Furnace Out at Sixty Below: My Lineman Husband's Rules Kept My Kitchen Above 50°

It was sixty below, an hour before dawn, and the furnace in my basement had just coughed twice and gone quiet. The night before, my husband Walt was called out to a downed line, and before he left he walked me out to our propane tank and made me read the gauge myself. I didn't understand why until he came home. This is the story of that night, and of the one thing he had me check that I still check every October. 📋 FREE Fridge-Door Checklist, "Check it while it's calm" (the October propane-tank check, on one page for your fridge): https://socxly.me/j4nl15 **In this video** · What propane does at forty four below, and why a full tank isn't always enough · The fire I laid before I needed it, and what Walt said when he saw it · What my sister told me to do with the oven, and why I didn't · The frozen pipe on the north wall, and how I got it running · The neighbor down the road, and what happened in his kitchen · What Walt said to me out at the tank when he came home **Chapters** 0:00 An hour before dawn 0:51 The call from dispatch 1:37 Reading the gauge in the yard 2:14 Walt's orders and the fire I laid 3:10 My sister and the oven 4:51 What Walt told me about propane 5:46 The frozen pipe 6:40 The furnace quits 7:17 One trip out to the tank 8:04 The neighbor down the road 9:17 Waiting for word from Walt 10:30 Walt comes home 13:24 Every October now **Tell me in the comments:** Where were you when it hit sixty below in February of ninety six? I'd love to hear yours. **Sources** Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, *Minnesota's 60 below record, 2 Feb 1996* (minus 60 °F three miles south of Tower; Tower's high of 48 °F on 8 Feb) — dnr.state.mn.us/climate/journal/960202_60_below.html National Weather Service Duluth, *The 1996 cold* (record cold from 30 Jan to 4 Feb 1996) — weather.gov/dlh/1996Cold Tower-Soudan Historical Society, *60 below zero* (the official Tower reading; burst water lines that week) — towersoudanhistory.com/60-below-zero/ Minnesota State Fire Marshal (Dept. of Public Safety), *Careful with alternative heat sources* (never use your oven to heat your home; wood stove ventilation) — dps.mn.gov/news/sfm/careful-alternative-heat-sources American Red Cross, *Frozen pipes* (drip the tap; no open flame; hair dryer, heating pad or hot towels; one frozen pipe means others may follow) — redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies/types-of-emergencies/winter-storm/frozen-pipes.html U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, *Propane tank care during heavy snow*, 1993 (if a regulator vent is clogged, call your propane supplier) — cpsc.gov/Newsroom/News-Releases/1993/Prevent-Broken-Gas-Pipes-and-Fires-Safety-Tips-For-Propane-Tank-Care-During-Heavy-Snow-Conditions Premier Cooperative, *Propane properties* (propane stops boiling at minus 44 °F) — premiercooperative.com/news/co-op-news/february-2019/propane-properties Emerson / Fisher Regulators, *Bulletin LP-27: How Cold Weather Affects Tank Capacity* (liquid level and vaporization) — emerson.com/documents/automation/how-cold-weather-affects-tank-capacity-bulletin-lp-27-en-11751596.pdf Minnesota Department of Commerce, *News release, 28 Jan 2019* (call for a refill at 25 or 30 percent) — mn.gov/commerce/news/?id=17-369759 National Weather Service, *Wind chill chart* (frostbite risk in wind chill) — weather.gov/media/safety/windchillchart3.pdf National Weather Service, *Winter weather: before the storm* (fuel carriers may not reach you for days) — weather.gov/safety/winter-before All checked 29–30 Sep 2026. This video is for general information and is not professional propane, HVAC, medical, legal or financial advice. If you smell gas, leave the house first, then call your supplier or 911 from outside. Keep a working carbon monoxide alarm on every level of your home, and never use an oven, grill or open flame to heat your home. This video contains altered or synthetic content: June is an AI-generated character with an AI voice, most pictures are AI-generated illustrations (some gently animated with AI), and the music is AI-generated. The real footage is credited below. **Footage credits** Footage: Zuzanna Musial via Pexels Footage: Benjamin Eriksen via Pexels Footage: Maksim Goncharenok via Pexels Footage: K via Pexels Footage: Andrey Kwin via Pexels Footage: Aurelijus U. via Pexels Footage: Cyrus Photography via Pexels Footage: Danny Photography via Pexels Footage: Lukáš Vaňátko via Pexels Footage: Александр Сергеев via Pexels Footage: Tom Fisk via Pexels Footage: Video recorder, Sound recorder, Photographer: Laura Vaara, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Setting_Fire_to_the_Masonry_Heater.webm #WinterPrep #PropaneSafety #MinnesotaWinter