2020-21 Winter weather; bring it on

[Message Board User 12389]

7 minutes ago, Post Oak said:

Nearing 60 hours without power.  I want some scalps

Damn damn.

[Knoxtnhorn 5928]

2 minutes ago, CleverNickname said:

I'm not sure if this fucked up situation means all those EMP survivalist thrillers I've read are silly because the truth is sadly far more mundane, or more terrifying than ever. 

Lol.  Yeah, I've now decided not to try out for Alone.

[troph 24548]

3 hours ago, Spaulding Smails said:

The load center panel addition is cheap during construction.  Do that for sure.  I think I recall you saying you're building on LT.  If you're on propane, go with the largest tank possible.  If natural gas, just try to bring all your utilities together in the same area if possible.  If you have the gas / propane line ready and the load center panel set up, it's almost a plug and play for the whole-house generator at a later date.  It was on my to-do list this summer, and I just didn't get around to it.

I own a construction and maintenance company in Austin.  We just added electrical services in the fall.  I hired a master plumber two weeks ago.  Just got our plumbing license last week.  I just don't have field operations set up yet, unfortunately.  Cuz there's gonna be just a bit of plumbing business in the next few weeks / months.

That’s awesome! Glad to hear you’re growing. 
 

our lot is very challenging we aren’t sure where yet or how big. I’m hoping at least 800 gal though.  With that we could go almost a week on a half full tank with a 2.5 gal/hour consumption rate.

[TwiceHorn 31184]

8 minutes ago, Hefeweizen said:

Anyone have a plumber rec who isn't backed up for the next year?  I had copper hot water and cold water pipes finally burst this morning even though they were insulated, in an insulated crawl space, and I dripped faucets.  It just got too cold for them - they are probably 40 years old now.  I have called all the usual suspects for emergency service and no luck yet.

 

I shut the water at the street so fast it would make your head spin.  There is a lot of water in that pipe between the street and the house though.

Did they stop dripping?

[Nicole44 22023]

I think we had six or seven rollouts since 8:00 pm last night. Maybe more. Comes on for about 30 and is out for 45 minutes. Each time I think that’s it. No more power. Wish for those of you without any power you could at least have that. 

[troph 24548]

21 minutes ago, phdhorn said:

52 degrees in the old hacienda this morning. At least we're not yet in the 40s!

Hauling in 5 gal. buckets of snow to put in a tub to help our toilets not have us condemned by the city of Bee Cave.

But hey, now I have something else for my schedule today besides sitting in my car charging. Such a full life!

Oh, and thankfully they started that thread for discussing the politics and blame, but on this one, **everybody** involved in infrastructure shares blame Everybody. If you don't start from that premise, you're wrong.

This time we don’t blame the weatherman either, y’all got it pretty much right on the nose. You more than one way. Can we please has infrastructure week again? 

[hornbri 1367]

5 minutes ago, troph said:

That’s awesome! Glad to hear you’re growing. 
 

our lot is very challenging we aren’t sure where yet or how big. I’m hoping at least 800 gal though.  With that we could go almost a week on a half full tank with a 2.5 gal/hour consumption rate.

We have a 1000 gal tank, in this case bigger is better. When you build make sure to have the plumbing for the LP run everywhere you might need it (water heaters, stove are obvious but outdoor kitchen, pool equipment, laundry room, patio areas you might want heaters on etc)

[hookemATL 11596]

29 minutes ago, MissingInAction said:

Been working in various levels of gubment for 15 years. 1 in 10 employees actually gives a shit and tries to make a difference. 4 in ten were once that way but the system has beaten them into submission. The last half have always been worthless and should be used for shark chum.

Where is the overlap of cat ladies with too many fucking half dead plants and every cat pun calendar tear out taped to their office doors?

