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2020-21 Winter weather; bring it on

Parliament

By Parliament
in Daily Texan

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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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Gale Snoats

Gale Snoats 242

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Posted
Make sure your chimney flue is open, and turn the gas off after the wood gets going. 

Flue is open and have been burning a fire since Sunday night. Just feels like the smoke as gotten progressively more present inside the living room in the past few hours. We typically don’t sit in the same room for hours and hours with a roaring fire so just paranoid.
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atomheartbevo

atomheartbevo 89409

Posted
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58 minutes ago, SquishMitten said:

Sooo...freezing rain. Does that make roads worse than they already are? Or pretty much the same? I'm assuming actual rain would be worse? Especially for trees and power lines that it'll stick to before freezing?

The problem is going to be trees, although thankfully we went through a round of tree-related outages last week, and hopefully the weaker shit already fell off/broke off.

The roads are fucked right now because people drove around on the snow, compacting it down into ice.  Even with some of the melting today, they are still fucked.

The good news is, we'll get above freezing pretty quickly in the morning.  Not enough to melt everything off, but enough to get it started.

Can't believe I'm looking forward to a night of only being in the 20s.

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MadBurgerMaker

MadBurgerMaker 403

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Posted

I might have to go and force my mom to leave her house.  72 years old and no power or water since yesterday morning.  I went over there and took her batteries and such to charge her phone, got her some water, moved her car out of the garage so she could have a place to warm up, cleared the snow and ice off her walkway so she could get to it, etc.

She really doesn't want to leave but damn she really needs to.  Not really sure how I would go about even doing that though.

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Gale Snoats

Gale Snoats 242

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. . . not sure if serious . . .

Fuck you bitch yes I’m fucking serious. This is an incredibly stressful situation and I’m weighing keeping my family here for the night sitting in a room that seems like it’s getting more and more smoke in it or losing them up and trying to get to friends which is also very dangerous as we’re in a hilly neighborhood. In normal times if I feel like smoke is coming back in the house we’d just open windows turn on fans not camp in front of the fire etc. none of this are options now. Fuck you and your lame ass tired unhelpful response.
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mchookem

mchookem 16195

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checking in...considering how others are doing i'm not going to complain - we are doing alright so far around here. our gas bill is gonna be a $1000 though...been running the fireplace nonstop for going on 56 hours, and using the stove burners to knock back the chill a few times per day.

like others, no power since 2am Sunday night/Monday morning...but shit is frozen in my garage lol so no loss of foodstuffs or anything yet. actually had to THAW the milk haha.

just praying we don't lose gas or water at this point...all things considered i'd rather be without power than water, at least we can flush! 

we open the garage and crank the car about 3x day to charge everything back up. i guess we can do this for a while...husband has a tv addiction so that's the biggest problem at the moment, i have 3 books i haven't read and a stack of puzzles, i'm good. 

like olden times, using sunlight - up at dawn and sleeping by 9pm! 😄 still good on booze and pot...we're doing better than many, i'm grateful!

i guess i'm a little concerned about my turtle and fish...i think/hope the turtle went into hibernation, he's on the bottom of the pond and hasn't moved in 2 days, but i thought they had to dig or something. and there's like 200+ fish in there (minnows, molies, etc.) but i haven't laid eyes on a single one in 2 days either...so they are either dead or also hibernating. i was gonna try and feed them this morning but none were there...this is a minor issue, but anybody got any advice on that? just leave them all alone??

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Pato del Muerto

Pato del Muerto 52340

Posted
Posted
9 minutes ago, Gale Snoats said:


Flue is open and have been burning a fire since Sunday night. Just feels like the smoke as gotten progressively more present inside the living room in the past few hours. We typically don’t sit in the same room for hours and hours with a roaring fire so just paranoid.

Does your chimney have a wind dampener?  I wouldn’t imagine it would be able to freeze over if you’ve had a fire going consistently, but the wind change that phdhorn mentioned earlier could be affecting the chimney flow. 

