2020-21 Winter weather; bring it on

[Hpara759 1,777]

54 minutes ago, Captainant said:

Woke up to all my faucets still dripping inside, so I'm just gonna ignore the outside covered spigots for now because I dont feel like fucking with em. 

There's a thick layer of ice under all the snow in my neighborhood, I slipped a few times while walking the dogs this morning. If you've gotta drive anywhere, be safe. Because nobody knows how to handle ice in TX

do you panhandle much?

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,414]

I previously wrapped the hose bibs in foam padding, towel and a plastic sheet. inside to out order.  Is there any reason not to wrap it with a heating pad for 30 minutes to heat it some, as a precaution?  I don't necessarily think it will warm the pipe much but it might warm up the insulating layers which could help with potential freezing.

Or is this just a waste of time/energy?

[Catpfish 618]

I feel asleep and the power went out for a couple of hours. I figured the pool equipment was a solid block of ice so I didn't mess with it. Power came on and the pumps are running. Have 3/4" to 1" ice on the pool except for where the sun deck bubbler is

[ztejas 43,266]

6 minutes ago, Catpfish said:

I feel asleep and the power went out for a couple of hours. I figured the pool equipment was a solid block of ice so I didn't mess with it. Power came on and the pumps are running. Have 3/4" to 1" ice on the pool except for where the sun deck bubbler is

Current state of our pool 

[Dutch 4,465]

Anyone else in DFW lose gas?  

[TwiceHorn 31,283]

1 minute ago, Dutch said:

Anyone else in DFW lose gas?  

What the fuck.

[Surly Bevo 24,696]

ERCOT

[Armybrat 40,744]

1 hour ago, ztejas said:

Thank God we have a gas stove.

And a gas fireplace & central heat.

68 in the house. Opened the blinds in the breakfast room bay window to warm up the kitchen area. 
Was 45 in the insulated garage, so put a small electric space heater pointed at the wall where the outside hose bib is located.  It is up 47 after just 1 hour. Then I remembered the infrared lamp that gets really hot, so put it out in front of the workbench.

[Dutch 4,465]

1 minute ago, TwiceHorn said:

What the fuck.

Yep. Furnaces won't ignite, stove comes on but "high" is low and low is no flame.  

[Somnio 751]

Everything in my apartment is electric.  If only my water heater and oven ran on gas I could deal with no power short term no problem, just an inconvenience.

I can't run any hot water through the pipes, I can't make any coffee with my french press, any food has to be eaten cold....

Fuck this shit!

[Neonmoon 38,127]

3 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

And a gas fireplace & central heat.

68 in the house. Opened the blinds in the breakfast room bay window to warm up the kitchen area. 
Was 45 in the insulated garage, so put a small electric space heater pointed at the wall where the outside hose bib is located.  It is up 47 after just 1 hour. Then I remembered the infrared lamp that gets really hot, so put it out in front of the workbench.

Does your garage really need the space heater turned on? 

[Hawndoh 2,382]

Whew. Tried sledding with my girls and after 5 minutes my eyeballs hurt from the cold too much. The wind just cuts right through you.

[NorthLoop 14,093]

19 minutes ago, BradInATX said:

No power loss out in NB, although areas of my neighborhood are saying they had some rolling outages overnight. Outdoor spigots are both frozen. Tried thawing them out but it's not going to happen. Everything inside is fine except one hot water supply line in a bathroom. We have PEX, so hopefully it holds. So far my well pump is working fine. Glad I got the space heater out in the well house, because I'm seeing some people start to report their well pumps or lines frozen up.

I'm on the opposite side of NB from you, and we've had three 40 minute blackouts since 3am. Power flickering off in between. 

I also have the weird one random hot faucet in our bathroom not working. The other hot one 3 feet away is working fine. 

[Judge Roybeanbag 11,810]

9 minutes ago, Dutch said:

Anyone else in DFW lose gas?  

Sorry for partying.

[BradInATX 9,208]

1 minute ago, NorthLoop said:

I'm on the opposite side of NB from you, and we've had three 40 minute blackouts since 3am. Power flickering off in between. 

I also have the weird one random hot faucet in our bathroom not working. The other hot one 3 feet away is working fine. 

You east of 35?

[ztejas 43,266]

2 minutes ago, Hawndoh said:

Whew. Tried sledding with my girls and after 5 minutes my eyeballs hurt from the cold too much. The wind just cuts right through you.

Yeah this isn't "play in the snow" weather. It's cold as dick.

