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2020-21 Winter weather; bring it on

Parliament

By Parliament
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zzz

zzz 199

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, Biff Tannen said:

Fuck.  I'm sorry man.  I think this is the longest streak on Surly.  Can you not leave?

Maybe it's a record on Surly, but I have two brothers and their families that live a few miles apart on the same power line, both have been out since the first ice storm last Thursday. Both have been eeking by with a small generator and a space heater.

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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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Pancho

Pancho 44995

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, Macanudo said:

So do we (Houston, specifically NE Harris County) turn off the water tonight and drain the lines or not?    We never lost power and haven't had any issues so far.

 

 

I’ve been thinking about this but I didn’t do it during the even colder weather a few days ago and was fine.  Of course I dripped the faucets, have on bibs, and got the cabinets open.  

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South Austin

South Austin 52603

Posted
Posted
5 minutes ago, troph said:

Still, what good comes from following her over there? Signals whipped to her and the ex.  I like the move to stay home. Instead signals I’m not up for the bullshit drama, only sex. Strong. 

It’s a moo point. The ex and his wife found other lodgings. Probably realized how awkward it was going to be just from the ride over there together.

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drt

drt 640

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Captainant said:

Re: weather forecasting getting worse

We recently licensed (sometime around 2019-2020) new ranges of spectrum for 5G wireless service. Those ranges were taken from the national weather service who used those frequencies to monitor water in the atmosphere. I'll try and find some sourcing, but we have materially diminished our ability to track and predict weather to the point we're around 90s or early 2000's 

Any word on sources?

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drt

drt 640

Posted
Posted

Our CSA veggie box got canceled for tomorrow unfortunately. Sucks, it’s been nice to not fight the grocery store as they’ve been consistent with eggs and veggies the entire year through Covid and everything. Guess I’ll have to hit the store tomorrow along with everyone else in austin

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Pimphand

Pimphand 5888

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, ZB'Tejas said:


Nickel City just got power and are opening up 2-7

Yeah even the Taco Cabana at Burnet and North Loop is open now.

Roppolo's, Sip Pho, and the Whataburger on West Campus were all open too.

Things are loosening up I just hope we get power before nightfall that would be aweet

 

 

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South Austin

South Austin 52603

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, drt said:

Our CSA veggie box got canceled for tomorrow unfortunately. Sucks, it’s been nice to not fight the grocery store as they’ve been consistent with eggs and veggies the entire year through Covid and everything. Guess I’ll have to hit the store tomorrow along with everyone else in austin

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Macanudo

Macanudo 13012

Posted
Posted
12 minutes ago, Pancho said:

I’ve been thinking about this but I didn’t do it during the even colder weather a few days ago and was fine.  Of course I dripped the faucets, have on bibs, and got the cabinets open.  

That's why I'm waffling.....   We didn't even drip the faucets or open cabinets.   House stayed fairly warm even with temps set to 65 both up and down.   

 

Are you dripping the outside faucets too?

 

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Captainant

Captainant 27768

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, drt said:

Any word on sources?

Thanks for the reminder, here's a few

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03609-x

https://www.wired.com/story/5g-networks-could-throw-weather-forecasting-into-chaos/

https://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2019/5/23/18637356/5g-interfere-weather-forecast-24ghz-frequency-band-satellite-predict-hurricane

An academic study on it:

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2008.13498

The crux of the issue is that atmospheric water is resonant at certain frequencies, and our mechanism to measure it is to send our radar at those wavelengths and measure the bounce back. With the increased noise from data traffic on those bands, we lose a ton of resolution from the data

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crimsonlonghorn

crimsonlonghorn 2306

Posted
Posted
20 minutes ago, Macanudo said:

So do we (Houston, specifically NE Harris County) turn off the water tonight and drain the lines or not?    We never lost power and haven't had any issues so far.

 

 

I am going to do it again. Worked well last time and total peace of mind that the pipes can't freeze if there's nothing flowing inside of them that can freeze.

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Pancho

Pancho 44995

Posted
Posted
8 minutes ago, Macanudo said:

That's why I'm waffling.....   We didn't even drip the faucets or open cabinets.   House stayed fairly warm even with temps set to 65 both up and down.   

 

Are you dripping the outside faucets too?

 

Nope

And it’s 39 right now.  This is probably more for @phdhorn, but will it even stay in the 20s long enough in Houston tonight to possible freeze pipes? 

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Damor

Damor 1237

Posted
Posted (edited)

There are so many damn variables in all this that it's really hard to find or give good advice regarding plumbing (especially since I can barely change a lightbulb without help from youtube), but here's my experience and plan:

Background:  newish construction, slab, city water, spray-foam insulation, PEX, vented interior tankless hot water, Salado.  Have not lost or turned off main water (knock on wood).  Intermittent power outages up to >36h but have been on since Wed AM.  Had gas fireplace running, interior temps maintained above low 50s.