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Jiggy-Z

Jiggy-Z 3432

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4 minutes ago, Gale Snoats said:


Flue is open and have been burning a fire since Sunday night. Just feels like the smoke as gotten progressively more present inside the living room in the past few hours. We typically don’t sit in the same room for hours and hours with a roaring fire so just paranoid.

As others have said. No need to keep the gas pipe on once wood is sufficiently lit.  Problem might be an incorrectly constructed Rumford fireplace. Not sure of your set up, but fire brick angles etc are important.  I have found a hot fire vents better.

I am burning an almost infinite amount of mesquite so your mileage may vary. It was a priority when I built my house to have a competently constructed indoor and outdoor Rumford fireplace based experience as a child with poor builds listening to my dad bot h about them.

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4th_and_18

4th_and_18 687

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Fuck you bitch yes I’m fucking serious. This is an incredibly stressful situation and I’m weighing keeping my family here for the night sitting in a room that seems like it’s getting more and more smoke in it or losing them up and trying to get to friends which is also very dangerous as we’re in a hilly neighborhood. In normal times if I feel like smoke is coming back in the house we’d just open windows turn on fans not camp in front of the fire etc. none of this are options now. Fuck you and your lame ass tired unhelpful response.

Serious response to serious post. Turn the gas starter off once the wood has started burning on its own. It is not designed to burn constantly and you’re wasting money/gas/logs.
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washparkhorn

washparkhorn 9935

Posted
Posted
5 minutes ago, Gale Snoats said:


Flue is open and have been burning a fire since Sunday night. Just feels like the smoke as gotten progressively more present inside the living room in the past few hours. We typically don’t sit in the same room for hours and hours with a roaring fire so just paranoid.

You might go play outside for a bit. And check to see if the chimney has smoke coming from it.

There will usually be some smoke (very little) in frigid temps (cold air is dense and will want to come down the chimney). 

I usually increased the size of fire to get the draft flowing out the chimney with inside smoke. 

(BIG CAVEAT: I had my chimney inspected before the cold set in for bird nests/excess soot and creosote/structural integrity. Chimney fires are real and dangerous).

Good luck. Might let in some fresh air every now and then. Better safe than sorry. 

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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31265

Posted
Posted
43 minutes ago, Gale Snoats said:

I have a fire place with a rod across the bottom. Turn the gas on light the gas coming g out of pipe. Burn wood. I’m (1) concerned it seems to be getting a bit smoky in our living room and (2) worrried about us being right in front of fire place for hours at a time while that propane is blasting through that pipe and burning the wood. Any thoughts / help on those issues? Does it merit leaving house trying to get to friends?

You can turn the gas off when the wood gets going for starts.  I assume your flue is open?

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Nicole44

Nicole44 22027

Posted
Posted
18 minutes ago, mchookem said:

checking in...considering how others are doing i'm not going to complain - we are doing alright so far around here. our gas bill is gonna be a $1000 though...been running the fireplace nonstop for going on 56 hours, and using the stove burners to knock back the chill a few times per day.

like others, no power since 2am Sunday night/Monday morning...but shit is frozen in my garage lol so no loss of foodstuffs or anything yet. actually had to THAW the milk haha.

just praying we don't lose gas or water at this point...all things considered i'd rather be without power than water, at least we can flush! 

we open the garage and crank the car about 3x day to charge everything back up. i guess we can do this for a while...husband has a tv addiction so that's the biggest problem at the moment, i have 3 books i haven't read and a stack of puzzles, i'm good. 

like olden times, using sunlight - up at dawn and sleeping by 9pm! 😄 still good on booze and pot...we're doing better than many, i'm grateful!

i guess i'm a little concerned about my turtle and fish...i think/hope the turtle went into hibernation, he's on the bottom of the pond and hasn't moved in 2 days, but i thought they had to dig or something. and there's like 200+ fish in there (minnows, molies, etc.) but i haven't laid eyes on a single one in 2 days either...so they are either dead or also hibernating. i was gonna try and feed them this morning but none were there...this is a minor issue, but anybody got any advice on that? just leave them all alone??