[troph 24548]

8 minutes ago, hornbri said:

We have a 1000 gal tank, in this case bigger is better. When you build make sure to have the plumbing for the LP run everywhere you might need it (water heaters, stove are obvious but outdoor kitchen, pool equipment, laundry room, patio areas you might want heaters on etc)

That’s good advice - and yes we are doing that. Last home we had 1000 gallon, here we just aren’t sure the space is there for that size. We initially thought about skipping but pool heat for the hot tub makes it a must. Electric won’t suffice.  So from there we started talking about where to have quick connects.  Gas grill next to the big green egg, heaters on the pool deck lounge area, obviously to the back up genny, we are going to use electric for heat and induction for the stove so no need in the kitchen.  Washer and dryer are electric too. We will have one in the fire place though to start it.  Maybe I should put a covered connection in the living room just in case? Don’t want to get carried away here but the goal really is as sustainable and off the grid as we can be, if needed. It’s not a survivalist thing, it’s a comfort thing. We actually think there will be a market for tasteful/high end with these green and self sustaining features in the future.  Anyway it’s a whole added dimension of planning. 

Edited February 17, 2021 by troph

[Nicole44 22023]

So 10 minutes of power. This is how rollouts work? 

[GhostOfTomJoad 9302]

Our friends who came over to warm up & shower last night still don't have power. Sent me a pic of his thermostat this morning reading 45°. If the roads get better (hah) he plans to bring his wife over to her sister's house in the hills off Far West where she has power & heat (no way those roads will be navigable).

My wife just told me about her colleague's plight. I think they're in Round Rock. She, her husband and their 2 month old twins have been without power for 36 hours. They spent last night huddled by their fireplace trying to keep the babies warm. They ran out of firewood and are now burning their fence pickets to try & keep going. This is fucking criminal.

[MissingInAction 24765]

6 minutes ago, hookemATL said:

Where is the overlap of cat ladies with too many fucking half dead plants and every cat pun calendar tear out taped to their office doors?

Always at least one for every project group. If theres more than that within ear shot  they will try to out cat crazy each other.

[MNLonghornFUKM 8799]

Our friends who came over to warm up & shower last night still don't have power. Sent me a pic of his thermostat this morning reading 45°. If the roads get better (hah) he plans to bring his wife over to her sister's house in the hills off Far West where she has power & heat (no way those roads will be navigable).
My wife just told me about her colleague's plight. I think they're in Round Rock. She, her husband and their 2 month old twins have been without power for 36 hours. They spent last night huddled by their fireplace trying to keep the babies warm. They ran out of firewood and are now burning their fence pickets to try & keep going. This is fucking criminal.

Unreal...Texas- straight out of the 1800s

[Chet Steadman 940]

What is this about?

 

[EE2B 1561]

Quick comment on this. At the facility I work at our gas price per unit went from 30 to 356 sometime last Friday evening. Our normal daily gas cost is somewhere in the neighborhood of 200k/day. With the rate increase, our gas cost per day went to right around 2.6 million/day. The decision was made on Monday that it was cheaper for us to shutdown than it was to pay the 2.4 million increase in gas cost. I can absolutely see why some facilities would chose to shutdown instead of paying these insane gas prices. They priced the gas so high that people can’t afford to continue to run until the weather warms up and the gas prices go down.

[Biff Tannen 45477]

4 minutes ago, EE2B said:

Quick comment on this. At the facility I work at our gas price per unit went from 30 to 356 sometime last Friday evening. Our normal daily gas cost is somewhere in the neighborhood of 200k/day. With the rate increase, our gas cost per day went to right around 2.6 million/day. The decision was made on Monday that it was cheaper for us to shutdown than it was to pay the 2.4 million increase in gas cost. I can absolutely see why some facilities would chose to shutdown instead of paying these insane gas prices. They priced the gas so high that people can’t afford to continue to run until the weather warms up and the gas prices go down.

Sooo who sets these prices?

[Beantown Express 2.0 6531]

3 minutes ago, EE2B said:

Quick comment on this. At the facility I work at our gas price per unit went from 30 to 356 sometime last Friday evening. Our normal daily gas cost is somewhere in the neighborhood of 200k/day. With the rate increase, our gas cost per day went to right around 2.6 million/day. The decision was made on Monday that it was cheaper for us to shutdown than it was to pay the 2.4 million increase in gas cost. I can absolutely see why some facilities would chose to shutdown instead of paying these insane gas prices. They priced the gas so high that people can’t afford to continue to run until the weather warms up and the gas prices go down.

