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[AnotherFairportfan]

Down to 13F...

[jwhouk]

-5F.

[GlytchMeister]

-12°F.

And I’m working out in it.

[lake_wrangler]

Wow! Things are warming up, here: it's only -6 F, with a wind chill factor of -18 F...

[lake_wrangler]

-12°F.

And I’m working out in it.

Good for you! As long as you dress for it (in layers, of course), you should normally be fine. Though admittedly, it may be a little hard on your breathing... I know: I was riding my bicycle, last week, at -15F, with a wind chill factor of -38 F... (but only for 25 minutes or so, the time it takes me to get to work.)

[Hansontoons]

To make all you single or negative digit folks jealous- it's 29F in Conroe at the moment, the slight breeze gives it a 24F "feels like".

A relative of mine that lives in the Phoenix AZ area posted a note over the weekend stating that it was going to be 23 degrees below 100 that day.

[GlytchMeister]

-12°F.

And I’m working out in it.

Good for you! As long as you dress for it (in layers, of course), you should normally be fine. Though admittedly, it may be a little hard on your breathing... I know: I was riding my bicycle, last week, at -15F, with a wind chill factor of -38 F... (but only for 25 minutes or so, the time it takes me to get to work.)

Oh yeah - this Boy Scout knows how to handle cold.

I’ve got a 2 socks under boots, three layers on my legs, a max of 5 layers on my torso (the last one, my actual coat, is only if I am out in the cold and not moving much), plus a max of 4+1 hood on my head.

Currently, that’s how I handle the breathing issues, especially since I already have lung damage from three bouts of pneumonia and nearly annual severe bronchitis plus seasonal allergy-induced asthma. The ninja mask, ski mask, bandanna, and detached fleece hoodie all cover my mouth and/or my nose, which traps some warm exhaled air, which mixes with cold inhaled air to make a slightly-above-freezing air mix that doesn’t hurt my lungs. The layers get wet, but that’s the best I can do for now.

If this keeps up, I’m going to the hardware store and getting some check valves and tubing and making a dual-tube breathing apparatus that collects air and passes it through some tubing near my skin somewhere to warm it up before I breathe it in, then it goes out a different tube somewhere where it won’t fog my glasses or get any of my layers wet.

[Warrl]

To make all you single or negative digit folks jealous- it's 29F in Conroe at the moment, the slight breeze gives it a 24F "feels like".

A relative of mine that lives in the Phoenix AZ area posted a note over the weekend stating that it was going to be 23 degrees below 100 that day.

Well, I can't beat that - today's high here will be 31 degrees below 100.

[Dave]

If this keeps up, I’m going to the hardware store and getting some check valves and tubing and making a dual-tube breathing apparatus that collects air and passes it through some tubing near my skin somewhere to warm it up before I breathe it in, then it goes out a different tube somewhere where it won’t fog my glasses or get any of my layers wet.

You might want to see if you can rig up a counter-current heat exchanger of some sort, so that the heat from the air you are exhaling is transferred to the air you're inhaling.

The rete mirable (found in many animals but not in humans) does this with blood, and the same technique can work for air. Getting moisture to transfer across, in addition to heat, would be even better (so you aren't drying out your lungs with every breath) but certainly more difficult to accomplish.

[Just Old Al]

Getting moisture to transfer across, in addition to heat, would be even better (so you aren't drying out your lungs with every breath) but certainly more difficult to accomplish.

Puts me to mind of a rather ancient and primitive type of particulate filter for air. The air intake runs into the bottom of a vessel with water in it (bottle). The outlet is at the top by the lid.

Air drawn in is bubbled through the water before exiting at the lid, so picks up a load of moisture as it goes. Believe it or not this was recommended as a nuclear fallout air filter at one time.

Alan

[Alkarii]

Sooooo... Pretty much, a water-filled bong? Sounds like exactly the same principle.

[Dave]

Hmmm. Plutonium bongwater.

Sounds like the name of a death-metal band.

