WINNECONNE, WI (WTAQ) – It was a day off from school for students in Winneconne on Friday thanks to frigid temperatures shutting down some school buses.
Bitterly cold temperatures Friday morning gave fits to half a dozen buses.
“Two of them quit and would not keep running, the other four were having power issues,” explains Doug Falk, with Falk Buses, Inc.
He owns six of the buses and says that engine problems started because low temperatures caused diesel fuel to gel, which can clog fuel filters.
“I did not feel comfortable with them being out on the road and not running, being full of children in the cold temperatures,” he says.
Faulk will be spending the weekend changing all of the fuel filters and adding additives.
Other buses in the state, such as in Appleton, seemed to have better luck on Friday.
“We haven’t had any mechanical issues related to the weather,” says Ron McDonald, general manager of Valley Transit.
One reason behind that, according to McDonald, is that their buses are parked inside, overnight.
“In the fall, we do a lot of prep work for the winter, whether it’s changing filters, that kind of thing and then we also start putting [an] additive in our diesel fuel usually the first of October,” McDonald explains.
Also, Valley Transit buses run for around sixteen hours a day, which means the engines stay warm and typically avoid having problems starting.
Falk says that even if school buses are left outside most of the time, it’s unusual for his buses to have problems starting up.
“No, not in Winneconne but it has happened before in the surrounding areas,” he says.
By Monday the buses in Winneconne are expected to be running in good condition.
