Well its getting to be that time of year, have you winterized your kits yet? What do you do to your kits to have them ready for the winter?
Over the next couple of weeks I will need to adjust my kit for the winter by makeing sure to toss in a set of coveralls and a union"suit (long johns) and another pair or 2 of socks, a sleeping bag and maybe a few more warm cloths and winter gloves as well as adding more hot chocolate, coffee and other hot drinks. Another thing will be to be sure to have water in containers that will stand up to the freeze and thaws and a ready meathod of melting it. One meathod for this that may work well if you have a vacume sealer that will do pouches of water then seal up pouches of water so the plastic is loose enouph to allow for the freezing then have the hand warmers where you bend the tab and it heats up or the ones you light so when it freezes it is thiner with more surface area and easier to melt. I still havent figured out any ideal way of storeing water in the vehicle in the winter where it would stay liquid but this would be about the best I could think of. What do te rest of you do to get your kits ready for winter?
I live by water that flows all yr long mm. I don't really store any except for a few sources in the house, "If I had to Run" type thing. You may want to try adding a little salt to the water. Just my homegrown theory of the moment but salt does melt ice and SHTF, you may want a little extra salt too.
Zero degrees F was set as the lowest temp that water freezing temp could be lowered by adding salt. As a practical matter, salt does little good below around 15 or 20 degrees since the theoretical temp cannot be achieved outside the lab. Things may get slushy, but don't expect run off from spreading salt at that low a temp.
i dont think wsinshield wiper fluid has anti freeze in it espically for 95 cents a gallon... Last i was told it was just soapy water
Being another that lives/work's within close proximity of multiple year around sources of water, my only stock pile is at home. I would think that storing water inside a well insulated cooler and further insulated inside the cooler would definitely slow down the freezing process. Obviously, this depends on how cold it is and how long the water sits inside the vehicle.
My outside Insulated Totes, Freeze from the outside Walls, toward the Center.... even at -8F they only Freeze about 2.5" on all outside Sides, and Top. I can use my Stock Tank Heater to turn all that back into water in about 6 hours. ...... YMMV....
It has something in it to lower freezing temps, or hitting the washer it clear off road crud would ice up the windshield in a righteous hurry.
The majority of windshield washer fluid contains methanol (methyl alcohol or wood alcohol) to lower the freezing temp. Occasionally you will come across one with ethylene glycol (also found in antifreeze) but it's usually a very small amount and only for the "really cold" varieties.
I use that style of WW -45 for my lawn tractor tires weight . The grass cutter tractor only has air , the rest of the tractors without tracks use WW fluid -45 when it's on sale I buy cases . JFI
