Jobs in ND Oil Patch

A lot of these jobs aren't farmed out to o/o's outside of something like Sand or maybe water. Fracing and drilling companies have their own semi tractor fleets and hire drivers.

Anyhow, I talked with a guy on a Frac site here in West Texas who used to work on drilling rigs in ND during the winter. He told me it got so bad the fluid in the transmission and geese in the rear end of the trucks would freeze solid. The engine blocks had heaters but it wouldn't do them any good. So I'll stick to West Texas

 

He was messin with ya! While it gets cold it's not cold enuf to freeze the oils solid you just have to warn things up. When it is that cold though you just flat don't shut your truck off for any reason other than when it's in a shop and your working on it. Ask the Canadian guys about working iron in the cold.

 

Hehe If you have never had the privilege of taking your oil pan off and seeing it look like Jello Pudding! You are truly in for a treat. -30 will do most oils in sitting still. Add +30 for working oil. So if it theoretically got down to say -60 before windchill factor. You got a real ####### problem... Kids at the door already brb

 

I've moved drilling rigs at -70 before windchill with the wind howling about 45 miles an hour. That's not just cold it's ####ing cold. But I guess that never happened because my oil was frozen. Come on we do it every winter and get it done you just have to spec the right oils and be careful of how you warm it up in the morning.

 

WOW !!!! The guy gave you a bunch of BS and you bit on it hook, line and sinker. How do you think trucks travel thru there on a year round basis?

 

Yep I know all about the cold, I live right in North Dakota....Snow storm moving in here this weekend Saturday sometime.

 

WOW...oil don't freeze, why do truck have block heaters?

Seriously, I believe half of what I see and very little of what I hear. It sounded like exadurating but knowing engine oil can freeze and have never been to ND, who knows. My point if any is it doesn't get any where close to the cold Tempatures here in West Texas as it does in ND.

 

Trucks have block heaters to keep the block warm to help it fire in the morning, since diesel relies on pressure to fire and not an outside ignition source they are way easier to start warm. A block heater heats the block with your cooling system an oil heater heats the oil but not many people plug in the oil heater since they have a tendency to scorch the oil and make it lose it's longevity. Your about to get an influx of people back into west Texas as most texans can't take the cold up here and leave for the winter. I've looked at working the Texas fields and I would rather fight the cold and the winter and work my trucks for 160 dollars an hour than 100 an hour in Texas.

 

That was pretty much the best explanation i have read on this site so far.

 

Agreed. I weighed TX vs ND and chose ND for the income and lack of slowdown in Dec & Jan as is common in TX. The bills dont take two months off and the ND oil patch keeps on flowing right through the deep freeze.

Sure, I would choose the TX climate over ND, but to get the ND paycheck you have to stick it out through the ND Winter. The money is worth it to me. I don't have to live in ND forever.

Oh, and most trucks up here do not stop running at all through Winter except for indoor maintenance and repairs.