I have no understanding of this but who prices the gas that high?  Is it like a commodities market doing that?  It seems kind of criminal to raise prices like that during a winter storm almost like price gauging during a hurricane.  

[gmr548 16463]

Quick comment on this. At the facility I work at our gas price per unit went from 30 to 356 sometime last Friday evening. Our normal daily gas cost is somewhere in the neighborhood of 200k/day. With the rate increase, our gas cost per day went to right around 2.6 million/day. The decision was made on Monday that it was cheaper for us to shutdown than it was to pay the 2.4 million increase in gas cost. I can absolutely see why some facilities would chose to shutdown instead of paying these insane gas prices. They priced the gas so high that people can’t afford to continue to run until the weather warms up and the gas prices go down.

Profits > people.

[Message Board User 12389]

4 minutes ago, EE2B said:

Quick comment on this. At the facility I work at our gas price per unit went from 30 to 356 sometime last Friday evening. Our normal daily gas cost is somewhere in the neighborhood of 200k/day. With the rate increase, our gas cost per day went to right around 2.6 million/day. The decision was made on Monday that it was cheaper for us to shutdown than it was to pay the 2.4 million increase in gas cost. I can absolutely see why some facilities would chose to shutdown instead of paying these insane gas prices. They priced the gas so high that people can’t afford to continue to run until the weather warms up and the gas prices go down.

I'm no economist or local consumer reporter, but isn't that price gouging?

[drt 637]

35 minutes ago, Hefeweizen said:

Anyone have a plumber rec who isn't backed up for the next year?  I had copper hot water and cold water pipes finally burst this morning even though they were insulated, in an insulated crawl space, and I dripped faucets.  It just got too cold for them - they are probably 40 years old now.  I have called all the usual suspects for emergency service and no luck yet.

 

I shut the water at the street so fast it would make your head spin.  There is a lot of water in that pipe between the street and the house though.

Cesar DeLeon - (512) 577-7953

not sure his status but we’ve used him several times and been happy 

[atomheartbevo 89362]

2 hours ago, phdhorn said:

I'm beginning to feel like a guy on hoarders... need a hot bath FAST, toilets, uh, need help, dishes pulling up, shit like tags & clothes from going outside to keep my house intact strewn about... gettin' messy in here!

Today I look fwd to sitting in the car & listening to the radio as I charge my devices.  

[gurt 736]

1 hour ago, MissingInAction said:

Been working in various levels of gubment for 15 years. 1 in 10 employees actually gives a shit and tries to make a difference. 4 in ten were once that way but the system has beaten them into submission. The last half have always been worthless and should be used for shark chum.

which group are you in?

[Pato del Muerto 52322]

1 hour ago, MissingInAction said:

Been working in various levels of gubment for 15 years. 1 in 10 employees actually gives a shit and tries to make a difference. 4 in ten were once that way but the system has beaten them into submission. The last half have always been worthless and should be used for shark chum.

Based on little things like mask usage and now electricity conservation efforts (skylines, business parks, top golf, empty buildings etc staying lit) I’d argue it’s more than govt employees that dgas.  

[Message Board User 12389]

 

[SA-KC_Horn 1293]

My home in the 78232 has had a total of 5hrs of power since Sunday night. Luckily have a good friend who live close to Randolph Air Force base and has had no power outages. And 1604 closed a 15min drive took me 1.5 to drive through the city to get to his house. A warm meal and shower has much more appreciation than ever before.

Stay safe y'all. 

[D_Goose 477]

Anybody tested the (central TX) roads this morning?

[TexasGrunt 72]

WooHoo, after 50+ hours of no power it came back on about an hour ago.  Wasn't to bad here, only down to upper 40's in house.  Put on coats and used extra blankets.  Luckily so far no pipes busted.  I finally got a hot pot of coffee this morning.  😀

[Pimphand 5587]

Just now, D_Goose said:

Anybody tested the (central TX) roads this morning?