Have been trickling interior faucets without losing flow.

I started out Team Wrap (foam or thinsulate covers on hose bibs).  They didn't do shit, these froze within the first couple days.  I eventually got them to thaw (notes below)  and once I did, switched to Team Stream.

For the outdoor kitchen, I had a heat lamp in the cabinet underneath the sink.  When the power went out I finally found and turned off the supply lines and disconnected the cold water one (didn't have the dexterity to disconnect the hot).  I have an ill-advised outdoor pot filler that I couldn't turn off.  I hung a 250W heat lamp on it which worked great until the long power outage.  Managed to thaw it later with the heat lamp and as it had no place to drain other than making the patio an ice rink, developed elaborate proprietary MacGyver device to divert flow to the yard and switched it to team stream as well.

Some experiences and tips on getting the hose bibs to thaw:
-- Hair dryer up to 30m+ didn't do jack shit for me.  Wife needs new hair dryer for Christmas, I guess.
-- Pouring hot water (up to 160F) over a washcloth like I read on here made me nervous but worked on one.  Didn't on others after multiple attempts.
-- After hot water failed on one, I microwaved the wet washcloth for 2min and stuffed it around the faucet in the foam insulator for an hour or so.  "Wallah," did the trick.
-- That didn't work on the two most stubborn, probably because they were on garage walls with no heat on the interior side.  When I got power back I hung the heat lamp on them for an hour or so and that got them both flowing.
-- I have no idea if any of that was a good idea, but I couldn't think of anything else, and nothing immediately exploded.

I'm not going to sleep well until I go for several warmer weeks without leaks (who am I kidding, probably until next fall), but that's been my experience so far.  I'll try to follow up as things warm up.

Not sure why I'm typing this Lobo wall of text other than I'm going stir crazy, but maybe there will be some small bit of useful info or data for someone.  Other than that,  imma just fuck around and find out.

 

Edited by Damor
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Armybrat

Armybrat 40910

Posted
Posted

My son from Hutto who has been staying with us since Tuesday just heard from his neighbor that their power is back on (it has been down since Sunday). Don’t know what the water situation is there.

They will return home tomorrow afternoon as soon as roads are safer to travel the 20 miles.

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South Austin

South Austin 52603

Posted
Posted (edited)
11 minutes ago, Damor said:

There are so many damn variables in all this that it's really hard to find or give good advice regarding plumbing (especially since I can barely change a lightbulb without help from youtube), but here's my experience and plan:

Background:  newish construction, slab, city water, spray-foam insulation, Salado.  Have not lost or turned off main water (knock on wood).  Intermittent power outages up to >36h but have been on since Wed AM.  Had gas fireplace running, interior temps maintained above low 50s.

Have been trickling interior faucets without losing flow.

I started out Team Wrap (foam or thinsulate covers on hose bibs).  They didn't do shit, these froze within the first couple days.  I eventually got them to thaw (notes below)  and once I did, switched to Team Stream.

For the outdoor kitchen, I had a heat lamp in the cabinet underneath the sink.  When the power went out I finally found and turned off the supply lines and disconnected the cold water one (didn't have the dexterity to disconnect the hot).  I have an ill-advised outdoor pot filler that I couldn't turn off.  I hung a 250W heat lamp on it which worked great until the long power outage.  Managed to thaw it later with the heat lamp and as it had no place to drain other than making the patio an ice rink, developed elaborate proprietary MacGyver device to divert flow to the yard and switched it to team stream as well.

Some experiences and tips on getting the hose bibs to thaw:
-- Hair dryer up to 30m+ didn't do jack shit for me.  Wife needs new hair dryer for Christmas, I guess.
-- Pouring hot water (up to 160F) over a washcloth like I read on here made me nervous but worked on one.  Didn't on others after multiple attempts.
-- After hot water failed on one, I microwaved the wet washcloth for 2min and stuffed it around the faucet in the foam insulator for an hour or so.  "Wallah," did the trick.
-- That didn't work on the two most stubborn, probably because they were on garage walls with no heat on the interior side.  When I got power back I hung the heat lamp on them for an hour or so and that got them both flowing.
-- I have no idea if any of that was a good idea, but I couldn't think of anything else, and nothing immediately exploded.

I'm not going to sleep well until I go for several warmer weeks without leaks (who am I kidding, probably until next fall), but that's been my experience so far.  I'll try to follow up as things warm up.

Not sure why I'm typing this Lobo wall of text other than I'm going stir crazy, but maybe there will be some small bit of useful info or data for someone.  Other than that,  imma just fuck around and find out.

 

tl;dr, but I can relate. I’m pretty intelligent about a lot of things, but home construction and maintenance is admittedly not one of them. I’ve been blessed to have owned four homes with no real casualties and any plumbing or HVAC issues were fixed by simply paying someone.

