Texas deep freeze carnage thread

[Biff Tannen 45685]

4 minutes ago, Eastwood said:

Flow Inside/No Flow Outside Gang reporting: all faucets, tubs, and toilets never lost hot or cold water. Front in-wall spigot never froze, outdoor pipe back yard spigot froze that I threw two layers of insulation on was frozen this morning, but is flowing now. One hard freeze night down, one hard freeze night to go.

Still technically a hard freeze day too. I’m still dripping and running indoor faucets. Fireplace has been on since yesterday. 

[Tailgate 3021]

1 hour ago, miguelito said:

I have noticed the birds are pretty hungry today.  They are getting along with each other more than normal, and they even let me get pretty close before flying away. 

Ya, felt bad yesterday for a baby bird trying to fly into one of our windows looking for warmth. Wanted to let it in...but my three cats would have had an early dinner...tough out there for wildlife right now. Saw a coyote walking down the road Saturday at 3pm looking like WTF “I need a warm spot now.” Hope most are ok.

[clapclapclap 9000]

33 minutes ago, South Austin said:

I don’t have the Heart.

Tell it like it is

[clapclapclap 9000]

8 minutes ago, Tailgate said:

Ya, felt bad yesterday for a baby bird trying to fly into one of our windows looking for warmth. Wanted to let it in...but my three cats would have had an early dinner...tough out there for wildlife right now. Saw a coyote walking down the road Saturday at 3pm looking like WTF “I need a warm spot now.” Hope most are ok.

I hope every grackle froze to death and then got crapped on.

Edited February 15, 2021 by clapclapclap
Apologies to Macallan's Better Half for the insensitivity

[WhatTheBuck 28781]

9 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

I’m still dripping and running indoor faucets.

I’ve never done that in my life. No problems.

[Royalfan5 2354]

This thread has made realize that pool ownership is a lot more common than I thought 

[Atxracer 797]

6 minutes ago, Royalfan5 said:

This thread has made realize that pool ownership is a lot more common than I thought 

I kinda feel like in Austin/Houston, it’s pretty close to a necessity.  

[Blotto 23509]

Just now, clapclapclap said:

I hope every grackle froze to death and then got crapped on.

If I spot a frozen grackle it may be me doing the crapping. Still owe them sumbitches for some evening strafing sessions walking back to the dorms along Speedway my fr year.

[Royalfan5 2354]

7 minutes ago, Atxracer said:

I kinda feel like in Austin/Houston, it’s pretty close to a necessity.  

That’s probably fair. I’ve always filed pools with the floats of the triple FFF approach to buying, and not given it a second thought

[TexasEd 8067]

We have tankless water heater so I set it to recirculate all night last night.  Had most of the faucets dripping in the house.

Will go check the outdoor faucets soon, wish me luck.

 

[ZB'Tejas 593]

If it is an uninterrupted sheet of ice, expansion wikl bear on the tiles.  If you interrupt ir with some compliant things in the middle , it will take some of the load off. 

Milk jugs with some weights. Have a couple floating and the Ice can compress into those versus your tile.


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[Chewbacca 7777]

22 hours ago, blacklab said:

Pictures have been sent to a couple of my wife's friends who's husbands own body shops. Less than 4k will fix. More and I'll get something else. Found a great landcruiser in San Antonio that I may have to get.

Do it.  The LC is an upgrade to the 4Runner in every way possible, with the notable exception of mileage.

[Sandman 3403]

The rolling blackouts have arrived in OK. We lost power for almost exactly one hour. Got the womenfolk charging their phones and laptops. Luckily, our governor left for vacation right before the storm hit. Fuckwad.

[RPM 26321]

1 hour ago, Atxracer said:

Apparently the pool “freeze mode” just circulated pool water back to the pool and didn’t involve the hot tub and it’s overflow.  Consequently, the hot tub is now frozen. Anything I should do or just wait until everything thaws out?

