2020-21 Winter weather; bring it on

[3adays 454]

The one pipe I was worried about (kitchen sink on outside wall) is no longer dripping. What are my next steps? Dump hot water down the drain? Use a hair dryer underneath? 

[Neonmoon 38130]

When does this 4 hour rolling blackout become a full outage?

[TwiceHorn 31987]

Well, our rolling blackout is over.  About 25 minutes.  I foolishly reset a clock.

[Patricio Swayze 17058]

No power since 2:30. Not sure what the temperature inside the house is, but 60 or less wouldn’t surprise me. If the power doesn’t come on in the next few hours, I may have to brave the roads and take my kids to relatives’ houses. This sucks.

[Telegraph_it 3376]

1 minute ago, Patricio Swayze said:

No power since 2:30. Not sure what the temperature inside the house is, but 60 or less wouldn’t surprise me. If the power doesn’t come on in the next few hours, I may have to brave the roads and take my kids to relatives’ houses. This sucks.

Yup. I’m thinking the same thing right now. 

[crimsonlonghorn 2313]

7 minutes ago, washparkhorn said:

Excellent post. Thanks. I used gas all year long in colorado and chicago, but it was just part of the hook up onto a grid. Much more complicated to retrofit.

They have the exact opposite situation up north. When I lived in Massachusetts, most of the homes in our "nice" neighborhood didn't have air conditioning and those that did were considered to be a luxury. We had central AC and we only had to run it 10-15 times a year. Oscillating fans in front of open windows was usually all you needed. But one year there was a "heat wave" (i.e. 100 degrees for 3-4 days) and our neighbors thought they were going to die. 

But every house damn sure had a heating oil system with a boiler and radiators.

You plan for what is normal. 

[Knoxtnhorn 6262]

FWIW, power also out here in Rowlett(E of Dallas).  We had one short roll earlier tonight.  This one's up to an hour or so thus far.

[GhostOfTomJoad 9483]

A shade under 8" in CP. All interior faucets are still flowing. Not even gonna look at outdoor spigot (wrapped, covered & off). Team 68° thermostat & about to bump it down to 66. No outage yet from PEC.

I logged on briefly, checked email, cleared my calendar & sent my boss a note saying I was taking a personal holiday today. He replied back within a minute saying "stop being a company man & have a beer."

[TwiceHorn 31987]

1 hour ago, dingleberryswitzer said:

Without knowing anything about thermo dynamics or the efficiency of various ac or heaters: a 100 degree day cooling to 75 is a 25 degree difference.  A 20 degree day heating to 65 is a 45 degree difference.  So that's like twice the temperature difference.  

That's an important point.  Gas heating of course uses a lot less electricity than electric heating.  In either case, more efficient than cooling.

[MonkeyDoughnut 10761]

1 hour ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

How in the world can Texas run air conditioners 95% of the year but the second it drops to near 0 for 48 hours, you need to conserve energy and shut off power so homes can’t heat?

Two reasons for today. The wind turbines supply a lot of power for texas and they froze off (shut down as icing/freezing lubricants) so they aren't producing any power.  Second, the Permian Basic Nat gas supply also froze out as became too cold so little to none is flowing. There simply isn't enough generation available right now.

Cold worse than heat on Texas power generation.  Would be nice to have a couple more coal plants right about now.

[Telegraph_it 3376]

You don’t say!

 

[Kringelbert Fishtybuns 945]

Looks like another a big load shed incoming.

Hang on

[bolverk 30228]

4 minutes ago, Kringelbert Fishtybuns said:

Looks like another a big load shed incoming.

Hang on

Translation please.

Been without since 2am here. Getting really cold as dawn is beginning to provide a little light.

[Trey3216 15450]

4 hours ago, Wanker Bob said:

What's the phenomenon that makes it 3 in the morning but I can go outside in a blackout and see clear as dawn? Is it just the city lights reflecting off the snow and cloud cover?

Albedo 

[Constant 6839]

The blackouts are effecting traffic signals. Some go to an ‘all red blinking’ but I saw many go completely dark while at work. Don’t be the idiot that just blows through the intersection; treat them as four-way stops. 

[TwiceHorn 31987]

Well fuck.  All faucets flowing, but the water into the washer is a lamer stream than yesterday.  Probably mostly hot.

Whatever happened to my hot water heater with the auto shutoff seemed to cut/slow hot water, but it's coming back.  I think that let the cold water washer line get sludgy.

