My Ice House/Fish House adventure begins

[HalfShadows]

Hi Angie! I have enjoyed this thread. It brings back memories. I lived in North Dakota long enough to raise my children there. #1 export of North Dakota is highly educated young people. Ice fished often just for something to do. Winter camped as well. Used to go to Detroit Lakes, Mn in the summer for recreation with the family. Do you plan on taking your Ice house on the road? Maybe you have 1st thread of yours I have followed.

 

[AMGS3]

Thanks HalfShadows. Since May I've moved it a few times, but have been staying in basically the same area (within about 30 miles). I think the place I have it parked will be home for the winter (at least that's the plan for now).
I do plan on taking it on a road trip, but I don't have any solid timeframe for that just yet.
When I was in highschool my brother lived in Minot, ND. It was nice, but I missed the trees. One thing that amazed me about ND was the size of the snow drifts. Fields would be bare but the two story farm houses would be covered except for the chimneys and the very tops of the roofs. That was amazing to me.

~angie

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[HalfShadows]

Minot is where I Lived. It was a nice place to live. Full of Norskes.

 

[John61CT]

Ideas for bread on a stovetop
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f91/bread-making-199061.html

 

[HalfShadows]

I am finishing my preliminary build. I am traveling from PNW to ND and Red Lake Falls mid October. I have a nephew in Red Lake Falls Mn. My sister passed away a couple of months ago due to a head injury. I was unable to attend the service, so I am going to see my nephew.

 

[AMGS3]

I'm sorry to hear that HS. That sucks. It's good that you can be there for your nephew.

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[AMGS3]

Well, there definitely is a learning curve to this furnace thing. I woke up today and had ran out of propane in the night. Brrrrr! The thing is I checked it yesterday afternoon and according to my gauge I still had green on one tank, so I planned to next time I go into town take the empty one with me and refill it. So this changes that plan a bit for the day. But oh well, gotta be flexible or we'll break, huh?

So two 20# tanks lasted less than 11 days. That seems fast. It hasn't even gotten cold yet. I'm a little bit dreading the propane use in the dead of winter when it is 60°F lower than it is right now. Lol. Hahaha, if I think I'm dreading it now, just wait til I see how much it's going to cost me to have these tanks refilled. [emoji50]

My uncle suggested getting a 100# tank for it. Is that even a thing I could do? Is it any cheaper in the long run to do it that way?

I'm off to refuel. Stay warm,
~angie

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[B and C]

A 100 Lb tanks weighs ~170 Lbs full. It that something you can wrestle with to refill (with the two 20 pounders in reserve)? Maybe for that size tank they will come to you to fill it?

 

[John61CT]

Put in a dual tank regulator that auto switches from empty to full with a visual indicator.

Soon as it does, either swap in a third one so you can wait a bit, or take the empty in right away to refill.

Note when it gets **really** cold, pressure goes way down, flow may stop before it gets empty. They make tank heaters for that if you have mains. A large horizontal tank will keep going at lower temps.

Do not light a fire under the tanks to warm them up.

Also most sources advise not to live with them inside.

Depending on how you sleep, might want to rig a low temp alarm.

Dead lasts a long time.

 

[AMGS3]

^^^^B and C
Good point about the weight of a 100# tank. As it is, on a bad day I can't move an empty 30#. I am planning on getting a spare 30# so I'll have an emergency tank in case I run out.

- - - - -

^^^^John61CT
Hmm I might have to look into that tank heater thing. I have two 30# tanks with the auto switch thing and the visual red/green gauge. I guess when I looked at it yesterday it was towards the end of the second tank, not at the beginning of it.

- - - - -

So when they refill your propane fo they usually weigh it before and after to see how much they added? I ask because I was kind of expecting to be charged for the amount I got, but it was weird how this kid did it. One tank still was about a quarter full. You could feel the difference and see the condensation frost on the side of the tank. As he was filling it he said he would only charge me for the three quarters that he filled. The full tank cost me $25 and the three quarters tank cost me $22. I'm thinking this kid can't do math.

But this was a tiny little bait shop/gas station/DNR license seller/convenience store. Maybe their setup is different than if I just took it into Cenex next time I'm in a larger town. I know there is a difference in cost of those 20# exchange-a-tanks between buying them in town and getting them at the local bait shop.

Anyways I got back and my house is warming up again nicely already.

Thanks for the input, both of you.

~angie

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[AMGS3]

And yes I learned that the tanks I have are 30# (not 20# as I previously thought).

Stay warm,

~angie

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[tav-2020]

hey Angie! sorry to read you woke up to a cold (ice) house. hope it was not too far fo the fill store!