Ask the wife if she wants to be a Blue Nose?

[UT_OB1 2223]

I wish we had rolling black outs.  We are just blacked out.  

[Hanrahan 1306]

The fucking power has been out seven hours and my pool heater won’t work without the pump. It must be down to 95 now.

[RPM 26321]

1 minute ago, Hanrahan said:

The fucking power has been out seven hours and my pool heater won’t work without the pump. It must be down to 95 now.

The horror

[Francisco 2.0 32393]

13 minutes ago, Sandman said:

The rolling blackouts have arrived in OK. We lost power for almost exactly one hour. Got the womenfolk charging their phones and laptops. Luckily, our governor left for vacation right before the storm hit. Fuckwad.

The good news to that is his wife probably won't be wrecking another state vehicle in the meantime.

 

 

[workswithseed 2106]

7 hours ago, Drew said:

Well we didn’t get the “surly 1%” motto for nothing.

Everyone makes 100k(at least) and bangs 10s with absolutely no debt ever in their life.

“You actually make a car payment? You poor”.

Yeah, I'm a welder. I would need to work on a pipeline to make that baller money.

[horn4life 3760]

Well I am one lucky motherfucker!!!  The frozen pipe that was my ice supply inside made me decide to top off the yeti and break down and make a bev, before changing out the propane tanks on the RV and rewrap my once frozen (now flowing) faucet.  THANK GOD I went outside to get the ice.  I hear running water, wee water under the washer and all over under the fridge.  Apparently the refill valve failed on the garage freezer and the water was going to flow until somebody shut it off, or I noticed the flow out of the garage.  Those refill valves are weird. They usually have a rubber membrane that lifts mechanically to let water in, then reseats under pressure to cut off the flow.  My guess is that rubber got brittle and flood city.  Threw down a bunch of towels, and contained it just before it got really bad.

Had I not decided to make a Jack and sit in the RV and waited for the wife's 4:30 happy your, my garage would have been in bad with a lot of stuff in boxes that would have gotten soaked and made a huge mess.  Now if I can just not have the RV freeze up and screw me...

[BrazilHorn 6606]

We had to bail from our crib. Power been out since 4am and there is no sign of it coming back on line. Checked in to a hotel downtown. I would have stayed at the casa and gone layers and layers but the natives (wife - no pics and kids were whining my ears off)

Crazy shit.

[tbone_ 14123]

I just had to go get lunch. It’s 57 here in Phx and without any clouds to hold the warmth in it’s downright chilly.

[South Austin 52504]

1 minute ago, tbone_ said:

I just had to go get lunch. It’s 57 here in Phx and without any clouds to hold the warmth in it’s downright chilly.

Thoughts and prayers.

[PassiveAggressiveCoach 118]

20 hours ago, 4th_and_18 said:

Kimble County radio tower is gone. Asking people to only call dispatch if no other choice.

was that pic taken with a Moto Razr?

[South Austin 52504]

Just now, PassiveAggressiveCoach said:

was that pic taken with a Moto Razr?

My guess is a Kodak.

[MNLonghornFUKM 8817]

I just had to go get lunch. It’s 57 here in Phx and without any clouds to hold the warmth in it’s downright chilly.

#Phoenixstrong

[Hefeweizen 5321]

3 hours ago, RexWilson said:

An upstairs bathroom is not getting hot water. It gets cold water and hot water flows everywhere else.

I don't have access to any pipes besides what is under the sink. Anything I should try to resolve this or am I just going to have to wait it out?

My exact situation.  I have a couple of faucets and a shower that will run cold but not hot, and a faucet that won’t do cold.  I am going to call a plumber after to check them out, if they don’t break, but fingers crossed now.

[wd40 1976]

something something lemons...

 

[TwiceHorn 31470]

Well Dallas is turning off the gotdam skyline. So that's nice. 

