“It’s like driving into a glass of milk.” This is how they define in Russia the thick and frozen haze that forms from 30 degrees below zero.
In cities located northern Russia, in Siberia, like Yakutsk, Norilsk, and Vorkuta, throughout the winter its inhabitants live at 20 or 30 degrees below zero. There they are reached temperatures of 50 degrees below zero.
A car parked on the street freezes in minutes: “all the liquids inside thicken, the rubber parts become brittle and fall apart, and the crystals freeze“, explains the web Russia Beyond.
In this video you can see what it means drive in minus 40 degrees:
In Spain it is quite common to drop below zero degrees in the autumn and winter months, in most of the country.
We have all seen how complicated it is start the car 3 or 4 degrees below zero, especially if you leave it on the street. Can you imagine the nightmare at 50 degrees below zero?
Russian drivers employ a multitude of tricks to keep the vehicle warm, or to defrost it, as explained by the aforementioned Russian Beyond website. We are going to see the most curious and effective ones.
Engine running from fall to April
This is the most radical thing we have seen, but apparently many inhabitants of Yakutsk, to prevent your car engine from freezing … never turn it off. From autumn to April.
They leave it on while parked, all night long, with the alarm set.
They have a second key to enter, and they are not afraid of it being stolen. Who is going to go down the street at minus 50 degrees?
The cost of gasoline is enormous, and we assume that the engine wear, too, but better that than not being able to go to work.
Parked until spring
Others are more practical. They leave the car in the garage all winter, until spring, and they take public transport, which also has heating.
But not everyone is lucky enough that the subway or the bus get close to home or work, and walking in minus 50 degrees is not an option.
A heater in the engine
In Spain we can find heated underground car parks, but in Yakutsk they don’t have those luxuries.
Due to the permafrost, the frozen ground, there are no underground parking garages.
One method they use is install a heater in the engine, and pulling electrical cable from home. An installation of this type costs about 500 euros.
Of course, it must be activated at least one hour before using the car, which is the time it takes for the engine to defrost.
The luckiest have heating with remote control.
Thermal blankets
In almost all gas stations and department stores they sell Thermal blankets to cover the entire vehicle.
In this video you can see how they are placed:
They cost between 150 and 200 euros, and it takes about 10 minutes to install one. Something less to remove them.
At 50 degrees below zero, you have to put it even if you are only going to leave the car stopped for 15 minutes.
A blanket for the motor and battery
Another very popular trick is literally isolate the vital components of the car.
As Russia Beyond explains: “The muffler is covered with mineral wool and the bottom of the car with a tarp. And the engine is protected with felt or a “car blanket”, which allows it to warm up faster and prevents it from cooling down too quickly in the cold.“.
And he continues: “Some DIYers even make drum blankets. The felt is also used to keep the floor inside the car warm.“.
Installing a complete service of this type in a workshop, only costs about 7 euros.
As we see, you have to use ingenuity to drive at 50 degrees subzero. Remember when your car has a hard time starting because of the cold …