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2020-21 Winter weather; bring it on

Parliament

By Parliament
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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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Surly Bevo

Surly Bevo 25090

Posted
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4 minutes ago, Skipper said:

So are pool pumps built to run 24/7 for 7+ days or should i just say RIP to all my pool equipment and amazon some ice skates for my pool in Dallas by Monday?

Your pool system should probably have a freeze sensor to keep it on.  I have a two speed pump so it just runs on low to keep water circulating.  I threw a few blankets over all the exposed shit.  

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DaysOff

DaysOff 7963

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So are pool pumps built to run 24/7 for 7+ days or should i just say RIP to all my pool equipment and amazon some ice skates for my pool in Dallas by Monday?

Do you have an app or remote that tells you water and air temp? If so your equipment probably has freeze protection that typically turns on the pump at 37 degrees. If not, turn it on and leave it on. I'm more concerned about the power outages y'all are predicting.
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Guest Lobo

Guest Lobo

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Well, how Coldmageddon?  

One last pro tip (that's what she said)...for you fancy folks with entire wings/floors of your home with separate HVAC's that you can shut off.  Remember to flush that line and throw some water or vinegar down it once or twice a day during this freeze.  I mean we have a little unit upstairs and we'll be running both throughout, but some folks have like a garage apartment, or pool house, or some chunk of the house they can just shut the HVAC off for.  Go ahead and do that, but remember that line condenses and could crack especially since it's whole purpose is to be exposed outside.  This is for you surly 1%ers.  But in all seriousness, for those of y'all with businesses you maintain yourselves as well, those lines are usually elevated and in many cases exposed, so keep them warm and keep the liquids running.  Shit, in some extreme cases, the very drain pan itself may need to be emptied if it's high up and not insulated.  Don't let that shit crack and fuck up your elements.  

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Skipper

Skipper 6164

Posted
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1 hour ago, DaysOff said:


Do you have an app or remote that tells you water and air temp? If so your equipment probably has freeze protection that typically turns on the pump at 37 degrees. If not, turn it on and leave it on. I'm more concerned about the power outages y'all are predicting.

Yeah, I think mine kicks on a 38 degrees I think.  I've just probably never had it run for more than 48 hours I think it might run for 8 days straight.  Obviously all bets are off if there is a power outage.

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Guest Lobo

Guest Lobo

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5 minutes ago, TexArcher said:

So, anti-freeze in the cars?

If you park your car outside, hell yes.  No brainer.  Start it twice a day from Saturday thru Tuesday.  

If you have an electric car, pour the anti-freeze directly onto the battery. 

But yeah, levity aside---if a car is parked outdoors (shit even in a poorly insulated garage with a north facing facade), It's like South Austin's Mom........they may be used to Coolant down here, but eventually you gotta flush some.........dammit I had something for this.  But yes, use Anti-Freeze outside.  And if you're commuting to work on Monday morning, get a proper ice scraper or a Natalie Merchant CD case from your ex-girlfriend. 

 

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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31514

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31 minutes ago, TexArcher said:

So, anti-freeze in the cars?

You should have anti-freeze in your car's cooling system along with water.  Modern vehicles are made for it and there's no advantage (it's a disadvantage) to running straight water.

Unless you are driving some form of classic car and have deliberately drained anti-freeze and replaced with water.

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TexArcher

TexArcher 37989

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3 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

You should have anti-freeze in your car's cooling system along with water.  Modern vehicles are made for it and there's no advantage (it's a disadvantage) to running straight water.

Unless you are driving some form of classic car and have deliberately drained anti-freeze and replaced with water.

Nope, my car is only 4 years old and I take it to the dealership because it's still under warranty and everything's free including the oil changes.  So they should have me covered on this, yes?  I mean, it's gotten down to 16 before and been fine.

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Guest Lobo

Guest Lobo

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You'd be surprised the shit that dealerships skip even during warrantied maintenance.  You should check the mix/levels yourself.  And to berate the point, it makes a huge difference where your car is going to be most of the time between Friday and Tuesday.  If it's gonna sit in the garage, even at 30 degrees inside the garage, don't worry about it.  if you're gonna park it at the office Friday, Monday, and Tuesday...then consider add anti-freeze or at least swing by the dealership.  If you park outside all day and all night...then you absolutely need to do this and do it Thursday.  And start your car twice a day.  If you have an engine block heater...use it. 

