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Leaving vehicle for 2 months


WendyG
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Hi allanb,

 

I'm not a scientist just a humble engineer so I can only go off my experiences over the years regarding the wind chill.factor

When I've recovered vehicles off the North Yorkshire Moors after them spending a night out in a blizzard its not been uncommon to find the engine core plugs sticking out of the block like icicles and the radiator hoses burst. I've always put that down to the wind chill effectively pulling the ambient temperature down still further. But I might be wrong !

I'm going to resist the temptation to leave my car outside over the winter to check my theory

Regarding the handbrake being left off. It can be virtually impossible to remove the brake drum if the shoes have seized on. Completely different job altogether if they are not binding

Happy motoring , Joshua

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[quote user="Joshua"]I'm not a scientist just a humble engineer...[/quote]

I'm not even an engineer, only an accountant, which some people say is even worse.  

But a warm body in cold air obviously makes the air around it slightly warmer (e.g. you can feel the warmth around a hot engine without actually touching it*), and I still think all that wind chill does is to remove that layer of warmer air.  I don't see how it can make anything colder than the surrounding air.

To test this, we would have to leave two cars out for a night on the North Yorkshire moors, one covered with a blanket, the other not, and go out and compare them in the morning.  I would bet there would be no difference.  (We could spend the evening in a pub and whoever loses the bet could pay for the beer.) 

Incidentally, Wikipedia is on my side:

For inanimate objects, the effect of wind chill is to reduce any warmer objects to the ambient temperature more quickly.

* PS: I suppose that some of this warmth is radiated heat, not just warm air, but I don't think that changes the point.

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Bloody accountants!!!

they're bad enough without being correct [:D]

2. Can wind chill impact my car's radiator or exposed water pipe? back

A. The only effect wind chill has on inanimate objects, such as car radiators and water pipes, is to shorten the amount of time for the object to cool. The inanimate object will not cool below the actual air temperature. For example, if the temperature outside is -5 degrees Fahrenheit and the wind chill temperature is -31 degrees Fahrenheit, then your car's radiator will not drop lower than -5 degrees Fahrenheit.

Full article here

Former engineer [geek]

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