I *think* I’ll be relatively okay. My current house was built in 2016. I *think* there’s PEX piping throughout. And I checked my water heater in the attic yesterday after the power had been out for a while, and with the spray foam insulation it was actually one of the warmer spaces in the house. I’ve been dripping my inside faucets since Sunday. And I’ve had a constant supply of alcohol.

Really appreciate all the info from my fellow Surly family, even if I only understand half of it.

Edited by South Austin
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phdhorn

phdhorn 6224

Posted
Posted (edited)
39 minutes ago, Pancho said:

Nope

And it’s 39 right now.  This is probably more for @phdhorn, but will it even stay in the 20s long enough in Houston tonight to possible freeze pipes? 

I can't make the call on pipes, but about 12 hours of freezing (midnight-noon), less SE and S, more NW/N/NE.

In Austin, I would normally consider this an extended freeze and cold enough to freeze a low percentage (maybe 25%) of badly-exposed, less strong pipes.

But after this week, I have no idea what's going to happen the 2nd to the last of 9 freezing overnights (with about 8 included freezing days).

Listen to hot meteo:

https://www.khou.com/article/weather/houston-freezing-weather-timeline/285-696d186f-44c1-4399-a723-fe484e878261

Edit:  Interesting to note that you guys in the entire metro area are going to be a good bit lower than even Austin tonight.  So yeah, I'd say it's a pipe-freezing event for many.

Edited by phdhorn
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ChickenSandwich

ChickenSandwich 9852

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Pimphand said:

Yeah even the Taco Cabana at Burnet and North Loop is open now.

Roppolo's, Sip Pho, and the Whataburger on West Campus were all open too.

Things are loosening up I just hope we get power before nightfall that would be aweet

 

 

Whataburger line literally 50 cars and backs up past 29th for drive through. Sip pho has about 50-75 people waiting outside 

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atomheartbevo

atomheartbevo 89794

Posted
Posted

City/County/etc. having a presser.

https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/austin-boil-water-notice-issued-wednesday-feb-17/269-6f59041f-e66c-4323-a159-e1a31045fbb7

No word on water restoration, other than current demand is lower than their generation efforts by a lot, and they are filling the reservoirs (to help with the pressure).

It's making me nervous, since I'm concerned about the cold water hose in the hot water closet (outside door) if we don't have water pressure by tonight, but then again, I'm not opening that door, it's surrounded on three sides by a very warm house, and because of the warm walls and the door cutting it off from the wind/etc. I'm guessing it's a good 10 degrees warmer than the outside air.

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gmr548

gmr548 16616

Posted
Posted
Houston people: Gene Wu sent out his usual accurate reminder that Asian groceries remain well stocked.
In my experience the same (to a lesser extent) goes for Mexican groceries. 

We went to H mart on Friday or Saturday because my girlfriend wanted to make a noodle soup dish. Also bought some of the good ramen in case we needed something easy to make at home with no power (gas range).

Minimal power outages but we’ve been with water since Sunday night lol.
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gmr548

gmr548 16616

Posted
Posted

Absolutely amazing the lengths humans would go through so they don’t have to cook.

While this is generally true, to be fair, many either can’t because of power/water issues or lack of available groceries. Austin’s probably worse than Houston. Houston has at least been drivable for most of the past two days, and power is now largely back, so most can get to restocking. Austin not so much.
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MNLonghornFUKM

MNLonghornFUKM 8820

Posted
Posted

While this is generally true, to be fair, many either can’t because of power/water issues or lack of available groceries. Austin’s probably worse than Houston. Houston has at least been drivable for most of the past two days, and power is now largely back, so most can get to restocking. Austin not so much.

I mean yea. True. But BK probably has a tenth of the cars as WB


Or hit up a subway and get multiple sammies
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phdhorn

phdhorn 6224

Posted
Posted
15 minutes ago, gmr548 said:


While this is generally true, to be fair, many either can’t because of power/water issues or lack of available groceries. Austin’s probably worse than Houston. Houston has at least been drivable for most of the past two days, and power is now largely back, so most can get to restocking. Austin not so much.

Austin HEB's and gas stations the next 5 days: 
a347b4212165c1ef16dcf02ecd69bff187-20-ma

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Biff Tannen

Biff Tannen 45737

Posted
Posted
19 minutes ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:


Absolutely amazing the lengths humans would go through so they don’t have to cook.

This is something I have realized this week: how lucky I am to be married to a woman that loves to cook.  We could survive on whatever we have in the house and freezer for probably a month.  The hoarding of food from store shelves prior to and during this week long episode has been telling. 

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South Austin

South Austin 52603

Posted
Posted (edited)
4 minutes ago, yoladu said:

You and I may be in the same neighborhood! Coming up on 85 hours  without power at the Yoladu household. 
 

hang in there. 

Gotdammit, in what level of hell do you all reside? I hope you all get power soon. I was going on a day and a half and it was utter shittiness. Power kicked on about an hour ago and my balls are still defrosting.

Edited by South Austin
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