I hadn’t thought about fish/fish ponds but found this site:

“The fish will take care of themselves.

Winter pond care is pretty simple. If you take care to keep the water running, your fish and hardy plants should be fine when spring returns. 

The basic principle for winter pond care is, as long as the water is circulating and there is an air hole to allow oxygen in and gases out, fish and plants should be fine.

It doesn’t matter how deep the pond is, it just matters that the water is moving and not frozen.

https://empressofdirt.net/how-to-care-for-a-winter-pond/

 

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Gale Snoats

Gale Snoats 242

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My apologies and good luck. Your concern is well-founded. 

I’m sorry I snapped. Just stressed out. Thanks to all with suggestions. My concern with turning off gas is that it won’t burn as hot and will be smokier but I will give it a shot. Thanks to all and sorry again. Just a bit on edge with all this bullshit.
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Grade of D as in David

Grade of D as in David 13253

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55 minutes ago, clapclapclap said:

https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2021/02/16/galveston-county-calls-for-refrigerated-truck-to-handle-expected-influx-of-bodies-from-freezing-weather/

GALVESTON, Texas – Galveston County officials are calling for a refrigerated truck to hold the expected influx of bodies of people who have died from subfreezing temperatures.

According to the county Medical Examiner’s Office, officials are expecting to receive a couple of dozen bodies of people who have died during the cold snap. Officials said the trucks are necessary since many funeral homes in the area have lost electricity and are unable to house the bodies.

“That number is going to climb as we have the ability to do more welfare checks and check on people who’ve been trapped and without power for the last 48 to 50 hours,” said Galveston County Judge Mark Henry.

Henry said the county’s medical examiner covers Galveston, Brazoria and Matagorda counties, so they aren’t yet sure if all of the weather-related fatalities are just Galveston County residents...snip

 

 

...Henry said about 90% of Galveston County is without power. He laid the blame for these deaths at the feet of the state, saying he would like to know who made the decision to cut power to his county.

Henry the only other time the medical examiner has made a request like this since he took office in 2011 was because of COVID-19, but that truck ws never used.

 

 

It's cold as shit outside, can't they just stack them up in a u-haul. No need for a reefer truck.

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Gale Snoats

Gale Snoats 242

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Posted

I’m sorry I snapped. Just stressed out. Thanks to all with suggestions. My concern with turning off gas is that it won’t burn as hot and will be smokier but I will give it a shot. Thanks to all and sorry again. Just a bit on edge with all this bullshit.

Final question then I’ll stop the thread jack. Just turned off gas and fire immediately went to smoldering. Wood is kept in a place that it typically dry but the hell blizzard someone managed to get way under the porch and cover the stack so it’s a bit damp. So options are keep burning hot with gas rod lit or turn off and try and make to to friends’. Thoughts?
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washparkhorn

washparkhorn 9935

Posted
Posted
5 minutes ago, Gale Snoats said:


I’m sorry I snapped. Just stressed out. Thanks to all with suggestions. My concern with turning off gas is that it won’t burn as hot and will be smokier but I will give it a shot. Thanks to all and sorry again. Just a bit on edge with all this bullshit.

You are in the shitstorm - which means you NEVER have to apologize to someone outside it.

Stay safe. Your senses are in the right place to be concerned about smoke (I would be too). 

Hook 'em.

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Nicole44

Nicole44 22027

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Posted

I think we are all stressed out to varying degrees save for the teens in my neighborhood doing snow activities. I looked in the attic and saw no evidence of leaking so I guess that’s good? I don’t fucking know. No water since Like 1:00 am Monday morning. Tried doing many things that were suggested beforehand. Have tankless water heater in attic. Hoping to have the power on for just a little bit longer. Not looking forward to next 36-48 hours with what’s being projected weather wise. Crazy to think it could be 71 degrees on Sunday. 

