Topic: Measuring snow fall

[RioRanchoNMWX]

As far as measuring snow fall.  I have been discussing this on another forum with the CWOP people.  They insist that I can use the 4" rain guage or the snowboard.  I have read a couple sources that say the rain guage method is poor due to how how wind wraps around it and it can create an updraft.  Both of those problems would be the same for the rain bucket as well.  It seems the snowboard is the best solution.  I like the milk crate option..  I have been using my diving board but it would be better to have something I could flip over into the rain guage.  It is hard to pull the guage to the side and off the diving board after making a biscuit.

[racenet]

Like I mentioned, I've been using the milk crate method for several years, with great success. Nothing fancy in the least.





Bob

[ncpilot]

I have a 61 Ford tractor that would be a later version of the one you had.  I know with the old tractors that had blowers they would mount them in reverse because they had a slower reverse gear than 1st.  I think they solved that problem by the time they got to my model.  Even with brine in the wheels and chains my tractor can't get out of it's own shadow so my hope to use it for snow never materialized.  I have about 150' of driveway that at points is 20-25' wide and I do it all with a snowblower.  In fact I just had a problem with my old snowblower and until I get it fixed I bought a new one to get me by.  The new snowblower has power steering.  What will they think of next.

The way to go is a 4WD truck with hydraulic blade on the front... which is of course what my parents eventually purchased... after my many years of plowing!

I learned about clutches, gears and PTO's long before I drove a car... LOL...

[RioRanchoNMWX]

I have an old 4WD pickemup truck and it would be nice if it had a blade but I just bought another snowblower instead...  my tractor totally sucks in the snow and ice...

[wmiler]

Welcome to the forum and the hobby jackson! 

You could buy a heater from Davis for your rain gauge.

I'm cheap so I cobbled together a heater myself.

 

There is some evaporation that takes places with snow and melting it with heat.  So the accuracy can be argued.  But no more rainfall on a warm sunny day once you do it.

I did you one better, and went even cheaper, it seems to have worked out well. I used a water-line antifreeze (heat) cord, and wrapped it around the outside of the rain gauge, with a 150' extenstion cable run to my only outdoor gfci plug.
Cost: ~$30 for the heat cord
Cost from Davis: $175

Hmm

[Anthony]

Hope it doesn't melt you rain guage. I'd say they get prety hot. Might should have but it between layers of insulation.

[wmiler]

Hope it doesn't melt you rain guage. I'd say they get prety hot. Might should have but it between layers of insulation.

Actually, it's thermostated to a max of 40F.

[Anthony]

I think that means that it won't operate above 40 degrees (air temp). It has nothing to do with how hot the tape gets. 

[racenet]

I know quite a few of those heat tape kits warn about using it on PVC pipe that is empty (such as a drain pipe). I would seriously be very careful trying to warm your rain bucket from the outside with one of these.



Bob

[wmiler]

Well it ain't melted the bucket yet, and it doesn't get that hot (as measured by a temp prode directly on the tape), so there

[Anthony]

What is your outside temp? Take probably has a resistor. The colder it get outside the hotter the tape gets.

[tinplate]

I rigged up a gauge heater with two low watt bulbs on a thermostat, with insulation tape around the interior of the outer wall of the bucket. But they don't quite do the job as well as I wanted. They just can't get the top of the qauge (where the snow tends to collect if there's even a small amount of  wind. I'm thinking of using this stuff http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=13997 instead, wound around the interior of the inner wall of the bucket, and leave one of the bulbs to keep the tipping pans ice free. Since this heat cable is made to be placed in with the reptiles, I'm thinking it should be safer than plumbing heat tape in regards to melting the bucket. I haven't hunted up the lowest price yet, so not sure of actual cost. This place has it for $9 http://www.petmountain.com/show_product/507320/?utm_source=froogle&utm_medium=datafeed&utm_term=507320 . The only worry I have is that it is 15 watts distributed over 11.5 feet of cable (although one site said 6.5 feet of that is "cold" lead cable), so it may not be quite enough heat. But at least I can get the heat right to the bucket wall surface, and get it distributed over the inner wall better, even up to the top.

Steve