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2020-21 Winter weather; bring it on

Parliament

By Parliament
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atomheartbevo

atomheartbevo 89656

Posted
Posted (edited)
17 minutes ago, burntorangebongos said:

It just now came on. Yaay. 

Mine just came on as well, so I immediately cranked the heat up to about 75, and am charging all devices and rechargeable batteries I had ran down earlier.

And I'm still making backup plans against Tarrytown if this happens again tomorrow.  Err today.

Edited by atomheartbevo
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SubliminalHorn
SubliminalHorn

Power back on. 109 hours. I almost want to cry a little 

Machinator
Machinator
BradInATX
BradInATX

I've actually been turning my heat up a degree every time a new Surly member loses power on this thread. It's a nice balmy 94 in here.

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0xdeadbeef

0xdeadbeef 1649

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I've lived in my current house in Pflugerville for about 5 years and I never realized how drafty the front and back doors are. This evening I walked around and checked all the windows and doors to make sure everything was closed tightly.  Holy crap, the cold air just goes right around the weather stripping on the doors. I ended up putting a strip of masking tape around the doors.  

 

I live in Austin so I don't have to deal with this kind of weather. I'll take 105° days any day.

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Hpara759

Hpara759 1778

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1 hour ago, GhostOfTomJoad said:

Been awake since 2:30 due to the sound of our neighbors' tree limbs snapping. The live oaks in our front yard are holding up but I don't know if they'll make it unscathed if we get much more ice accumulation. At least PEC is on.
 

Go prop up the limbs your worried about....a rake...a hoe...spare fence pickets will work

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Homercles

Homercles 10205

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Yeah I heard that then checked the weather app...12mph...it’s going to be a massacre.  Also saw the low for Monday keeps dropping.  
 

I had a huge part of an oak in my front yard split off yesterday, heard it from the office and sounded like a car wreck....rest of tree was bowing so bad I did an impromptu trim session on the worst of it, which they say not to do but it’s 50/50 that tree makes it + it looked a lot better afterwards  

Happened to be outside when two more limbs fell of my neighbors trees, and another one in my backyard that broke a small part of the fence.  
 

That’s about when it hit me that I can’t just call anyone the next day or two to fix, this is going to be a long process. 

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MNLonghornFUKM

MNLonghornFUKM 8817

Posted
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I went and bought a cord on Wednesday because I was looking at the GFS temp and precip models and know that CenTex is fucked in the neck if that were to take place.  Well, it’s happening.   The 39 it was supposed to be in Waco today made it up to a sweltering 29 with about 7 hours of nasty freezing rain/sleet.  If we get the GFS model snowfall Sunday/Monday, and it’s fucking zero degrees here, there’s gonna be power out everywhere.  I’ve got enough wood to both heat my house and cook with on the smoker.   2 full propane tanks for my grill and my fish/turkey fryer.  Enough food to last 3 weeks (minus some veggies and bread).  
 
Got the fireplace setup and ready to light at a moment’s notice, can’t have my 4 month old getting cold if the power goes out 

Maybe you should get a hotel room
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ftf82

ftf82 485

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Would shutting of the main line to the house not work? Would you also need to drain the lines throughout the house and outdoor faucets? I may just fill a bathtub with water to use to flush the toilet and go without water service for 48 hours. What am I missing?

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RPM

RPM 26318

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JFC, have you guys never lived through a hard freeze? Cover exposed outdoor faucets and lines, open bathroom/kitchen sink cabinets if they are against an exterior wall. If you're still worried let a faucet drip. If you have a wellhouse make sure there is a heat source (heater/heat lamp/ lightbulb).

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crimsonlonghorn

crimsonlonghorn 2306

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10 minutes ago, ftf82 said:

Would shutting of the main line to the house not work? Would you also need to drain the lines throughout the house and outdoor faucets? I may just fill a bathtub with water to use to flush the toilet and go without water service for 48 hours. What am I missing?

Yes, you will still need to drain the pipes in the house after you cut it off. Just run the water in a downstairs sink until it stops. 