[Guest Lobo]

Ah yes, Dallas...home to the 30,000 kilowatt megawatt-aire. 

Edited February 15, 2021 by Lobo

[Armybrat 40,744]

4 minutes ago, Neonmoon said:

Does your garage really need the space heater turned on? 

Yeah, don’t want the hose bib pipe on the outside wall to freeze.

Am glad I insulated the walls & ceiling above when the house was built, then replaced the cheap builder grade garage door with a decent insulated one.

 

Edited February 15, 2021 by Armybrat

[Hawndoh 2,382]

2 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Yeah this isn't "play in the snow" weather. It's cold as dick.

This is like the 2nd or 3rd snow they've seen in their lives. They're gonna go play in it.

[South Austin 52,144]

Still haven’t lost power in Brentwood, and nursing a bit of a hangover.

[hayden_horn 11,360]

3 minutes ago, Hawndoh said:

This is like the 2nd or 3rd snow they've seen in their lives. They're gonna go play in it.

my household:

at least, my eldest. my youngest is being a fucking scrooge

[NorthLoop 14,093]

7 minutes ago, BradInATX said:

You east of 35?

Yeah we're in Voss Farms. 

[dimyh 1,874]

Carrollton reporting in. Powers gone out twice but no more than a total of an hour. Inside faucets still dripping but haven't the courage to check on the outside spigot. I've got them all covered and going to ride or die with Team No Drip.

Snow looks beautiful though and just had my first pedestrian walk by with a big fat Starbuck's cup. 

[Hagbard Celine 10,763]

7 hours ago, Xian said:

Really hope they learn some lessons from this...

who is "they"?

do you mean republican lawmakers explaining taxes and infrastructure to the hatebase?

[phdhorn 6,224]

5 minutes ago, Hawndoh said:

This is like the 2nd or 3rd snow they've seen in their lives. They're gonna go play in it.

They can play but get 'em in within 25 minutes max, period.  Let 'em rest and go back outside.  Frostbite weather for sure.

[utee94 15,746]

No loss of power yet at my house in the CP.  PEC website with outage data shows they're keeping a constant ~70% with power as they roll the blackouts, but so far it hasn't hit me.

Also, team outside-spigot-wrap-and-roll, no drip.  Doing fine so far. All interior faucets working, gas hot water working.

Pool pumps all running but the shallow end of the pool where it's only a few inches deep because of the sun platform, is starting to ice over.

 

 

[Captainant 27,464]

33 minutes ago, Hpara759 said:

do you panhandle much?

I try not to, unless I'm on my way to Colorado on a road trip

[Zepol87 9,171]

2 minutes ago, dimyh said:

Carrollton reporting in. Powers gone out twice but no more than a total of an hour. Inside faucets still dripping but haven't the courage to check on the outside spigot. I've got them all covered and going to ride or die with Team No Drip.

Snow looks beautiful though and just had my first pedestrian walk by with a big fat Starbuck's cup. 

Addison here and all good so far. Friends in Little Elm have had rolling blackouts every hour and my mom is in Decatur and has had no power since about about 4am or at least that is when she woke up and noticed. 

[Hagbard Celine 10,763]

7 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

how can ercot be maxed out at 3am ???

what i've seen so far is:

"frozen wind turbines out west"

and

"natural gas suppliers _________ "

both combine to equal

"can't generate enough jigawatts"

[Guest Lobo]

1 minute ago, Hagbard Celine said:

who is "they"?

do you mean republican lawmakers explaining taxes and infrastructure to the hatebase?

careful with the cloak room talk.  I'm no PhDhorn, but I've noticed this massive snow dump (and the ice dump coming on Wednesday) are the result of the massive arctic air mass dropping down on Texas like an anvil, coupled with a shitton of moisture pouring in to meet it from down South.  They converged and that's why I'm looking out my office window at 6"+ of snow when most early reports had us getting 2".  The reason this happened is, again southern moisture meeting this front.  If we had the national will to build the rest of that Wall, the moisture would have not gotten into Texas and caused all this accumulation.  This is the kinda shit that happens when you have porous borders to the South.  You don't see snowfall like this at our northern borders, do you?  

