
The house is rated at 100,000 btu per hour but but with all the insulation my house gets uncomfortably warm running the 30,000 btu wood burner alone.
The steep roof angle alows snow build up to slide off but just incase i have increased strengthened the rafters to support the weight of heavy snow loads. Last year the roof supported 2ft of snow with out a problem.
Some very interesting points noted there, HB.
I particularly note your theory on the gulf stream reduction, as I thought something similar over the past week myself ( I also compared to that BS movie and reached the same conclusion - good theory but slightly longer timescale)
My friends and I have enjoyed fishing the gulf-stream-enriched summer waters of south west Scotland for several years and I've noticed a drastic decline over the last year or two, indicating a change in oceanic patterns. I hope to hell I'm wrong, but some winter preps are definitely in order.