 

[AMGS3]

^^^^^Hi Tav!
Nope it wasn't too far, about 40 miles round trip. I did decide that I need to get a nice pair of slippers though. My feet still haven't warmed back up. I warmed myself up some leftovers for breakfast standing on the cold floor in my bare feet. That wasn't a great idea.

~angie

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[John61CT]

Hmm I might have to look into that tank heater thing

Flexible element+silicon wraparound low down, then surround with as much insulation as possible. Discharging at a high rate makes them cold faster even when ambient is higher.

> I guess when I looked at it yesterday it was towards the end of the second tank, not at the beginning of it.

Best to swap the empty out soon as you see it. Colder weather means more frequent trips.

> So when they refill your propane fo they usually weigh it before and after to see how much they added?

That's what to look for. Fixed price may be OK if you only bring in empty, but per-pound lets you top up just a few dollars when you're making the trip for other reasons.

> I'm thinking this kid can't do math.
Might work in your favor sometimes

No, best to go to a farm supply or hardware place that uses a scale. Difference can be 30% or more.

Call around, ask their price per gallon. Sometimes the little shop is better than the heating supplier.

Note you can pick up rusty 20# very cheap, then use the rip-off swap place to get a nice new one, only thing they're good for.

 

[AMGS3]

So the house I grew up in was heated with a wood stove. It was a pretty tiny house and it would get really warm in there when the stove was roaring hot, cherry red on the sides of the barrel stove. So warm, in fact, that my little sister would have to sleep in the bottom bunk with me because it was too hot in the top bunk. The flip side of that coin is that if the fire went out in the middle of the night, and it was **cold** (like thirty or forty below zero), everything would freeze. Not solid, but the stockpot that we kept on the barrel stove for keeping the winter air from being too dry would have an inch of ice on it.

Waking up to no heat this morning was nothing compared to that, but I've got to remember those old lessons. I have a very good warm weather sleeping bag, but I'm not planning on taking it out yet. For now I'm staying pretty toasty with strategically layered blankets and an afghan with a quilt on top. The afghan is an awesomely insulating layer that really sometimes gets too hot. The memory foam mattress topper I have keeps me warm from below too. I really didn't get cold til I got out of bed.

In the past week when it was down to 22°F I realized that my hole covers are not insulated. There is a noticable difference between the temp of the floor and the temp of the hole cover. They are just plastic. The company doesn't make insulated hole covers, so I'm thinking about getting some foam spray to spray the bottoms of them. The reason the floor is warm is because it's insulated with some sort of grey foam on the bottom and has rubberized coin-textured flooring on the top.

Does anyone have any experience using DIY spray foam? Is this something that they make for different applications? Because I wouldn't need it to be 'super expanding' really, just really sticky to adhere to the underside of the hole cover. I only have experience with the "Great Stuff" brand. I wonder if that would work. I suppose if it gets too expanded I can just cut off the extra.

~angie

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[AMGS3]

^^^^^John61CT

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm definitely going to have to call around for prices. I figure if I have a few spares, and I fill all the empties whenever I get into town, that will prevent me from running flat out again.

Something something proper preparations, right?

~angie

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[highdesertranger]

out west they sell it by the gallon. they have a pump like for gasoline and diesel that counts the gallons. highdesertranger

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

A couple of thoughts:

If you are in one place for the winter, you might want to check into having 100# propane tanks delivered.  They will even position and hook them up for you.

If you have shore power consider backup electric heat.  Just enough to keep the interior from freezing should your furnace quit.

If you can't keep them warm, you will have problems with small tanks in sub 0º temperatures.  After about a half tank they just can't keep up enough pressure to keep the regulator open constantly, so you get intermittent flow and the furnace shuts off.  The lower the temperature the worse this gets.

For your fishing hole covers I would use polyiso or foamular.  Cut into appropriate sized cookies and glue or tape to the bottom of the hole covers.  Stuff cuts easily with a sharp knife.  And get a throw rug or four to put over the covers for more insulation.

 

[John61CT]

Yes buy a sheet of 2-4" thick foam and cut to fit.

The spray stuff can make a real mess, stick to everything.

Which is great when using in conjunction with big slabs to get everything nice and sealed up permanently, but not when you may want to remove it later.

 

[AMGS3]

So this post is going to be all about hole covers.

I know it's hard to tell from the above picture in post #13, but these are weirdly built things. They are all sectioned off underneath, like slices of pie. I know this is probably for structural stability, and they are sturdy as heck. They don't bow or bend even a little bit when I step on them. Here's some pictures so you have some better idea of the situation I'm dealing with here.