[Hagbard Celine 10,763]

7 hours ago, F250 said:

Doubtful, hospitals are segmented on their own separate from residential customers. power company coordinates that shit directly with critical customers.

hospitals have generators

[Nicole44 22,027]

Team No Water. 🥺

[Hagbard Celine 10,763]

7 hours ago, Somnio said:

Millions of thermostats set to 75° or higher with the entire state below freezing simultaneously. 

grid protection less than 3 hours before ercot killed the grid to save it

[LABEVO 928]

no power issues in '51

debating trying to fix my hot water issue or drink

[hayden_horn 11,360]

hahaha my kids lasted all of 10 minutes out there. probably for the better, i guess, with the wind, but damn. if i was a kid (and i kind of still am) i'd want to be out there all day long.

[hayden_horn 11,360]

1 minute ago, LABEVO said:

no power issues in '51

debating trying to fix my hot water issue or drink

well, yeah, drink

[Hawndoh 2,382]

Yeah my kids are having fun but it's a rotation in and out, stand by the fireplace for a bit, go outside for 5 minutes, repeat.

[Hagbard Celine 10,763]

7 hours ago, F250 said:

Temperature lowering forcing millions of heating systems to keep up the houses temperature puts a major strain on the grid.

No different than it reaching capacity at 4 PM in late July.

extremely different

generation capacity is the problem today

4pm in late july is demand outstripping 100% capacity

4am in texcanada is demand outstripping ??% capacity

[Bevo&Pevo 5,031]

7 minutes ago, Nicole44 said:

Team No Water. 🥺

guess you'll be having whiskey over ice then.

[Biff Tannen 45,497]

The solar farm in Webberville should be cranking now.  Solar arrays are more efficient in cold weather (to a point).

[Nicole44 22,027]

1 minute ago, Bevo&Pevo said:

guess you'll be having whiskey over ice then.

Ha! I may melt some snow just in case. Filled bathtub just in case for toilet flushing and hand washing BUT pipes are in attic and did everything they said to do and left faucets dripping and woke up to no water. I can’t complain bc too much bc I currently have power. It was off for over 3 hours last night. I have sole possession of the remote so there is that. Lots to be thankful for...

[Hagbard Celine 10,763]

6 hours ago, clapclapclap said:

So now I'm pissed, especially because of seeing the usual massive glow on the horizon, and I took a brief drive.   Sure enough, the shopping centers had all their parking lot lights going full bore, some dumbass bar was blasting music outside despite being closed, most had their signs lit up, billboards lit, and the sporting goods/movie complex strip center had their giant bright video board still running some stupid advertising.  As I turned around that side got hit with a blackout, but I can now see the same glow again.  What a god damn stupid waste.

Why are non-essential businesses like sporting goods, clothing stores, and movie theaters even open the next 3 days, since the governor declared a state of emergency?  Hey Abbott, get off your ass (figuratively) and close them, cut their lighting to 10% max of normal, no advertising, etc.  Why do their lots need full lighting at 3am?  People are going to lose their pipes if we get too many blackouts, seeing the retail waste is infuriating.

fucking this

zero coordination from wheels on down

mothball the fucking empty strip centers and class A buildings, especially the empty towers with their own generators

you think those generators were running last night to get that load off the grid?

[Homercles 10,205]

No power since 530am in cedar park.  Cell service sporadic.  Kids woke us up at 5a wanting to play in the snow.  Wife super grouchy.  Trying to do what I can here.  
 

Shoulda gone Team Drip outside, once I lost power the north facing one in the shade and wind froze up tight. 

[Zepol87 9,171]

Only time I'm going outside today. Fuck this shit

 

[BradInATX 9,208]

11 minutes ago, hayden_horn said:

hahaha my kids lasted all of 10 minutes out there. probably for the better, i guess, with the wind, but damn. if i was a kid (and i kind of still am) i'd want to be out there all day long.

 

My two year old kept yelling that he wanted to go out there. We made it long enough to take a pic and throw a couple snowballs before he was running back inside. Should have made him shovel some snow for an hour to build some character.

[Homercles 10,205]

And power just came back on.

[Biff Tannen 45,497]

Just now, Homercles said:

And power just came back on.

Where you at?

[utee94 15,746]

2 minutes ago, Homercles said:

And power just came back on.

Hang in there bud.  I'm assuming you're on PEC?  So far my part of the CP hasn't been selected as tribute, but I imagine it's just a matter of time.

 

 

[Blotto 23,434]

Had power all morning so I wonder if I am on a circuit they dont want to fuck with. Have no idea what that would be, but it may be proximity to the Dell Childrens medical center (less than a mile away). If so, I'll take it. 

[Guest]

22 minutes ago, LABEVO said:

no power issues in '51

debating trying to fix my hot water issue or drink

por que no los dos?