I am debating doing the same thing just to be 100% safe during our 24-36 hour deep freeze coming Monday. Normally, I'd just say to leave some faucets and hose bibs dripping and you'll be fine, but the houses here (Sugar Land) have absolutely NO cold protection and I'm worried that 24+ hours in the 20's is just too cold for all of the pipes in my attic. 

The other stuff that needs to be done is cutting off and draining the sprinkler system and setting the pool pump to constant on. I will also go out on Sunday and drain the pressure tanks on my two farm wells and turn the pumps off. 

 

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texhorn

texhorn 351

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Posted
Would shutting of the main line to the house not work? Would you also need to drain the lines throughout the house and outdoor faucets? I may just fill a bathtub with water to use to flush the toilet and go without water service for 48 hours. What am I missing?

Be sure to turn off your water heater if you plan to drain the lines.
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TornACL

TornACL 7698

Posted
Posted
32 minutes ago, RPM said:

JFC, have you guys never lived through a hard freeze? Cover exposed outdoor faucets and lines, open bathroom/kitchen sink cabinets if they are against an exterior wall. If you're still worried let a faucet drip. If you have a wellhouse make sure there is a heat source (heater/heat lamp/ lightbulb).

It's Surly, everybody is required by law to overreact to everything. 

Why utilize a simple solution when you can make things far more complex for yourself?

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RPM

RPM 26318

Posted
Posted
10 minutes ago, TornACL said:

It's Surly, everybody is required by law to overreact to everything. 

Why utilize a simple solution when you can make things far more complex for yourself?

Don't worry. I live on rural co-op power. My house is all electric. I have 3 generators and none runs. I'm putting my faith in Jesus and good, clean, Christian living.

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bschoolprof

bschoolprof 6252

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3 hours ago, GhostOfTomJoad said:

Been awake since 2:30 due to the sound of our neighbors' tree limbs snapping. The live oaks in our front yard are holding up but I don't know if they'll make it unscathed if we get much more ice accumulation. At least PEC is on.
 

I'm not sure my live oaks in my front yard are gonna make it.  Sad panda.

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phdhorn

phdhorn 6224

Posted
Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, CleverNickname said:

Okay... outdoor faucets have nice covers. But also drip them? 

NO!  Counterproductive.  The water will freeze and block your spigot.
The only thing you might do is IF you have indoor valves to your hose spigots (that's like 50/50, I don't), close the valve, THEN open the spigots slowly to drain water.  But that's supposed to be done only above freezing... too late right now.  If temps somehow make it > freezing today (as forecast, but yeah, I'll believe that when...) then you might do that.  But not now.

Otherwise, not  much to  update today.
Rain yesterday was about what was forecast, but the temps were -5° colder at least than forecast.  So the rain hit after, not before, the freeze started.  Not good.

Nothing really changing from the forecast today, hoping like hell for 33°+ in The Cave so this frozen crap will melt.  Not a given.  Some precip in the forecast.  Get your stuff done by Sunday, because hardly anyone's going anywhere Sunday night through possibly Wed. morning, unless the plows get to your house. But it's not necessarily the snow, it's that once snow gets run over a lot, and it doesn't melt (which it won't at all at 15°), it becomes... compacted, icy and slick.  Packed/slick snow and ice (not much different) is almost, but not quite, undriveable, unlike snow, which actually is fairly easy to drive in if it's not too high.  Secondary roads will be awful I believe because Austin doesn't have nearly the resources to clear/de-ice them.

I'll update the rest later.  Not much changing, except Mon.-Tues. temps keep sinking. Now low on Mon/Tues overnight will certainly be near zero or so, minus a couple around it esp. N and W.  Won't see a good above freezing until perhaps Wed. afternoon.  Temps won't rebound to norms (60's, which now seem like a pipe dream, pun intended) until Sat. or Sun.

 

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phdhorn

phdhorn 6224

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Drop, drip, whatever it takes.

Again, NO.  DON'T DRIP your outside faucets!  If you don't have covers, take dishtowel at least and a baggie (for anti-moisture), wrap the faucet, and put a tight rubber band around it.  Not 100% effective in those low temps, but you give yourself a shot.

