Scenario: Cold weather, car stuck in snow

Here in western WA we've been getting more snow than usual, one to two feet. I've even had to go to a local county utility yard to ask if they could clear the large berm they built in front of a RR switch access road (gravity would get me down, but back up could be tricky).

So, one thing that I haven't seen mentioned here...

Most of us know that using a cheap mylar emergency blanket behind our aluminum lawn chair will reflect heat from the marshmallow- and hot-dog-roasting fire in front of us.

In a car situation, wouldn't it help to raise the inside temperature if we had several of those emergency blankets and rolled up one edge in the window and let it drape down the uninsulated doors, and maybe tucked the edge of another one under the windshield visors? IOW, slowing the heat going out the windows?

Add a candle or two or a simple alcohol stove... wouldn't this work?

Sue

I usually try to avoid the dreaded white stuff at all costs. But just in case, I have a shovel (little one, WWII GI e-tool, but better than nothing), chains, sleeping bags, tent, tarp, one burner stove, some food, some water, little bitty propane lantern, coffee can with TP roll and several bottles of rubbing alcohol, cell phone, CB radio, GPS with local terrain, including all topo map info. We dress for the weather, in winter have rain gear and warm clothing along even if we don't plan on wearing it. So if I can't get unstuck, at least we can be somewhat comfortable for a while...

Susan,

Here's what I carry for my 14-18 hour car trips. This is my Personal Support Kit. It's designed to allow me to survive in a rental car for a while, or make a walk to better shelter, more water, more food, or find my way to some help.

Shelter
5'x9' brown tarp
Fleece car blanket w/small pillow
mylar emergency blanket
55gal garbage bag

Water
1 liter nalgene bottle
Water purification tablets

Food
A fruitcake (Sunmade)
6 Datrex Bars
2 large bags of Beef Jerky
Assorted restaurant condiments
2 coffee bags
8 tea bags

Warmth

BlastMatch
Wet Tender
Magnesium Bar
2 Bic Lighters
2 small boxes of short strike anywhere matches
12 chemical hand warmers
Touque
Insulated Gloves
Pair/dry socks
baggie of dryer lint
6 tea candles
4 Trioxilene tablets
1 can of "Magic Heat" w/stove

Other

Large metal Signal Mirror
50ft of paracord
10-in-1 survival tool (magnifying glass, compass, knife edge, flathead screwdriver, butterfly nut wrench, bottle opener)
Large Lensatic Compass
Photon/Laser combo light
2 pocket knives
Large First Aid Kit
Small First Aid kit
Wind up flashlight w/12vdc female outlet
xxxxx(powers cell phone & Electric Cup)
Survival Kit-in-a-Can
Plastic Spork
Motel size bar of soap
Electric Cup (powered by windup flashlight)
Metal enameled camping cup
FM radio receiver (w/batteries)
Camper's roll of Toilet Paper
2 packs of Bug Wipes
1 Travel Pack of Baby Wipes
small packet of leather lacing & string

I fit everything into a hunting vest and it's attached game vest.

There's a lot more in my kit than what you would need Sue, but hopefully my kit contents will provide you with some intelligent food for thought.

i would avoid an alcohol stove in a vehicle, hard to control. A candle system is a smart choice. Sleeping bags and blankets are also smart choices. Chemical hand and torso warmer as well.

A car kit for your situation would also include at least 50 pounds of sand, (in my truck bed in Seattle when it snowed I carried 400 pounds to weigh down the back end and use as traction) and extra blankets and wool ski caps.

Heck even when I run in the winter i carry a shower cap in case my head gets to cold. It is a waterproof, vapor barrier that can trap heat in an emergency

I have stuff with me, but I'm asking if you think covering the windows with the mylar emergency blankets would help trap body and candle heat, since cars have virtually no insulation.

Sue

Sue..seeing as how no one has really answered your question yet i would say it would have to help..it reflects heat.if you were really into it you could duct tape a sheet of it behind the drivers seat--roof to floor--so you were not heating the unused back seat area.

+1 on Canoedogs answer. Any insulation should help, condensation could become an issue at some point but you won't die from condensation.

