2022-2023 Winter Weather Thread

[YGIFS 19452]

22 minutes ago, Gatorubet said:

So - 2 days ago I’m riding along, and I noticed someone threw away an older igloo cooler. 
I knew cold weather was coming and had this idea I always wanted to try. Here was my opportunity. I removed the lid and then lined the inside with metallic insulation.  I then drilled an inch and a half circle in the side where I inserted a lamp holder with two electrical prongs on the bottom. Finally, I inserted a 150 Watt reptile terrarium heat emitter - the bulb rated at 120 degrees. To finish up I drilled four holes in the back where I inserted rope that I could tie to the pipe and faucet and snug the whole damn thing next to where my outside exposed water pipe enters my home. (why idiots in the 1960s did this I have no idea. )

Here are some temperature gun readings outside near my contraption. The readings are lower than the actual temperature outside.  But is the wind is blowing pretty hard, I’m sure the temperature for exposed metal and plastic is lower. See pictures below:

I took these temperature readings where the plug enters the cooler, and also took readings on both side of the box next to the brick.  I think I’m good.

 
 

As a guy trying to keep his neighbor's exterior faucets from freezing out again...despite my repeated suggestions that before they leave town to Los Angeles-they should take precautions.............I say, "Well done Magruber!"    

Also, which one of you surly assholes signed me up for text messages from ERCOT?  They keep texting me reminding me that I have power in my house still.  Ultimate fucking jinx.  Yeah, most energy abundant state has kept the power on a whopping 36 hours into the actual Winter season.  Woo-Hoo!  It's like Colorado taking credit for snow.  What the fuck?  Did I miss the part where somebody put a gun to ERCOT's head and demanded they blend solar and wind into their energy mix?  Use whatever the fuck you want.  At these prices, just keep the shit flowing.  Who is this sinister wind cartel threatening your family unless you turbine up fuckwads?  

Edited December 24, 2022 by YGIFS

[Gatorubet 30294]

Just got this text.  Lovely. 

Quote

Entergy: Unusually high electricity use due to extreme temperatures may exceed available power supply. Please help by adjusting thermostats and turning off non-essential lights, electronics and large appliances to avoid periodic outages. We apologize for the inconvenience. https://entergy.com/conserve

 

[smoky 840]

Call their bluff. Turn that fucker up.

[Bullneck 19206]

8 hours ago, DaysOff said:

PTSD building, but at least the power is still on. This is where all my damage was in '21.

Wow, you have a cold plunge at your house?  Nice!

[ImissWallyPryor 9046]

We made a stew last night, and I thought I’d set the pot outside for just a bit to cool before transferring it to refrigerator containers. That just a bit turned into an hour, and -15 froze it solid. I said fuck it left it there. Fired up the wood burning stove today and put the pot on instead of using the stovetop. It’s almost ready.

Edited December 24, 2022 by ImissWallyPryor

[Bullneck 19206]

1 hour ago, Gatorubet said:

So - 2 days ago I’m riding along, and I noticed someone threw away an older igloo cooler. 
I knew cold weather was coming and had this idea I always wanted to try. Here was my opportunity. I removed the lid and then lined the inside with metallic insulation.  I then drilled an inch and a half circle in the side where I inserted a lamp holder with two electrical prongs on the bottom. Finally, I inserted a 150 Watt reptile terrarium heat emitter - the bulb rated at 120 degrees. To finish up I drilled four holes in the back where I inserted rope that I could tie to the pipe and faucet and snug the whole damn thing next to where my outside exposed water pipe enters my home. (why idiots in the 1960s did this I have no idea. )

Here are some temperature gun readings outside near my contraption. The readings are lower than the actual temperature outside.  But is the wind is blowing pretty hard, I’m sure the temperature for exposed metal and plastic is lower. See pictures below:

I took these temperature readings where the plug enters the cooler, and also took readings on both side of the box next to the brick.  I think I’m good.
 

Here's a live look at Gatorubet's rotisserie grille:

Patio furniture?  Oh, right over here:

 

 

 

 

[YGIFS 19452]

Stew?