You would be a crazy ass motherfucker to do so.... It literally rained most of the evening so we have the world's largest skating rink going on.

[MissingInAction 24765]

14 minutes ago, gurt said:

which group are you in?

I cycle between the 1 and 4 in 10. I hop to a different agency when I feel like I'm wasting my time.

[Wanker Bob 379]

Can these sudden sudden power cut off then restore cycles be damaging to the central heat units? 

[phdhorn 6224]

7 minutes ago, D_Goose said:

Anybody tested the (central TX) roads this morning?

No, but there certainly is melting going on. However the danger now is slush over ice which hasn't melted.if I were to go out, I'd wait until 3:00 or 4:00 just to be sure. I hope you don't get stuck in slush with a two wheel drive.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, BradInATX said:

So what is the supply chain going to look like for the next week or so once we thaw out this weekend? Are things like groceries, PVC pipe, etc. just going to be turbofucked for a few weeks until things catch back up? 

if plants aren't running and highways are/ were  closed...and people are binge buying.

Yep, it's gonna be fucked up for a little while.

[South Austin 52037]

So word is my outage in 78756 (Brentwood) is related to a transformer down near Little Deli, and not due to an ERCOT shutdown. Anyone else hear this? 

[gsoda3 3234]

46 minutes ago, EE2B said:

Quick comment on this. At the facility I work at our gas price per unit went from 30 to 356 sometime last Friday evening. Our normal daily gas cost is somewhere in the neighborhood of 200k/day. With the rate increase, our gas cost per day went to right around 2.6 million/day. The decision was made on Monday that it was cheaper for us to shutdown than it was to pay the 2.4 million increase in gas cost. I can absolutely see why some facilities would chose to shutdown instead of paying these insane gas prices. They priced the gas so high that people can’t afford to continue to run until the weather warms up and the gas prices go down.

is he referring to that ercot order from yesterday?  if so he's got it wrong.

[ChickenSandwich 9797]

Approaching hour 60 with no power, no hot water (still flowing), a manual burning wood fire place with no starter and no gas appliances (no line). The last of the Doritos and almond butter are gone. About to give up, load up the dog and retreat. Been driving last two days all over in 4x4 with no issues in the snow. How fucked am I to drive in north Austin now?  Pure ice?  Wait until noon to make a break?

 

Good luck to all of those taking it with no lube 

Edited February 17, 2021 by ChickenSandwich

[EE2B 1561]

I have no understanding of this but who prices the gas that high?  Is it like a commodities market doing that?  It seems kind of criminal to raise prices like that during a winter storm almost like price gauging during a hurricane.  

I’m not really sure how that side of it works. I’m pretty sure that we have to tell them daily what our usage for the next day will be and then they give us the price. From my minimal understanding, the price for Friday sets the price for the weekend. When we told them on Friday what we would use the next two days they came back with 356 per unit. That locked our price in for the weekend. On Monday the decision was made to shut all but one boiler down and get gas usage as low as possible until the price comes back down. It’s absolutely insane, but when your the only provider you can do whatever you want.

[PantsTent 2002]

The street outside my house looks like pure ice in south Austin.  Problem is forecast is only 33-34 today so may be hard to access what the afternoon will look like.  

My brother drove here in the snow from Buda with his two kids.  He just found out he has power now but is likely stuck with us another day/night if roads are iced.

[Mrs Whiggins 13049]

5 minutes ago, Wanker Bob said:

Can these sudden sudden power cut off then restore cycles be damaging to the central heat units? 

I would like to piggyback with this inquiry; we put in a new unit this winter, for the very reason that was listed earlier— our old one had our carbon monoxide at unacceptable levels. (Thankfully the headaches went away afterwards) If we had not done so, I think the outcome would have been not good. 
 

It would be under warranty but still it is sure getting a workout on and off right now with the blackouts. 