JohnE

Semi Off-Topic: In snow/ice/rain... drive slow, even with 1/8" of snow on the ground... I pulled out a car last night that went around a rather large sweeping turn a little too fast and found himself in the ditch. There was barely any snow on the ground, the amount so that after you drive on it you see the road where your tires are easily. On a back road or one less traveled he would have been easily stranded, even on this road he could have easily had to wait 10 minutes or more in cold temps, or 1hr+ in the middle of the night for someone to pass by.

For snow/cold temps... I suggest wool blankets at least two so you can snuggle up and hunker down until help arrives. Putting a towel on your front windshield (outside) helps too. I don't like the idea of running the car for the heater because carbon monoxide since not all cars are 100% air tight (Jeeps come to mind).

As far as warmth goes in my truck during winter I have.
- 2 Wool Blankets
- Extra pair of boots
- Pair of wool socks
- At least 3 beanies (I wear different ones and just have them there)
- GoreTex "boonie style" hat.
- Goretex pants
- Goretex jacket

I also keep my chainsaw with me in case I`m going home in a storm and trees are down. I also have a v28 sawz-all with a wood pruning blade for quick easy action if I need to cut something rather small hanging in the middle of the road.

I also keep 2 gallons of water x2 for misc usage (and potentially drinking) as well as 5-10 drinking water bottles.

A tow strap is also a very very good idea to keep on hand and shackles/hooks that may be needed too. A flashlight of coarse (I think you do this already).

I wouldn't use any flame inside the car. If you NEED a wire do it outside... however wool blankets and your 'snow gear' all on you in a car should be plenty warm to stay toasty through the night even in very cold temps. Some people even leave a sleeping bag in their car all winter just in case. Never hurts if you have the room.

We go "Snow 4-Wheeling" in our Jeeps during blizzards and "plan/prepare "to get stuck and spend the night... If you go prepared for spending a night or two then you will be ready to wait out a storm or until help arrives.

Another thing that may not fit in a car unless you get a collapsible one is a shovel. Often times in the snow simply removing the build-up in the front or rear (depends on if you are rocking or your plans to go front or back) is all you need to free your stuck vehicle.

Remember in snow if you are not making progress moving STOP do not dig a hole and sink the vehicle up to the frame. Rock it back and forth (From drive to Reverse) until you can get far enough back (or forward) to propel yourself out of the rut you just made. A good idea is to flatten out the rut too with the shovel so you can get out easier. I did this recently in my own driveway after getting semi-stuck.

Not to complicate things more but if you had brake stands with rocking forward and back, and also staying on the brakes while moving and turning the wheels side to side that often helps. There's a lot of little tips and tricks that really help when driving / stuck in the Snow. #1 tip... go slow, don't turn the wheel to much, and don't over correct. And recently I saw someone FLOOR IT and then catch traction and fly off the road on the OTHER side... So, know the traction in front of you too

I hope that's not overwhelming.

Sue, I'm going to say I've never tried, but here are my thoughts.

Clothes, sleeping blankets, snow caves all work by trapping body heat. The loftier they are, the better. That being said, I think it would probably be warmer to keep the blanket on you, and create a small zone of trapped air, than to insulate the entire car and then be trying to heat up that air with your body.

That being said, I suppose if the car was full of passengers, then you might be a bit better off sharing collective body heat.

Thank goodness the mylar space blankets are cheap, and most folks can afford to carry more than one, in case you want to experiment.

+1 on the smaller area. I took a class once for "winter driving survival" to get out of a bad detail in the Army. They taught that if you use whatever is available to section off the interior of the car to only the area needed, you had less area to heat.

We were using a CUCV (old Chevy Blazer) and used blankets and 100 mph tape to curtain off the cargo area. Made the passenger area noticeably warmer.

Desperado, sealing off your vehicle to the area you occupy is applicable to your house as well.

If you lose power on a cold or freezing night, use whats available to seal off a small area in a room of the house to trap heat. staple blankets or tarps to the ceiling or walls and duct tape them to the ground and all around it.

Susan,

Excellent topic. Surely that would help. An even more effective and still fairly compact and very lightwight alternative would be to carry Reflectix pieces cut with scissors to fit your windows. These easily roll together and I store mine in the car where I keep the windshield sun shade.

This is a favorite tactic of Honda Element owners who camp in their vehicles. The Reflectix pieces, cut slightly larger than the windows, fit snugly simply by compresssing the edges into the window openings.

