Preparing for Winter 1

ice fog

Preparing for Winter: Vehicles and Homes

Although things have changed since we lived in Fairbanks, due to the climate crisis, when we lived there, some level of winter was part of life for a good chunk of each year. The first snow would usually fall sometime in October, although it could be earlier. In April, things would be melting, but still with ice underneath. So preparation was important.

Every year, when the first snow hit the ground, there would be a mad rush to garages, so people could have their tires changed to studded snow tires, as though people somehow forgot that snow was coming and this needed to be done. Since we had a light pick-up truck, we also had to put heavy stuff in the back to prevent fishtailing. It also needed to be something that would not slide around. We found out before out first winter that people used sandbags, so we got some of those and also had cinder blocks back there. This worked.

It was important to keep certain supplies with you in the vehicle. We had a bag in the back seat with blankets, heavy mittens, and other supplies just in case we got stuck somewhere. Young people in particular would sometimes go out quite underdressed for the very cold temperatures, thinking that because they would be in a car, there was no need to consider the cold. But cars break down or won’t start, so it was important to be prepared.

oil tank

We’d have oil delivered once a year (about 500 gallons, if I remember correctly), in September, except for one year when we needed another delivery in April. We had a Monitor stove, which did an excellent job. Our house was well insulated, which helped a lot, too. The walls were several inches thick, and the guy who built it had made insulated window inserts in case they were needed. We had large double-paned windows in half the house and had we wanted to, we could have put the inserts in all or some of them to trap more heat. There were also electric wall heaters in both bedrooms and the utility room as well as electric baseboards in the large living room/kitchen/dining area half of the house.

oil monitor

When the house was built, electricity was cheap. When it became expensive, the guy put in the Monitor. I don’t think we ever used the baseboards. We did occasionally use the bedroom wall heater in our room and our daughter used hers all the time—her room was like an oven! The Monitor was located in the living room. It could be set to a certain temperature manually or be put on a timer. There was a fireplace in the house, but when we had someone come to look at the chimney, he said it was a mess and should not be used as it was. He suggested putting in a wood stove with a chimney for that constructed inside the existing stone chimney. We opted not to do this, so the fireplace went unused and it was important for us to make sure we had enough oil before the extreme cold set in. There was a sauna cabin near the house, which had a lot of wood inside. We never used this, but it was there if we needed it.

Sometimes heating the house was not enough to stop ice forming in the pipes. Our usual issue in that regard was with the drain pipe for the washing machine. The pipes were wrapped in heat tape, so I would regularly have to plug that one in when doing laundry in winter.