[ChickenSandwich 9918]

58 inside now. All faucets flowing. Fire started. Damn foot of snow outside. 

[TwiceHorn 31987]

Godalmighty.

 

I looked at the Oncor outage map and there are a lot of them in their service area, around Dallas, where we got not much sleet.  Maybe those are all rolling, but it's kind of frightening, really.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13707]

4 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Well fuck.  All faucets flowing, but the water into the washer is a lamer stream than yesterday.  Probably mostly hot.

Whatever happened to my hot water heater with the auto shutoff seemed to cut/slow hot water, but it's coming back.  I think that let the cold water washer line get sludgy.

The cold water line has normal pressure but not the hot? Strange. I could see both having less pressure given everyone has faucets open which makes a big difference.

[Kringelbert Fishtybuns 945]

12 minutes ago, bolverk said:

Translation please.

Been without since 2am here. Getting really cold as dawn is beginning to provide a little light.

Well

You probably aren’t getting power until a lot of others get theirs turned off.  No idea on timelines.

[HOOKEM4 5151]

6 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Well fuck.  All faucets flowing, but the water into the washer is a lamer stream than yesterday.  Probably mostly hot.

Whatever happened to my hot water heater with the auto shutoff seemed to cut/slow hot water, but it's coming back.  I think that let the cold water washer line get sludgy.

I should have taken the washer supply line off and dripped that. Mine is frozen and no power to try and defrost. Goddammit.

[bolverk 30228]

From KUT:

6:13 a.m. — Thousands will be without power "until conditions improve"

Austin Energy says rotating outages that were expected to last only up to 40 minutes will continue "until conditions improve."

"Conservation is still needed by those who have power -- especially as you're waking up this morning," the utility said in a tweet. Customers are urged to use only the amount of electricity needed for heating and safety.

“The situation continues to worsen across TX and here in Austin," general manager Jackie Sargent said in a tweet. "Austin Energy implemented required outages early Monday morning, doing our part to help stabilize the ERCOT grid. The required outages are more extensive than anyone expected and do not allow us to bring affected customers back online at this time."

More than 178,000 customers are currently without power, according to Austin Energy's outage map.

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

LOL! After a pandemic and two CAT4 hurricanes to the face I thumb my nose at this snow/ice challenge. 

[Biff Tannen 46060]

Yeah, I'm gonna call in to work, for multiple reasons, but one is that I don't want to draw power off the grid for my workstation all day.

[TXSG8R 3362]

We had power go in and out from about 2-3:30, then it finally quit for good. Oncor shows over a million customers affected out of 3.7 million, so I’m guessing it will be a while before I see power again. 

[Player 4605]

Like many, woke up to no power. Been out for 2 hours. All faucets still dripping except for one spicket.

[3adays 454]

Local Fox affiliate in Austin is off the air. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that. 

Edited February 15, 2021 by 3adays

[TwiceHorn 31987]

16 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

The cold water line has normal pressure but not the hot? Strange. I could see both having less pressure given everyone has faucets open which makes a big difference.

I dunno.  It's hard to tell which is which.  I actually turned it to the rinse portion of the cycle and got a pretty hard stream of all cold, so maybe I'm just being dumb.

My theory would be that cold line is getting freezy because the nearby hot line was keeping it clear.  When hot water cut off, it stopped doing that.

[4th&Five 41902]

How is it for the grid when thousands of us finally get our power back on after 5+ hours and our houses are all at 55 degrees? That’s a lot of thermostats clicking on at the same time!

[Anastasis 23699]

Looks like Austin energy doesn’t plan to bring you back online if you have an outage. 
 

 

[ChickenSandwich 9918]

56!  Why you do this dad

 

[4th&Five 41902]

How about cut the power to people that have had it all night and bring our freezing asses back on?

 

[Brisketexan 106615]

NW hills checking in. 5+ hours without power. Upstairs was down to 57. Got the fire raging.

My pipe plan relies on heat and power. If it stays off much longer, considering the “drain the pipes and shut it off at the street” option. Sheesh.

[Anastasis 23699]

We didn’t lose power last night but I did get an email from my thermostat. It thinks that there is something wrong with my furnace because it keeps getting colder inside while it is on. 

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

Status report from the Whiggins’ house. 
 

For the time being, Team No Drip is good; all indoor faucets have flow. Not going to worry about removing covers on outdoor stuff to check since I piled leaf bags against the covers and those are now covered with snow. We mulch mow our leaves after the bags have sat around on the patio for a month or two and put the detritus on problem spots in the yard and in the garden. Was only halfway through when this storm was forecast so they make a windblock on the north side and the neighbors can’t see from the street. 
 