[Typeminer]

Hmmm. Plutonium bongwater.

Sounds like the name of a death-metal band.

Opening act for Dethklok, right?

[Alkarii]

Sounds more like a stoner thrash metal bad, really...

[TazManiac]

If you can run that water trap though more than one stage it gets pretty efficient in 'cleaning' out the heavy particles.

One such idea was to incorporate a diverted sluice to run the incoming air through stream water partially diverted underground, (through traps with an 'air-bubbler', and then passing the resultant moisture laden air up an incline of bedrock so as to strip out the excess moisture- and Bobs yer Uncle...)

PS- Glytch'M needs to speak w/ the Polar Fremen of Arrakis...

[Alkarii]

You know, I've wondered many times if stillsuits would actually work. Out of all the devices Frank wrote about in his book, that really seemed like the only one that was truly plausible.

[Dave]

You know, I've wondered many times if stillsuits would actually work. Out of all the devices Frank wrote about in his book, that really seemed like the only one that was truly plausible.

I think it would depend a lot on the ambient temperature.

At lower temperatures, the body still sweats, and the resulting and water vapor could be carried away from the body by the suit and then condensed again by radiating or convecting heat to the air. The cooled and condensed moisture could be recirculated within the suit... in effect you'd have a semi-closed cooling system for the body.

The model breaks down at high temperatures, I think, at least for a simple stillsuit design. The body sweats so that it can get rid of excess heat... liquid water in the body absorbs heat energy in the process of evaporating, and carries that heat away in the form of water vapor. So, in a stillsuit design, where does that heat end up, when there is no water vapor escaping from the suit? If the ambient temperature is above body temperature, the heat can't escape to the environment by radiation or convection, and you don't want it to stay in the sweat or travel back into the body. You have to get rid of the heat to get back liquid water, and there's nowhere for it to go.

Basically, the stillsuit wearer would be in the same situation as a person in 100-degree (or hotter) weather, in a jungle at 100% relative humidity (or fully submerged in a hot tub at that temperature). You either get out, or drink cold liquids, or collapse and die fairly quickly. The hundred watts or so of heat that our metabolism generates must be gotten rid of, somehow, or we poach ourselves.

Now, all of this applies to a passive (unpowered) stillsuit. If you have an energy source, you could drive a Peltier cooler, with the hot side and some heatsink fins on the back of the suit to get rid of the heat, and the cold side chilling and condensing the sweat and thus cooling the body and reclaiming the water. You're using the power source to "pump heat uphill" away from the body.

Given skiffy-enough technology, I'd design the suit so that most of its surface had some form of thin film, high efficiency solar cell built in... with the tricky nanostructure coatings they're coming up with that can absorb a wide range of frequencies, and reflect away others (e.g. the IR frequencies too long and low energy to convert usefully to electricity). Weave in some flexible batteries to store energy during the day, and use it to run the coolers during the evenings (nights on Dune would likely be chilly, and natural cooling could be sufficient).

A powered stillsuit like that might actually work at temperatures up to 120F or so, at a guess, depending on the efficiency of the Peltier cooler system.

[lake_wrangler]

Woohoo! Got my truck started!

Knowing that today would be "warmer" (7 °F, with a wind chill factor of -4 °F), I went and bought a battery charger, after work last night, and had it charge up one of the truck's two batteries overnight. With the one fully charged battery, the other one sitting at or below 25%, and with the added juice from a booster pack, I was able to start up the truck without any difficulty.

I'm now letting it run for a bit, to warm the engine and finish charging up the other battery. (Yes, my truck is old enough that letting it idle will charge the battery, as opposed to more modern vehicles - from what I've been told...)

I'll drive back to work, and see if it starts OK again tomorrow morning (I am working overtime all night, so I won't try the truck again until tomorrow.) But since tomorrow is supposed to be around the same temp, I am fairly confident it will start just fine.

[lake_wrangler]

-12°F.

And I’m working out in it.

