# Things that don't work at 30 below **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 23, 2013, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-work-at-30-below/677024 "2013-12-23T17:44:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-work-at-30-below/677024/41 "2013-12-24T16:50:02Z")
There was one morning about 12 years ago Saskatoon hit something like -47C. You know it’s been really cold when you get up the next morning and it’s -35 and everyone’s commenting on how much warmer it feels. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-work-at-30-below/677024/42 "2013-12-24T16:58:11Z")
Okay, 10 years ago. [January 28, 2004](http://climate.weather.gc.ca/climateData/hourlydata_e.html?timeframe=1&Prov=SASK&StationID=3328&dlyRange=1892-03-01%7C2012-03-19&cmdB1=Go&Year=2004&Month=1&Day=28#legendM), and a mere -44.9 (windchill -58 but that doesn’t really count). ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-work-at-30-below/677024/43 "2013-12-24T17:04:10Z")
Ugh. That’s way too cold. > [@Marlonius](#): > > I’ve seen rubber mallets shatter like glass, though I think the temperature was closer to -40°C than -30. I’ve also had extension cords break like old sticks (while unplugging my block heater). Not shattering, but I had a mystery broken mallet earlier this winter. The kid was using it to hammer tent stakes into the ground and left it on the ground. When I picked it up, the mallet part was in 4 or so pieces. At first I was pissed because he broke my mallet…but how the hell are you going to do that hammering a plastic tent stake? I decided that it must have gotten rained on and rain go between the handle and head…possible absorbed into the head as well. Froze, and the rest is history. > [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > I knew a girl in Kenai who went out in 20 below with damp hair, and it broke. Please forgive me, but when I read this sentence it begged for a limerick. I once knew a girl in Kenai Who ventured to go outside With wet hair, dontcha know; It was 20 below. When she came in, she looked like a guy. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Doom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Dr\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Doom)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-work-at-30-below/677024/44 "2013-12-24T17:04:24Z")
> [@WolfpackJeep](#): > > No experience with 30 below, but at 15 below the seats in an early 90’s Chevy truck lose their cushiony properties. There was an outrageously cold morning many years ago, I got into the Chevy pickup and the vinyl bench seat cracked. It wouldn’t start, either. When my dad showed up with his vehicle to give me a boost, I popped the hood, and when I went to hook up the cables I had to lean against the heavy plastic grille. The grille snapped and broke off, too. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-work-at-30-below/677024/45 "2013-12-24T17:04:35Z")
Butane cigarette lighters. On my walks home from class in St. Petersburg, I’d often have a smoke… after spending a long few minutes warming my lighter in my hand. On the other hand, I had no problem drinking a 500ml can of warm Baltika 3 from the produkti before it froze. 😛 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-work-at-30-below/677024/46 "2013-12-24T17:40:03Z")
> [@Marlonius](#): > > I’ve seen rubber mallets shatter like glass, though I think the temperature was closer to -40°C than -30. I’ve also had extension cords break like old sticks (while unplugging my block heater). And again, I bring up my idea that we need a better way to plug cars in in places that get truly cold. You could kind of say that regular plastic plugs on extension cords don’t really work at 30 below - they get so hard that it is truly a bitch to plug and unplug them. Last time I complained about this, I think it was **Gorsnak** who suggested a magnetic plug like on a MacBook - brilliant! > [@johnpost](#): > > try lithium batteries. Aren’t the batteries for things like iPods and digital cameras lithium already? ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-work-at-30-below/677024/47 "2013-12-24T17:56:50Z")
[http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/magnoplug/magnoplug](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/magnoplug/magnoplug) ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-work-at-30-below/677024/48 "2013-12-24T18:05:46Z")
Once I went to visit some friends in Edmonton for New Year’s Eve. I bought a (26 oz.) bottle of rye (Alberta Premium), a bottle of amaretto and a 2L plastic bottle of beer and I foolishly left them in the trunk of my car overnight. The next day, the amaretto and the beer turned into an amarettosicle and a beersicle, but there was a teeny bit of liquid left in the bottle of rye. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-work-at-30-below/677024/49 "2013-12-24T18:34:40Z")
Me. Coldest I’ve been in was -26F. No idea what the wind chill was. We were skiing. It was a blast coming down, but the lifts were murder! They closed the lifts early. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-work-at-30-below/677024/50 "2013-12-24T18:49:00Z")
> [@Poysyn](#): > > Apparently our new polymer 20 dollar bills - they “break” at -30. :smack: Hah. “Can you break a 20?” My car battery exploded one early morning when it was 40 below when I tried to jump it from another car. It blew one of the end sides off and part of a corner. The acid went everywhere, and by that afternoon my parka was full of holes, as were my mitts. I had to buy a new parka. And mitts. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-work-at-30-below/677024/51 "2013-12-24T18:51:08Z")
Also, not -30, but this morning, walking a friend’s (energetic, enthusiastic, sweet, adorable, annoying) German Shepherd Dog(e)s, I discovered that the retractable leash was temperature sensitive. WTF? It’s hard to convince a pup that he ought to stay more or less even with me, temporary alphapup, when I can’t reel his ass back in. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-work-at-30-below/677024/52 "2013-12-24T20:41:27Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/magnoplug/magnoplug](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/magnoplug/magnoplug) That’s the best thing I’ve ever seen - I will be pledging money towards the project. What a great world - ask and you will receive! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-work-at-30-below/677024/53 "2013-12-24T20:49:36Z")
And I have pledged! WooT! ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-work-at-30-below/677024/54 "2013-12-24T20:59:31Z")
A gearbox that had accumulated a bit of water and does not use synthetic oil A hockey puck can shatter if hit just right (slapshot essentially). My tongue - don’t put a microphone in front of my face and expect me to talk if I just came in from two hours in the cold. Batteries. Most batteries can’t handle it. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-work-at-30-below/677024/55 "2013-12-24T21:07:17Z")
That Kickstarter is a good idea. I’ve bookmarked it to consider after I am done wrapping gifts… ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-work-at-30-below/677024/56 "2014-01-08T19:36:09Z")
The ignition in my car. Stuck the key in and tried to turn it - no dice. Turned out that the timer on my block heater wasn’t set correctly, so the car engine was frigid, and there must have been a bit of condensation in my ignition, so it froze. Lit a match, held it under the key, then stuck the key in the ignition - and it turned! Surge of power, and eventually blessed heat started coming out of the heater vents. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-work-at-30-below/677024/57 "2014-01-08T19:49:12Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > \and eventually blessed heat started coming out of the heater vents. Right as you pulled up to where you were going? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![the\_Lady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@the\_Lady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_Lady)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-work-at-30-below/677024/58 "2014-01-08T20:15:53Z")
Yeah, that’s my car. It doesn’t get warm. Not fun. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-work-at-30-below/677024/59 "2014-01-08T22:06:15Z")
[\*\*Starting — or trying to start — \*\*](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS5qc39vDFw) three vehicles at a claimed -43C, with block heaters unplugged. YouTube. (Lots of four-letter words.) The car that won’t start, even with boosting, does the next day after the block heater was plugged in. The video plays to my prejudice that GMs will start when others won’t, and have been doing so when others wouldn’t back to at least 1950. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-work-at-30-below/677024/60 "2014-01-08T23:29:51Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > There was one morning about 12 years ago Saskatoon hit something like -47C. You know it’s been really cold when you get up the next morning and it’s -35 and everyone’s commenting on how much warmer it feels. Reminds me of the inverse when I lived in Las Vegas. “It’s only 98 today.” “I thought it felt cooler.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-work-at-30-below/677024.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-work-at-30-below/677024.md?page=4)