 

[Telegraph_it 3359]

7 hours ago, Wulaw Horn said:

In the meantime we amuse ourselves with this kind of shit.  

 

Edited December 24, 2022 by Telegraph_it

[Brothahorn 10087]

So - 2 days ago I’m riding along, and I noticed someone threw away an older igloo cooler. 
I knew cold weather was coming and had this idea I always wanted to try. Here was my opportunity. I removed the lid and then lined the inside with metallic insulation.  I then drilled an inch and a half circle in the side where I inserted a lamp holder with two electrical prongs on the bottom. Finally, I inserted a 150 Watt reptile terrarium heat emitter - the bulb rated at 120 degrees. To finish up I drilled four holes in the back where I inserted rope that I could tie to the pipe and faucet and snug the whole damn thing next to where my outside exposed water pipe enters my home. (why idiots in the 1960s did this I have no idea. )

Here are some temperature gun readings outside near my contraption. The readings are lower than the actual temperature outside.  But is the wind is blowing pretty hard, I’m sure the temperature for exposed metal and plastic is lower. See pictures below:

I took these temperature readings where the plug enters the cooler, and also took readings on both side of the box next to the brick.  I think I’m good.

 
 

You definitely got some Florida man in you, baw!

[tx 3 putt 77373]

 

[FORTY NINE TO ZERO 2652]

Space city weather just sent an alert saying power companies are requesting we conserve both electricity and natural gas.   
 

furk 

[atomheartbevo 89786]

23 minutes ago, FORTY NINE TO ZERO said:

Space city weather just sent an alert saying power companies are requesting we conserve both electricity and natural gas.   

furk 

 

But…there’s a little more to it

 

[atomheartbevo 89786]

 

[tx 3 putt 77373]

@elfenix do you have power ?

[Telegraph_it 3359]

Turning thermostat to 90 just in case. 

[ImissWallyPryor 9046]

One of my daughters is trying to get to us before Christmas. She suffers from depression and needs daily human interaction to keep her spirits up. She sent this pic of I-90, so we’re hoping it gets cleared a bit more so she can make it. Fortunately, only 350 miles of her trip is on I-90.

Edited December 24, 2022 by ImissWallyPryor

[tx 3 putt 77373]

5 minutes ago, ImissWallyPryor said:

One of my daughters is trying to get to us before Christmas. She suffers from depression and needs daily human interaction to keep her spirits up. She sent this pic of I-90, so we’re hoping it gets cleared a bit more so she can make it. Fortunately, only 350 miles of her trip is on I-90.

damn, safe travels 

[atomheartbevo 89786]

[atomheartbevo 89786]

15 minutes ago, ImissWallyPryor said:

One of my daughters is trying to get to us before Christmas. She suffers from depression and needs daily human interaction to keep her spirits up. She sent this pic of I-90, so we’re hoping it gets cleared a bit more so she can make it. Fortunately, only 350 miles of her trip is on I-90.

My FAFO emoji was not meant to mock her situation,  and I hope everything works out, but holy shit, those conditions worry me.

[atomheartbevo 89786]

Two interesting threads from same guy about predictions, first is Sep ‘21

Second last January ( which references the first from Sep ‘21)

 

[Anastasis 23481]

3 hours ago, Gatorubet said:

So - 2 days ago I’m riding along, and I noticed someone threw away an older igloo cooler. 
I knew cold weather was coming and had this idea I always wanted to try. Here was my opportunity. I removed the lid and then lined the inside with metallic insulation.  I then drilled an inch and a half circle in the side where I inserted a lamp holder with two electrical prongs on the bottom. Finally, I inserted a 150 Watt reptile terrarium heat emitter - the bulb rated at 120 degrees. To finish up I drilled four holes in the back where I inserted rope that I could tie to the pipe and faucet and snug the whole damn thing next to where my outside exposed water pipe enters my home. (why idiots in the 1960s did this I have no idea. )

Here are some temperature gun readings outside near my contraption. The readings are lower than the actual temperature outside.  But is the wind is blowing pretty hard, I’m sure the temperature for exposed metal and plastic is lower. See pictures below:

I took these temperature readings where the plug enters the cooler, and also took readings on both side of the box next to the brick.  I think I’m good.