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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31514

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21 minutes ago, TexArcher said:

Nope, my car is only 4 years old and I take it to the dealership because it's still under warranty and everything's free including the oil changes.  So they should have me covered on this, yes?  I mean, it's gotten down to 16 before and been fine.

Yes. You should be fine.  The recovery tank under the hood should be "full" (maybe not quite depending on the car) with colored fluid, which indicates presence of antifreeze.

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phdhorn

phdhorn 6224

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Oh, one more thing... I was off... the official low evah! in Austin is -2°.  1949. Stick that in your DeSoto.
I don't think we'll break it.  But it's not out of the realm...

Back more Thurs if necessary.  But I think we're set up now for a pretty good guess as to how the next week will go.

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Guest Lobo

Guest Lobo

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Posted

there's probably some fleet stations up in the panhandle that do.  But that's about it I'm guessing.  Even our Volvo cabs in Chicago only use it for a short period of time each year.  

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DaysOff

DaysOff 7963

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This should go in the wives thread probably, but we're going to Fort Collins tomorrow to visit the boy.

Will the rental car start sitting outside at -3 Saturday morning? Honestly don't know aboot this Canadian shit with prongs sticking out under the hood.

Coming back Sunday afternoon before the fun starts.

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burntorangebongos

burntorangebongos 10750

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1 hour ago, Lobo said:

You'd be surprised the shit that dealerships skip even during warrantied maintenance.  You should check the mix/levels yourself.  And to berate the point, it makes a huge difference where your car is going to be most of the time between Friday and Tuesday.  If it's gonna sit in the garage, even at 30 degrees inside the garage, don't worry about it.  if you're gonna park it at the office Friday, Monday, and Tuesday...then consider add anti-freeze or at least swing by the dealership.  If you park outside all day and all night...then you absolutely need to do this and do it Thursday.  And start your car twice a day.  If you have an engine block heater...use it. 

I guess I'll got to Jiffy Lube to check if my old truck has it. 

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atomheartbevo

atomheartbevo 89762

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9 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

Definitely dripping all interior faucets on an exterior wall (especially the two I have on north-facing walls).

Just trying to figure out what I do with the outdoor faucets.  Maybe wrap, then heat?  Or wrap, then unwrap and drip?  That path seems pretty tedious.  I figure we can warm them up with a heater/hair dryer before we re-wrap them each evening, if need be.

You could buy some cheap insulation at Home Depot, wrap the outdoor faucets pipes really well, and leave a little opening and then drip them.

Thankfully our faucets don't stick out far from the wall, and are blocked from the wind, so I've wrapped them with insulation, stuck those foam covers on them, and then wrapped a couple of old towels around the foam covers.

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Guest Lobo

Guest Lobo

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27 minutes ago, DaysOff said:

This should go in the wives thread probably, but we're going to Fort Collins tomorrow to visit the boy.

Will the rental car start sitting outside at -3 Saturday morning? Honestly don't know aboot this Canadian shit with prongs sticking out under the hood.

Coming back Sunday afternoon before the fun starts.

what does that part mean?  

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atomheartbevo

atomheartbevo 89762

Posted
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2 minutes ago, Lobo said:

what does that part mean?  

Seriously?  It's a block heater (oil pan heater on some older cars). We used to have to use them when I was a kid and lived up north for a while.  Keeps the engine block warm, so that shit (oil/coolants/fluids) doesn't freeze up on you.

I think it had to be below 20, which meant for a few months we kept our car plugged in whenever it was parked.  The grocery store had a shitload of outlets on all of the light poles, and people would run extension cords to them.

I'm actually not sure if you need to plug in with synthetic oils, since some of those are formulated for really cold shit.

 

 

 

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atomheartbevo

atomheartbevo 89762

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12 hours ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

Weakling

I hated the months where it didn't get above freezing at all.  I hated the windchill that was -30 or worse.  

There are some positives.  I did think it was cool to go outside with wet hair and then snap off pieces of it.   Hockey could be fun.  Ice fishing was fun for a few hours, unless the older folks gave you a beer, then it was cool for a long time.