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phdhorn

phdhorn 6224

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Posted
3 minutes ago, BrickHorn said:

I’m tempted to drain the lines. Do you also need to drain the water heater separately from running water out through faucets?

I wouldn't drain the water heater, or worry that much about the hot water lines.  The thermostat will re-heat the water and keep it warm.  The hot water lines thru the house won't be a problem because -  the water inside them is warm, imagine that!  However I'd be sure to use it at least normally, as you want the water to keep moving and not be stationary and cool too much.  But hot water isn't the problem.  That's my 2 cents on that.

The only other thing I'd advise is know where your house shut-off valve is (water valve controlling where water comes into the house) and make sure it works.  If you haven't used it for awhile and it's in an unheated area (mine's in the garage), it could freeze if not used for awhile.  That's a critical valve if a pipe bursts inside the home; it'll minimize damage greatly.

1 minute ago, ztejas said:

Can someone explain to me why massive power outages would be a thing? Just from trees/branches falling on lines? 

Yes.  That's why so far.  But there are always chances the grid can be overloaded and rolling blackouts can happen, in extreme cold just like extreme heat.  So far AE hasnt' especially warned against anything, but I'm keeping an ear out.

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hookemATL

hookemATL 11717

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2 hours ago, GhostOfTomJoad said:

Yeah, the last thing I'm gonna do is get underneath a live oak limb coated in ice. Of momma nature wants them down, they're coming down.

The wind is picking up. That can't be good. Stay safe, everyone.

PEC out again for me. You down or have power?  Kindly bring me some power if so. I just had to bash coffee beans with a claw hammer and bust out the percolator. 
 

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Al_4_ISU

Al_4_ISU 12458

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8 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Can someone explain to me why massive power outages would be a thing? Just from trees/branches falling on lines? 

That's usually what causes the outages.  Or ice coating the lines and weighing them down to the point where they snap.

What's common here is a situation where you get a layer of ice on the lines, and then it gets windy as fuck and the frozen lines start whipping around and eventually snap.

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Al_4_ISU

Al_4_ISU 12458

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1 minute ago, phdhorn said:

I wouldn't drain the water heater, or worry that much about the hot water lines.  The thermostat will re-heat the water and keep it warm.  The hot water lines thru the house won't be a problem because -  the water inside them is warm, imagine that!  However I'd be sure to use it at least normally, as you want the water to keep moving and not be stationary and cool too much.  But hot water isn't the problem.  That's my 2 cents on that.

The only other thing I'd advise is know where your house shut-off valve is (water valve controlling where water comes into the house) and make sure it works.  If you haven't used it for awhile and it's in an unheated area (mine's in the garage), it could freeze if not used for awhile.  That's a critical valve if a pipe bursts inside the home; it'll minimize damage greatly.

Yes.  That's why so far.  But there are always chances the grid can be overloaded and rolling blackouts can happen, in extreme cold just like extreme heat.  So far AE hasnt' especially warned against anything, but I'm keeping an ear out.

Probably a big reason that we avoid electric heat as much as possible here.

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BrickHorn

BrickHorn 18219

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3 minutes ago, phdhorn said:

I wouldn't drain the water heater, or worry that much about the hot water lines.  The thermostat will re-heat the water and keep it warm.

In theory. But what if the power goes out and stays out for sustained periods? That’s the reality already. I’m taking it as a sign to drain the lines and bail out. Dripping faucets isn’t going to help if it’s below freezing in the house.

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phdhorn

phdhorn 6224

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1 minute ago, BrickHorn said:

In theory. But what if the power goes out and stays out for sustained periods? That’s the reality already. I’m taking it as a sign to drain the lines and bail out. Dripping faucets isn’t going to help if it’s below freezing in the house.

I'd probably then do that if the heat has already been off for a few hours.  It's not much of a thing to switch of my HWH, then simply open the hot faucets.  But that can be done within minutes for me.

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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31452

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1 hour ago, RPM said:

JFC, have you guys never lived through a hard freeze? Cover exposed outdoor faucets and lines, open bathroom/kitchen sink cabinets if they are against an exterior wall. If you're still worried let a faucet drip. If you have a wellhouse make sure there is a heat source (heater/heat lamp/ lightbulb).