 
 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 24, 2022 by Anastasis

[squib 1122]

13 hours ago, HouTex said:

As mentioned, 1989 was bad, but December 1983 was way worse.  That was my senior year at UT.  IIRC, the temp stayed below freezing for about a week or so in the Houston area.  We never lost power, but our pipes froze in the attic.  We were deer hunting for much of that cold snap and it was so cold we didn't see one fucking deer.

Yep. Was a 10-year-old growing up down on the border near Del Rio. Dad and his friend took a hood off some wrecked caliche-colored Chevy pick up, flipped it upside down to make a sleigh. They then ran a rope from the “sleigh” to another pickup. 3 or 4 of us kids would get on the hood sleigh and dad and his friends—I assume now they were drinking heavily—pulled us up and down the icy city streets. They would take a hard turn and sling us out into someone’s yard. Sometimes we would wreck into a tree. The blood provided some warmth. After that week, the hood sleigh was “stored” out by the barn in case it ever iced over like that again.  It never did.

[Gatorubet 30294]

1 hour ago, Anastasis said:

 

 

 

 

 I was HERE!…..with Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle in 1682.  

As if through a glass, and darkly 
The age-old strife I see — 
Where I tinkered in many guises, many Igloo Coolers— 
but always me.

[Gatorubet 30294]

3 hours ago, Bullneck said:

Here's a live look at Gatorubet's rotisserie grille:

Since Wanda Jean left me I don’t got nobody to power the sweet setup.  Nice possum shank tho…

[Bullneck 19206]

1 hour ago, atomheartbevo said:

Two interesting threads from same guy about predictions, first is Sep ‘21

Second last January ( which references the first from Sep ‘21)

 

By "mysteries" I assume you meant "miscalculations."

Most engineers I know would have taken that 76 GW and multiplied it by 3 and then sized every single input (coal, solar, wind, gas) to run the grid all by itself.  That might be overkill.  On most days.

**************************

I was at a wedding a while back and one of the women seated at our table worked for some agency (EPA, I think) regulating "peaker plants."  These are smaller plants in NJ that only fire up when when load is really high. Doesn't Texas have any of those?

[Gatorubet 30294]

Call their bluff. Turn that fucker up.

Done

[Updawg 2286]

 
But…there’s a little more to it
[/url]  

This “free” market seems like it kind of sucks

[atomheartbevo 89786]

[elfenix 34332]

3 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

@elfenix do you have power ?

 

3 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

@elfenix do you have power ?

i'm up visiting south austin's mom in the georgetown del boca vista.  but my computers seem to be up so i'm guessing i did not lose power.  that HEB went down during uri and i still had power. 

[elfenix 34332]

1 hour ago, Bullneck said:

By "mysteries" I assume you meant "miscalculations."

Most engineers I know would have taken that 76 GW and multiplied it by 3 and then sized every single input (coal, solar, wind, gas) to run the grid all by itself.  That might be overkill.  On most days.

**************************

I was at a wedding a while back and one of the women seated at our table worked for some agency (EPA, I think) regulating "peaker plants."  These are smaller plants in NJ that only fire up when when load is really high. Doesn't Texas have any of those?

yes but you can't run a peaker plant when the gas supply network is frozen. 

[Anastasis 23481]

I miss our NG hookup in town and the cheap bills.  Texas should abolish any HOA restrictions related to captured propane agreements. I'd happily drop the tank in my backyard and manage the supply as needed over the mismanagement of the distributed community tank., 

[UTexasFight 9527]

3 hours ago, Anastasis said:

I miss our NG hookup in town and the cheap bills.  Texas should abolish any HOA restrictions related to captured propane agreements. I'd happily drop the tank in my backyard and manage the supply as needed over the mismanagement of the distributed community tank., 

Hank?

Hank Hill?

Is that you?!