Our utility elected for fifteen minute rolling outages so at 5:30 made coffee and thermosed. Next cycle got a shower in and on the next will maybe try and dry hair because the house temp is a little cool for that. 
 

Spouse is sleeping in, work from home was supposed to be today but he woke up long enough to check and all is canceled. 
 

Stay safe everyone and good luck on the pipes and pools. 
 

Those of you with children—make sure they keep a stocking hat on indoors and socks; it will help with keeping their core warm. It’s indoor camping. 

[Nivek 17330]

send Fit Lump a DM

[DaysOff 8157]

12 hours without power. We're in Denver so I was constantly checking my pool app to make sure the pump was on. I accidentally fat fingered the toggle switch for pool heat for probably 24 hours and got it to 64 from 42 before turning it off. Burned 100 bucks in propane but may safe my ass in the long run. Anyone with a water temp in their pool this morning?

[Nice Guy Eddie 13707]

21 minutes ago, 4th&Five said:

How is it for the grid when thousands of us finally get our power back on after 5+ hours and our houses are all at 55 degrees? That’s a lot of thermostats clicking on at the same time!

I think we should write-off the people that don't have power at the moment. Better for a few to freeze so the rest of us can stay toasty.

But seriously great point. Perhaps we all need to take the advice about lowering indoor temps to the lower 60s and bundle up. Take one for the team.

[Nivek 17330]

Houston: not much snow considering the hype.  Wife is really disappointed, she got herself hyped that she was going to see 4 inches of snow and got about 1/8 of that.   She should have been used to that by now though TBH.

[Surly Bevo 25654]

If they were actually rolling blackouts to everybody they could...ahem....flatten the curve

[Dahobbs 18183]

Houston here. Full power and heating. Gas heating, so I guess at least I'm not sucking down a ton of extra power. But don't think my solar panels will be contributing to the grid today. 

[Nivek 17330]

Just now, Dahobbs said:

Houston here. Full power and heating. Gas heating, so I guess at least I'm not sucking down a ton of extra power. But don't think my solar panels will be contributing to the grid today. 

well, get up there! 

[Biff Tannen 46060]

1 minute ago, Dahobbs said:

Houston here. Full power and heating. Gas heating, so I guess at least I'm not sucking down a ton of extra power. But don't think my solar panels will be contributing to the grid today. 

If you get them cleared of snow they should actually be more efficient than usual.  Sun is out and shining in Austin.

[ZB'Tejas 597]

It’s deep out there


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[ztejas 44114]

Over 6 hours without power. 78758.

What a fucking year. This is (more) tell your grandkids type shit. 

[hornian 5281]

No power here (78731) since 2 am. According to my thermapen, it’s 57 indoors. Kids are under the covers in mom and dads bed (it’s like Willy Wonka) watching downloaded Paw Patrol on a tablet. 

[Brisketexan 106615]

Over 6 hours without power. 78758.
What a fucking year. This is (more) tell your grandkids type shit. 

Seriously, wife and I were just discussing that. The last 12 months have been downright apocalyptic. Do I need to smear lamb’s blood on my door or something? Asking my Jewish friends?

[TwiceHorn 31987]

Welp, the two nonflow outside spigots still working this morning.  All faucets flowing.  Worried about W/D though.  Not sure what's up with my hot water.  It's there, but seems cool at far reaches of house.

Power still up subject to the rollers.

Not very windy here, sun is coming out in Dallas.

[Francisco 2.0 32543]

In 2007, we had an ice storm where I lived at the time.  Had no power for 8 days.  Sent the ex and the kid to the inlaws, while I toughed it out.  

Wasn't too bad, for I did have running hot and cold water.  Built a fire each day in the fireplace and read some books I had been putting off.  It would get down to 40 in the house at night.

On Day 2, I went to the local Lowes and put my name in for a generator.  On Day 6, I was able to pick one up. Came home, put some gas in it, plugged in the electric blower to our gas heat, then flipped the thermostat to 80.

That was the best damned heat I had ever felt.

[Brisketexan 106615]

No power here (78731) since 2 am. According to my thermapen, it’s 57 indoors. Kids are under the covers in mom and dads bed (it’s like Willy Wonka) watching downloaded Paw Patrol on a tablet. 

Yep. Using my thermapen too. Our big, open upstairs is between 49-50. Raging fire is keeping it steady, but not getting warmer.