Yellowknife (Feb 12/03) - When I arrived in Yellowknife in August I was warned about the region's winter weather.

Warnings, however, do not do the experience justice. Until coming North of 60 I can officially say I had never before truly experienced cold.

The world is different when temperatures drop below -40 C.

Safety precautions are also different. Forgetfulness in the North can lead to serious problems.

In January, the city hit a lengthy cold snap and many who had been enjoying milder temperatures were caught off guard.

Cars died, sewer lines froze and water lines broke because people were either ill- prepared or had not taken the proper precautions.

"We've been going pretty much non-stop for the last three or four weeks," said Ron Poitras, manager of Westown Tire Services where Pich's Steam also operates from.

The steam company has been backlogged with calls to thaw frozen water lines.

"He does roughly 10 a day. He's been backed up. I don't think he's caught up yet," said Poitras.

Some of the problem, said Poitras, is people over the summer unplug their two-line water system to save power.

The system is designed to keep water flowing through the pipes at all times to prevent freezing.

Unfortunately, they sometimes forget to plug the system back in when winter hits.

Poitras said although unplugging them may save money over the summer months, those savings will be nullified by one thaw service in the winter.

"I would suggest they not unplug them in the summer," he said.

Poitras said a lot of calls have also been from mobile home owners.

"In mobile homes pipes tend to sag or they are poorly insulated," he said.

Those exposed pipes are at greater risk of freezing.

Poitras said there are ways to ensure that pipes are protected from cold temperatures.

The most obvious solution is to ensure there is proper insulation, he said.

Secondly, homeowners can pile snow around the skirting of the mobile home.

"That will prevent wind from blowing underneath," said Poitras.

Frozen pipes can be very costly. In worst case scenarios Poitras said lines can break, which would result in an insurance claim for water damage and four or five hours of a plumber's time.

Plug in vehicles

Cars and trucks are also at risk. Winter damage to vehicles not only causes high maintenance bills in the winter they can lead to problems down the road, according to Doug Weinkauf.

He is the shop foreman at Kingland Ford.

"When a component breaks a hose it puts a lot of stress on other components," he said.

"Then in the spring or summer we may see some weaker components give in."

Weinkauf said a majority of the problems he has seen this winter are due to vehicles not being plugged in.

There have also been issues with people who have not allowed their vehicles to warm up long enough before driving away.

The results are frozen batteries, damaged power steering and flooded vehicles.

There are a few preventive measures that can be undertaken, but long idling periods may not be the answer.

"We've had exhaust systems freeze due to a lot of idling because of condensation," said Weinkauf.

Winterizing your vehicle, or in this case "Arctic-izing," may be the best bet.

There are packages available that include synthetic oils, battery blankets and special cords for block heaters.

The special cords are designed to withstand temperatures as low as -45 C, compared to other cords that are only good to -20 C.

"The old cords snap like licorice in a deep freeze," said Weinkauf.

"These ones are made of Arctic material in -45 C and the test cord would bend every which way and it wouldn't even groan never mind crack."