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Message: <blockquote data-quote="skidsteer.ca" data-source="post: 9517" data-attributes="member: 307">TazzaFor my part of Canada -30 is a fairly cold day. It can get colder but generally the winter temps are mor like -15 to -20c for lows and  5 to 10 degrees warmer in the days. B4 global warming. It was faily common to get a 2 week cold snap of -30 and a few odd days of it here and there throughout the winter.As for steel being brittle, I'd say its a commonly held belief amongst equipment operators in these parts. But it not just steel that takes the strain. Its tough to get engines started. Most use a fuel or lpg fired coolant heater (for remote location without power) and block heaters where there is power. But once you get the engine running you need, thin motor oil and  a good mixture of antifreeze. many engines have been destroyed (especially good cold starting ones) by lack of oil flow, and some because the coolant would not circulate.Also depending on you pump system, some equipment (with say a direct coupled gear pump) must start to pump oil as soon as the engine turns over, so there is another major drag, because even the thin oil is thick for the first few minutes. Many machine like my Serco log loader use vane pumps (or some other style) which start loadless) Others have clutches  you can warm the engine first, then stall it 10 times trying to get the. oil to circulate from the resevoir back to the reservoir by engageing the clutch.Then after that its common for the operators to cycle the functions several time to warm the oil (which acts like tar). The pumps groan at full pressure and the function just barely moves and rock hard hoses try to stretch from the pressure. Gradualy things warm and speed up.  Better oils (engine and hyd) have helped tremendously  within the last 20 or 25 years. But need changed back out in the spring.Working though a "cold snap" can leave you with a pile of blown hoes, a burnt up pump and it not uncommon to hear of someone YOU know had a engine in something make its final turn.Also cylinder packing and o rings hate cold weather too.  So for all these reasons and many more people tend to shut down when it gets north of -30 for a day or two, and wait it out.I would not say personally I have noticed that steel turns to glass at -xx temp, but I do know that myself and many others are alot less likely to try and find out.One thing about winter that I'd really miss though if I was down south, is how it can turn a lake or floating bog into a highway. You get a foot of frost in the ground and you can haul 69000 kg on a truck and trailer across what was a mudhole. You just better do it fast though, because there are always too many trips to make and the spring thaw comes when it it feels like it.Ken</blockquote>

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