[BradInATX 9208]

10 minutes ago, Hefeweizen said:

My exact situation.  I have a couple of faucets and a shower that will run cold but not hot, and a faucet that won’t do cold.  I am going to call a plumber after to check them out, if they don’t break, but fingers crossed now.

Do you have power? Once the sun came out and my house was able to get to a decent temperature, my issues (that were identical to yours) fixed themselves. Water flowing properly everywhere inside. I haven't checked the outdoor spigots, I'm in full blown Jesus take the wheel mode on those. As far as I can tell no exploded pipes. Guess I'm lucky to have PEX lines.

Probably going to go through the same shit tonight though. I think I am going to run all of my faucets with a reasonable flow. Well water is cheap (cost of electricity to run the pump), and it will also keep water moving from underground through my whole system which is good.

Edited February 15, 2021 by BradInATX

[Heisenberg 162]

Power out on at 1535 in The Woodlands/77382.  Was off for 10.5 hours.  Fuck Entergy.

[Hefeweizen 5321]

Yeah I am one of the fortunate few that hasn’t had an outage.  We’re right behind the hospital in westlake and across from apple so maybe that is why, but it is the north side of the house and it is just exposed to the cold on both sides.  I’ve been trying to run the faucets but refined myself to probably having to cut the water at the street if I have a bad break.  

[4th_and_18 687]

was that pic taken with a Moto Razr?

My guess is that someone with iPhone shared with a poor or old with non-iPhone. Then that person uploaded. That’s what it looks like when I share to certain family members with ancient technology.

[horn4life 3760]

29 minutes ago, BrazilHorn said:

We had to bail from our crib. Power been out since 4am and there is no sign of it coming back on line. Checked in to a hotel downtown. I would have stayed at the casa and gone layers and layers but the natives (wife - no pics and kids were whining my ears off)

Crazy shit.

This can only mean on thing... Your power is now back on....

[Jshep34 2308]

Son and i are in hotel in tallahassee under a tornado watch. Hoping to make it back home tomorrow. Heck just want to be alive and have a complete home tomorrow.

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[BrazilHorn 6606]

Just now, horn4life said:

This can only mean on thing... Your power is now back on....

No shit. I fucking told my wife this, but after a day of no power her and my kids fucking broke me down.

Bright side is I got a workout in at the hotel gym. Now I headed to the bar which opens at 4.

[BradInATX 9208]

4 minutes ago, BrazilHorn said:

No shit. I fucking told my wife this, but after a day of no power her and my kids fucking broke me down.

Bright side is I got a workout in at the hotel gym. Now I headed to the bar which opens at 4.

Surely you've got some kind of device that will tell you when power is back on. Smart thermostat would do it.

[Saint Tacky 1614]

4 hours ago, miguelito said:

I have noticed the birds are pretty hungry today.  They are getting along with each other more than normal, and they even let me get pretty close before flying away. 

I loaded up on feed last week and will need to refill all of my bird feeders again for the second straight night. Standing room only and they are just ignoring the dog running around underneath them. 

[gmr548 16580]

Anyone here in 78727 - Lamplight Village area between MoPac and Metric or even 35?

Mom lives up there and haven’t been able to get in touch since last night. Of course, she thinks you can’t turn your phone on while it’s on the charger and basically treats her cell like a landline you plug in, so she’s often impossible to get a hold of.

I’m in Houston so can’t get out there to check on her. She is probably fine, I think I’d have heard if otherwise, but curious about the area. May see if a buddy of mine can do a welfare check.

[phdhorn 6224]

Verdict:

All 4 outside faucets froze, N, S, E, W.

Got the S and E faucets going.  W and N not yet.  Probably N not ever.  Wrapped it back up and hope that pipe holds.  W maybe, but not looking good.  But again, it's probably close to the spigot, even if inside the wall.  I hope hope hope that it holds if I can't get it to melt.  Right now sun is knocking the shit out of the outside wall it's in, giving it until no more sun, then a little more blow dry, then we'll see.