I loved the houses up there - we had a big ass basement that ran the length of the house.   Lot of people had big-ass basements, and and the ones on our block were stocked with all kinds of games and fridges and stuff - seemed like every weekend, the parents on the block would have all of the kids stay at one family's house, in the basement, with multiple TVs, a shitload of video games (Nintendo NES was still new), shitload of VHS rentals, and all of the pizza and soda that we could handle.  I guess the hosts were afraid parents would get to drinking and try to drive, because as we came in the door  our parents would throw their keys in a fish bowl by the door.  At some point all of the parents would leave, while we were all stuffed full of pizza and soda and our 100th game of Contra or whatever.  The next afternoon, our parents would come and get us.  Some kids claimed to have looked out the windows (normally they were blacked out/covered by these bubble things that kept the snow from being up against the window) and said the parents got so drunk they were going home with the wrong spouses, but whatever.  Like I said, alcoholism was rampant.

 

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Guest Lobo

Guest Lobo

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Yeah, I know what they do.  I was confused about why he had a Canadian rental car in Fort Collins, Colorado.  I guess he was more asking like, "What is this Arctic shit in my rental car?"  But yes, protecting the engine block.  I remember that drill from growing up especially when we drove to the northwoods to fish.  My shitty reading comprehension.  Fun times though starting your car 45 minutes before you want to go anywhere.  Whenever I get into a hot car in Texas, I remember it takes 5 minutes to cool down, could alwaysbe worse. 

 

 

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dcar00

dcar00 14318

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3 hours ago, Skipper said:

So are pool pumps built to run 24/7 for 7+ days or should i just say RIP to all my pool equipment and amazon some ice skates for my pool in Dallas by Monday?

yes.   run it 24/7 while it is below freezing.  is it on an automatic timer?

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InkaUtexas

InkaUtexas 26022

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33 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

I hated the months where it didn't get above freezing at all.  I hated the windchill that was -30 or worse.  

There are some positives.  I did think it was cool to go outside with wet hair and then snap off pieces of it.   Hockey could be fun.  Ice fishing was fun for a few hours, unless the older folks gave you a beer, then it was cool for a long time.

I loved the houses up there - we had a big ass basement that ran the length of the house.   Lot of people had big-ass basements, and and the ones on our block were stocked with all kinds of games and fridges and stuff - seemed like every weekend, the parents on the block would have all of the kids stay at one family's house, in the basement, with multiple TVs, a shitload of video games (Nintendo NES was still new), shitload of VHS rentals, and all of the pizza and soda that we could handle.  I guess the hosts were afraid parents would get to drinking and try to drive, because as we came in the door  our parents would throw their keys in a fish bowl by the door.  At some point all of the parents would leave, while we were all stuffed full of pizza and soda and our 100th game of Contra or whatever.  The next afternoon, our parents would come and get us.  Some kids claimed to have looked out the windows (normally they were blacked out/covered by these bubble things that kept the snow from being up against the window) and said the parents got so drunk they were going home with the wrong spouses, but whatever.  Like I said, alcoholism was rampant.

 

So you lived in a place where key parties were the big thing?

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Lerka Lerka

Lerka Lerka 1087

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5 minutes ago, InkaUtexas said:

So you lived in a place where key parties were the big thing?

Sounds like it. 
 

and back to cars antifreeze - I would guess unless you have a slow radiator leak  that you’ve been filling with water, you’re probably fine.  Antifreeze is just as important to help prevent overheating as well freezing. If you made it through the summer, then you’ll be fine now too.  

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MNLonghornFUKM

MNLonghornFUKM 8817

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This should go in the wives thread probably, but we're going to Fort Collins tomorrow to visit the boy.

Will the rental car start sitting outside at -3 Saturday morning? Honestly don't know aboot this Canadian shit with prongs sticking out under the hood.

Coming back Sunday afternoon before the fun starts.

Yes it’ll be fine as long as the battery isn’t shit.


Run an extension cord out to the block heater and plug it in. It’ll start smoother when you go to warm it up
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Updawg

Updawg 2281

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Posted
My sprinkler's master valve is in the ground inside a plastic irrigation box. Do I need to wrap that pipe? Is that enough or do I need to wrap it with incandescent string lights before wrapping?

I don’t know. I don’t do shit with a sprinkler system in Austin and have never had a problem. We don’t get that cold to get permafrost. Not sure wtf lobo is talkinking about. Especially with anti freeze. Every car has it


/just jinxed myself
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Paper_jam

Paper_jam 831

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4 hours ago, Bevo&Pevo said:

Gas up the boat, find your long johns and dip nets boys.  It's fixin' to be fishing time in the bays.  It'll be like shooting fish in a barrel. 

Heading down to the bay house Friday to drain all the water lines.

Back in the '80s my dad took me to the "Army hole" off Port O'Connor a couple times, during cold snaps. I wonder if that's still a thing.

 

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