Well, yeah, but for most of us a hard freeze is the 20s, or maybe the teens.

This sub-10 degree shit is all new.

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atomheartbevo

atomheartbevo 89656

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, RPM said:

JFC, have you guys never lived through a hard freeze? Cover exposed outdoor faucets and lines, open bathroom/kitchen sink cabinets if they are against an exterior wall. If you're still worried let a faucet drip. If you have a wellhouse make sure there is a heat source (heater/heat lamp/ lightbulb).

There’s hard freeze, and there’s sustained below 10 degrees freeze.   I’m looking at our pipes, and they were just not made for this.   

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ztejas

ztejas 43419

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Posted

Thanks guys. It doesn't seem like this should overload the grid anymore than those 3 weeks we had of 105+ temps in August - but I think once you get into the 10s temperature-wise that equation starts to shift in the other direction. I was wondering what takes more energy - cooling a house to 70 when it's 108 outside - or warming a house to 70 when it's 30 outside (in a typical Austin house for both scenarios) - and where the break-even point is.

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crimsonlonghorn

crimsonlonghorn 2306

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The other component of the power outages is that - get this - wind turbines can freeze up. Doesn't matter if the wind is blowing if the turbines can't move. Same with solar. If it's cloudy and covered with snow, those panels don't work. 

The central part of the state is very reliant on renewable power coming from the west. If there is no power from the west, the resources in the east have to work that much harder to power East Texas AND Central Texas and there might not be enough to go around. Joe Bastardi was saying in an update last night that it could be like a "statewide hurricane" with all the power outages everywhere. 

I happen to live pretty near (< 10 miles) the Parish power plant south of Houston, which runs on coal. We probably won't lose power unless some lines fall or something. But the further you are from a reliable fossil generating station, the more likely you are to possibly have issues. It's the same reason Henry Hub NG is trading ~$6 this morning but it's over $100 in the upper plains. The few wells they have up there are all frozen up and there's not enough capacity (or transmission) down here to get more up to them. 

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Brisketexan

Brisketexan 105097

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Posted

Think my folks are still without power in NW Austin.  Mom has a 1:00 chemo appointment, and they can't get a car out of the garage.  One of us will have to take her....presuming the roads are clear.  It's still icy AF out there right now.

And we have a patio door that we never use - I walked by it, and the cold wind coming through was brutal.  I looked, and the gap is huge (I'd never noticed it before).  So, spent my morning shoving some weatherstripping (still had a coupla rolls) into that gap)....then when I got up, hit my forehead on the doorframe hard.  Had to spend the last 15 minutes stopping the bleeding.

Still have to put heat tape on my two most exposed faucets.  I had put it on an easy one yesterday, to see if it worked -- it did, it was throwing off heat.  So, I have three outdoor faucets that will be covered in heat tape.  The fourth....I'm wrapping like a mofo.  And I may even put a mini space heater on it before we go to bed and first thing in the morning Sunday/Monday, and Monday/Tuesday.  Dripping all indoor faucets starting Saturday night.  No idea if we're going to SA to see friends on Saturday.  We'll watch the precip forecast.  IF we go, it may turn into "late lunch, happy hour, head home" instead of dinner.

We just ain't prepared for this shit down here.  Hell, on my weather app, my first two pages are Austin, and Montreal (where the girl is in school).  They don't look terribly different for the next few days.

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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31452

Posted
Posted
8 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

There’s hard freeze, and there’s sustained below 10 degrees freeze.   I’m looking at our pipes, and they were just not made for this.   

The other thing is that weather is, as much as, or moreso than, any other "newsy" item on the intergoogles, clickbait.

Which is not to say that this weather isn't srs business.  But the news seems to stoke fears pretty well lately.

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utee94

utee94 15813

Posted
Posted
5 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

 

And we have a patio door that we never use - I walked by it, and the cold wind coming through was brutal.  I looked, and the gap is huge (I'd never noticed it before).  So, spent my morning shoving some weatherstripping (still had a coupla rolls) into that gap)....then when I got up, hit my forehead on the doorframe hard.  Had to spend the last 15 minutes stopping the bleeding.

 

 

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