[Biff Tannen 45477]

5 minutes ago, South Austin said:

So word is my outage in 78756 (Brentwood) is related to a transformer down near Little Deli, and not due to an ERCOT shutdown. Anyone else hear this? 

Yes. Transformer blew. Wondering if that’s why I don’t have power, though seems unlikely to me that it would effect Hyde park. 

[Bigpoppapump 529]

4 minutes ago, ChickenSandwich said:

Approaching hour 60 with no power, no hot water (still flowing), a manual burning wood fire place with no starter and no gas appliances (no line). The last of the Doritos and almond butter are gone. About to give up, load up the dog and retreat. Been driving last two days all over in 4x4 with no issues in the snow. How fucked am I to drive in north Austin now?  Pure ice?  Wait until noon to make a break?

 

Good luck to all of those taking it with no lube 

Looks like it will be cloudy all day, meaning ice rink all day.

[crimsonlonghorn 2306]

1 hour ago, TwiceHorn said:

Pretty sure that's completely legit.  The major failure here, besides the structure of the market, is the generators.

Agreed. Ercot can only distribute what they have. They don’t own any power plants or utilities. This is mostly on the generators for not being ready and on the severity and broad duration of the event relative to infrastructure. This was truly a tail event given the excessive cold over the entire state. 
 

But Ercot is certainly to blame in the sense that they have regulatory oversight duties that obviously were not performed in getting the generators and infrastructure ready for a situation like this. 

[Biff Tannen 45477]

3 minutes ago, EE2B said:

I’m not really sure how that side of it works. I’m pretty sure that we have to tell them daily what our usage for the next day will be and then they give us the price. From my minimal understanding, the price for Friday sets the price for the weekend. When we told them on Friday what we would use the next two days they came back with 356 per unit. That locked our price in for the weekend. On Monday the decision was made to shut all but one boiler down and get gas usage as low as possible until the price comes back down. It’s absolutely insane, but when your the only provider you can do whatever you want.

So who is they?  Want to know whom to send to the guillotines. 

[Pimphand 5587]

7 minutes ago, South Austin said:

So word is my outage in 78756 (Brentwood) is related to a transformer down near Little Deli, and not due to an ERCOT shutdown. Anyone else hear this? 

Yes we must be neighbors. They have tried to cycle our power up 3 times since it went down but all unsuccessful

[EE2B 1561]

is he referring to that ercot order from yesterday?  if so he's got it wrong.

This was quoted in his post. I didn’t read the full release but this certainly reads the way he described it in the tweet.

[ztejas 43244]

4 minutes ago, Bigpoppapump said:

Looks like it will be cloudy all day, meaning ice rink all day.

Nah. Everything is melting right now. Weather app is telling me 30 but it has to be above freezing outside - in 78758. Or there's just enough sunlight. Our pool is melting. Snow is melting. 

[Mrs Whiggins 13049]

7 minutes ago, ChickenSandwich said:

Approaching hour 60 with no power, no hot water (still flowing), a manual burning wood fire place with no starter and no gas appliances (no line). The last of the Doritos and almond butter are gone. About to give up, load up the dog and retreat. Been driving last two days all over in 4x4 with no issues in the snow. How fucked am I to drive in north Austin now?  Pure ice?  Wait until noon to make a break?

 

Good luck to all of those taking it with no lube 

That sounds awful. 
 

If you decide to go, please if you can or have available, try to have warming items with you in case you get stuck. Good luck, whatever you decide. 

[Nicole44 22023]

In addition to setting up a tent I may build a fort too because why the fuck not? 

[MissingInAction 24765]

I'm down to a two cans of beans and a dozen cold tamales. This will not stand.

[South Austin 52037]

4 minutes ago, Pimphand said:

Yes we must be neighbors. They have tried to cycle our power up 3 times since it went down but all unsuccessful

I had three flickers throughout the early morning, so that must’ve been it.

[MissingInAction 24765]

2 minutes ago, Nicole44 said:

In addition to setting up a tent I may build a fort too because why the fuck not? 

I've got blueprints which include a tunnel to the toilet. If I still dont have power by 5 then construction begins.