I've done this and it is striking how much cooler the car gets in the morning the moment you pull the Reflectix pieces down. A fellow on the Element forum posted this week about an overnight trip he did to Mammoth Lakes where it got down to 12 degrees at night. He slept in the Element and used Reflectix in the windows.

The Reflectix is great for camping in the car as an insulator and for privacy.

Cheap, too.

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stor...ocStoreNum=8125

[img]http://www.mikenchell.com/forums/album_pic.php?pic_id=44743[/img]

[img]http://www.mikenchell.com/forums/album_pic.php?pic_id=44744[/img]

At the links above are photos of an Element outfitted with Reflectix. Obviously on a very cold night it's a good idea to cover the sunroof, too.

I was trying to have those photos appear in this post but it's not working. Maybe I don't have the settings right. This forum has always looked very low-tech on my computer.

Edit out the ":left" in your first image tag.

That would be my thought also, plain old glass does not insulate worth a darn. Still probably need to crack a window on the lee side for ventilation...

Photos still aren't appearing.

..Reflectix pieces cut with scissors to fit your windows...

That stuff is great. We have it for our 5th wheel. If we are leaving for the day we put it up to keep the heat load down inside. Much easier to cool the rig off when we return. For outside storage of RV's it also extends the life of the interior by preventing heat damage.

I just found Reflectix at Ace Hardware. Rolls are 5 feet wide and they sell by the one foot width. Picked some up for a project.

"...We have it for our 5th wheel..."

We use it on ours too, mainly for that huge picture window on the rear end, and the clear dome over the shower (which makes it really bright in the mornings when we want to sleep in). I replaced some of the window frame screws with the screw-in male parts of snaps, then installed the female snaps on the foil to hold it in place. Looks kinda hokey from the outside, but really helps on the inside...

I swear RV's are like one big never ending project. It's not that they break, there is always something more to do. If I ever get this hole in my side closed I will go take some pics of our multi-level storage underneath and send.

The answer is yes, but it is more effective wrapped around you loosely, more like a tent than a blanket.
(Nice time to be wishing you had stuffed that old snow suit, warm booties, a pair of mitts and that polyester toque in a bag in the trunk. A couple of those candy bars out of the glove box would sure taste good now too, if the kids left you any...)
Cardboard is an effective insulation too. I use it to line the bottom of the trunk in my car anyhow. (It keeps the carpet cleaner)
A couple of layers under you and the rest in the window, it makes a difference.
Keep an ear out for the snow plow. They have been known to hit cars that are stuck in snowdrifts.

10-4...

"...snow plow. They have been known to hit cars that are stuck in snowdrifts..."

Or bury them deeper if the car is alongside of the road. Happened to one of our patrol cars once, we didn't get the car (luckily unoccupied) back for a week...

Must be something peculiar to this board then. The tags and URL are correct.

Edit - I'm guessing it must have something to do with using PHP to drive your URL resource. Perhaps since there is no .jpg (or whatnot) to end your URL the board software is confused. While that will work on some board software, it apparently doesn't work on this one. Someone correct me if I'm mistaken.

The Reflectix is very useful stuff. I have wondered occasionally if it could be cut to fit inside the car doors without binding anything. There's no insulation in the doors.

I once had a Ford van that I bought from a guy who insulated it with fiberglass and paneling (very nice job) for his post-grad studies in Guatamala. It was very comfy for camping, hot or cold.

I also had a Dodge Ram window van (never again!). I used Reflectix for the windows, and it was still cold. I guess I should have bought a case of hot glue sticks and lined the entire rig with the stuff.

Thanks for the tips, guys.

Sue

That is going to wind up being a difficult job.

co poisoning


http://www.sierrasun.com/article/2008121...%20near%20Squaw

I use rolls of the "stick on" type magnets to attach to the metal parts of the vehicle so no permanent placement- I just leave the cover on the adhesive side.

I used that in My Element for camping with a mosquito net over the moonroof and back hatch, held on by the magnets all around. When I gave away my Element, I sent that along with it, so no feedback on long term durability.

For the space blanket scenario, wouldn't it reflect the heat away? Maybe place it at an angle to reflect the sunlight in and concentrate it?