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washparkhorn

washparkhorn 9935

Posted
Posted
6 minutes ago, Gale Snoats said:


Final question then I’ll stop the thread jack. Just turned off gas and fire immediately went to smoldering. Wood is kept in a place that it typically dry but the hell blizzard someone managed to get way under the porch and cover the stack so it’s a bit damp. So options are keep burning hot with gas rod lit or turn off and try and make to to friends’. Thoughts?

I would keep burning hot with the gas diffusing pipe lit. Wet wood is a bitch to get hot, creating a colder fire and smoke. I assume the pipe is cast iron. 

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atomheartbevo

atomheartbevo 89409

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, SquishMitten said:

Just got this same text from multiple people, all starting out with "we got this from my dad's neighbor" or something similar. This just some spammy thing going around or what?

Yes.

2 hours ago, SquishMitten said:


    •    Rotating outages will be increasing in both length and frequency.

Already announced by various entities, and they really aren't rotating, it's more those who got caught in those outages.

2 hours ago, SquishMitten said:

 •    Critical circuits will now experience outages.  There is a very high probability that all customers including critical customers such as hospitals will be affected.

If those go down, it's going to be weather-related, and not because somebody flipped a switch.  There's plenty of places that have power, that are not critical (but were hit by rolling outages), that they could completely shut off before hospitals are hit.

2 hours ago, SquishMitten said:

    •    Restoration efforts have been suspended until this emergency situation has improved.

I'm not buying that.  The utilities are not going to have workers sitting around idle waiting for the situation to improve, when their efforts are going to be the reason the situation improves.

 

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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31265

Posted
Posted
21 minutes ago, Gale Snoats said:


I’m sorry I snapped. Just stressed out. Thanks to all with suggestions. My concern with turning off gas is that it won’t burn as hot and will be smokier but I will give it a shot. Thanks to all and sorry again. Just a bit on edge with all this bullshit.

The gas flame may be consuming most of the oxygen, which may lead to a smokier burn.

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troph

troph 24562

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, phdhorn said:

Something like this has never happened in recorded history around here. I seriously doubt it will happen again for 70 more years. Not to this degree

100 year floods becoming 10 year floods and stuff like that? Climate change, no?

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BillyBadAss

BillyBadAss 189

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Posted

Gale, 

Apologies if you know this, but you generally need more than a single piece of wood to keep a flame going. 
Two pieces will help feed each other, and you need some spacing between, around and under them so o2 can flow to feed the flames. 
And if the wood is too large it won't catch easily, especially if you don't have a nice bed of hot coals established. 

I'll take a smaller piece, then lay larger piece on top in sort of an X. So they are touching at a point but not smothering each other. 
Again, need space for o2. Move/rotate/poke them as they start to burn down. Add another piece on top as needed. 

Lay your wet wood in front of the fireplace to dry by the heat, rotate it so will dry on all sides. 

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Surly Bevo

Surly Bevo 24696

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Posted

So serious and yet dark question. These ice storms probably will fuck up a lot of shit. When a lot of customers ultimately get knocked offline due to down lines and down limbs on lines what will that do to demand on overall grid. Will that lessen it(basically a naturally created version of “rolling yet somewhat permanent blackout) or does it not work that way?

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phdhorn

phdhorn 6224

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

100 year floods becoming 10 year floods and stuff like that? Climate change, no?

One thing they have not drawn a distinction to is extreme weather. Polar vortexes have been mentioned since the 1700s and it was first named in 1830 so it's not like this is some phenomenon. What is unusual is the great majority of them go well to our East and only affect the northeast. About three or four years ago we had a series of Two or three vortexes that threatened us but slid East so we only got a glancing blow. This one came exactly straight for us, really the worst case scenario for texas. We are absolutely in the bullseye while the east coast is cold but not this cold.

I'm not saying that this is not linked to climate change but there's no real definitive proof that it is - yet.

Edited by phdhorn
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