[Biff Tannen 45685]

1 hour ago, horn4life said:

Now if I can just not have the RV freeze up and screw me...

[RexWilson 1347]

44 minutes ago, Hefeweizen said:

My exact situation.  I have a couple of faucets and a shower that will run cold but not hot, and a faucet that won’t do cold.  I am going to call a plumber after to check them out, if they don’t break, but fingers crossed now.

My hot water lines finally cleared in the one bathroom.

For every other faucet in the house, I had hot water on a heavy drip. In the problem bathroom, I had the valved on about 1/4 of the way and cold on slow drip. Eventually the hot water started coming through.

[Skipper 6135]

3 minutes ago, phdhorn said:

Verdict:

All 4 outside faucets froze, N, S, E, W.

Got the S and E faucets going.  W and N not yet.  Probably N not ever.  Wrapped it back up and hope that pipe holds.  W maybe, but not looking good.  But again, it's probably close to the spigot, even if inside the wall.  I hope hope hope that it holds if I can't get it to melt.  Right now sun is knocking the shit out of the outside wall it's in, giving it until no more sun, then a little more blow dry, then we'll see.

I haven't even checked my 3 outdoor faucets.  What is the thought process behind trying to thaw out in the interim if a freeze vs. just waiting on the verdict once we finally warm back up?

[SubliminalHorn 6787]

2 minutes ago, Skipper said:

I haven't even checked my 3 outdoor faucets.  What is the thought process behind trying to thaw out in the interim if a freeze vs. just waiting on the verdict once we finally warm back up?

Clear out some water so not as much to freeze and expand when it gets colder tonight? That’s my guess 

[horn4life 3760]

19 minutes ago, BradInATX said:

Surely you've got some kind of device that will tell you when power is back on. Smart thermostat would do it.

Back in the ancient times you could call your answering machine....

[kmac30 416]

Our power went out at 6am. I have a generator so that wasn’t a problem. I have had faucets dripping. However, all of the sudden all my faucets are running very slow. Am I in trouble?

[Samson's Wig 3192]

12 minutes ago, gmr548 said:

Anyone here in 78727 - Lamplight Village area between MoPac and Metric or even 35?

Mom lives up there and haven’t been able to get in touch since last night. Of course, she thinks you can’t turn your phone on while it’s on the charger and basically treats her cell like a landline you plug in, so she’s often impossible to get a hold of.

I’m in Houston so can’t get out there to check on her. She is probably fine, I think I’d have heard if otherwise, but curious about the area. May see if a buddy of mine can do a welfare check.

I have a friend just on the other side of Mopac from Lamplight Village area (north of Duval west of Mopac), and they haven't lost power.  With St. David's North being nearby, I suspect your mom's area is not going to get the power turned off for blackouts.

[TwiceHorn 31470]

2 minutes ago, SubliminalHorn said:

Clear out some water so not as much to freeze and expand when it gets colder tonight? That’s my guess 

That's my theory.

What you don't want is an ice plug the whole length of the pipe. 

If you get it running, it has to "start over" in making that plug. Instead of just adding to it. 

[Samson's Wig 3192]

1 minute ago, kmac30 said:

Our power went out at 6am. I have a generator so that wasn’t a problem. I have had faucets dripping. However, all of the sudden all my faucets are running very slow. Am I in trouble?

You're likely just losing water pressure.

[utee94 15823]

 

Just now, TwiceHorn said:

That's my theory.

What you don't want is an ice plug the whole length of the pipe. 

If you get it running, it has to "start over" in making that plug. Instead of just adding to it. 

I suppose that's a reasonable theory.

But then my other thought is, that since it's already been below freezing for days, it's already frozen as far back into the house wall, or into the slab, or into the ground, as it's going to.  So not much point in thawing and then having it potentially re-freeze.  In fact, the multiple iterations of temperature variation from freezing-to-warm-to-freezing could potentially be worse for it, than not messing with it at all.

But I'm certainly no expert on thermodynamics.