Good for you! As long as you dress for it (in layers, of course), you should normally be fine. Though admittedly, it may be a little hard on your breathing... I know: I was riding my bicycle, last week, at -15F, with a wind chill factor of -38 F... (but only for 25 minutes or so, the time it takes me to get to work.)

Oh yeah - this Boy Scout knows how to handle cold.

I’ve got a 2 socks under boots, three layers on my legs, a max of 5 layers on my torso (the last one, my actual coat, is only if I am out in the cold and not moving much), plus a max of 4+1 hood on my head.

Currently, that’s how I handle the breathing issues, especially since I already have lung damage from three bouts of pneumonia and nearly annual severe bronchitis plus seasonal allergy-induced asthma. The ninja mask, ski mask, bandanna, and detached fleece hoodie all cover my mouth and/or my nose, which traps some warm exhaled air, which mixes with cold inhaled air to make a slightly-above-freezing air mix that doesn’t hurt my lungs. The layers get wet, but that’s the best I can do for now.

Aack! I could never wear so many layers while riding my bike! For one thing, I could hardly move, and I would sweat so much that everything would get wet and lose all efficiency in keeping my warm...

When I bike in that cold a weather as stated above, I wear a thin, long-sleeved shirt (50% polyester), and two spring jackets (I only put on the second jacket once it gets below 14°F, otherwise I only wear the one). Long johns, jeans, and a thin pair of nylon pants to cut down on the wind. One pair of wool socks, inside of a decent pair of Sorel winter boots (if I were to put two pairs of socks, compresssion on the foot would negate the warmth otherwise obtained). I have some covers over the handlebar, which cuts out the wind, so I can ride with a single pair of kid leather gloves, down to -4 °F. Below that, I put on a pair of merino wool gloves inside the leather gloves.

I have a cover for my helmet, which I made from the hood of a winter coat. Between 32°F and 14°F, I will ride it as is, with not much covering the ears, but below 14 °F or so, I will add additional coverage for the ears, made from the collar of said old winter coat (the collar attaches to the helmet via velcro, and covers the ears and the back of the head.)

I do have some stuff to cover the neck, with one version going up to the nose, but I haven't worn that one in two years, I think. Even last week, my face was uncovered, save for the beard. Between the heat rising up through the collar, and the head being well covered, I usually don't need any face covering, though I will wear either sunglasses, or clear safety glasses, to cover the eyes. The last time I tried wearing a ski mask was two winters ago, when it was -22°F (with a wind chill factor of -36°F), but they kept fogging up because I was generating too much heat in the face. I had to put them away and wear the safety glasses, instead...

So that's what works, for me, after improving on the equipment slowly, over time. It allows me to do a fairly intense bit of exercise for a short (25 minutes) period. Were I to do a longer ride, as I have done a couple of times in the past, I would wear another jacket in-between the other two, for insulation. I would also have to replace the base layer shirt a few times during the ride...

[Dave]

Between the heat rising up through the collar, and the head being well covered, I usually don't need any face covering, though I will wear either sunglasses, or clear safety glasses, to cover the eyes. The last time I tried wearing a ski mask was two winters ago, when it was -22°F (with a wind chill factor of -36°F), but they kept fogging up because I was generating too much heat in the face. I had to put them away and wear the safety glasses, instead...

When I was in college in Rochester NY back in the '70s, one of my prized possessions was a chamois-skin face mask, in which I cut a couple of spots in the temple area large enough for the stems of my glasses to go through. I could cover my face completely, then put on my glasses and see properly. The glasses wouldn't fog up while I was outdoors (had about a 3/4-mile walk from campus to my apartment, which was plenty during a lake-effect blizzard) although of course they'd instantly become fogged and useless as soon as I walked into a heated room.

Stay warm and be careful, folks. The forecasts for the upcoming east coast storm look quite dire.

Out here in Silly Valley we'll be lucky to get as much as a half inch of rain today (and I mean that literally... we need the rain, it's been a very dry December).