[WBT 20661]

7 hours ago, Anastasis said:

Texas should abolish any HOA

fify

[Captainant 27755]

Pretty ridiculous that a year and a half after the last freeze, our gas supplies are freezing up AGAIN! For fucks sake O&G bros, get your shit together 

[Hawndoh 2387]

6 minutes ago, Captainant said:

Pretty ridiculous that a year and a half after the last freeze, our gas supplies are freezing up AGAIN! For fucks sake O&G bros, get your shit together 

They have no incentive to do so, and nobody in our state government is going to force them to.

[Guest]

45 minutes ago, Captainant said:

Pretty ridiculous that a year and a half after the last freeze, our gas supplies are freezing up AGAIN! For fucks sake O&G bros, get your shit together 

The Feds declared war on them and you seem surprised that the O&G industries responded accordingly.

 

LOLz.

[Earl Haffler 597]

We've got rolling blackouts in Tennessee.  10 minutes every hour.

[Bullneck 19206]

8 minutes ago, slorch said:

The Feds declared war on them and you seem surprised that the O&G industries responded accordingly.

"The Feds" = the people elected by Americans. Charged with maintaining a dependable supply of energy, managing price gouging and climate change.

Is it really a good thing that the Texas energy industry is "responding accordingly" to their customers?

 

Kind of odd reasoning if you asked me.

Edited December 24, 2022 by Bullneck

[Captainant 27755]

18 minutes ago, slorch said:

The Feds declared war on them and you seem surprised that the O&G industries responded accordingly.

 

LOLz.

Please tell me how the feds "declared war" on the O&G industry lmfao. Those record profits sure are an ASSAULT (!!!!!)!!!!!

[Js1 85558]

25 minutes ago, slorch said:

The Feds declared war on them and you seem surprised that the O&G industries responded accordingly.

 

LOLz.

 

[Horns99 155]

Pretty ridiculous that a year and a half after the last freeze, our gas supplies are freezing up AGAIN! For fucks sake O&G bros, get your shit together 

Just curious, where are you seeing major supply freezing up that is causing issues here in TX ?

[squib 1122]

Was talking to my dad about this yesterday. He is 55 years into being a pumper on a collection of gas wells in south Texas. He actually was out in the field near Sonora two days ago carrying drums of methanol for injection into flowlines in hopes of keeping them from freezing. 73-year -old man rolling 55 gallon drums out of the back of a truck pisses me off but whatever---I am not driving down there to help.

Anyway, his claim is something like 70% of natural gas in the state is produced by companies/guys that own just a few small wells (my experience as roustabout makes this believable). These guys maybe clearing only a couple of hundred dollars apiece on these low-MCF wells, and they are struggling meeting new demands. It is not like it is Exxon that can't pay for methanol injection or other anti-freeze procedures--it is Ralph. He also said that the new paperwork requirements are crazy, and lots of small guys are getting out. Anyway, just a take from an old guy that has seen about all of it down there.

But he also made sure to tell me before he hung up that the last outage was because all the bullshit, lib windmill blades froze up so there is that too. 

[Pato del Muerto 52581]

48 minutes ago, Earl Haffler said:

We've got rolling blackouts in Tennessee.  10 minutes every hour.

Seems like this would result in people raising their thermostat temp during the 50 minutes so that they aren’t uncomfortable during the 10. 
 

is that method documented to save power?

[MontereyMX 869]

3 minutes ago, squib said:

Was talking to my dad about this yesterday. He is 55 years into being a pumper on a collection of gas wells in south Texas. He actually was out in the field near Sonora two days ago carrying drums of methanol for injection into flowlines in hopes of keeping them from freezing. 73-year -old man rolling 55 gallon drums out of the back of a truck pisses me off but whatever---I am not driving down there to help.

Anyway, his claim is something like 70% of natural gas in the state is produced by companies/guys that own just a few small wells (my experience as roustabout makes this believable). These guys maybe clearing only a couple of hundred dollars apiece on these low-MCF wells, and they are struggling meeting new demands. It is not like it is Exxon that can't pay for methanol injection or other anti-freeze procedures--it is Ralph. He also said that the new paperwork requirements are crazy, and lots of small guys are getting out. Anyway, just a take from an old guy that has seen about all of it down there.

But he also made sure to tell me before he hung up that the last outage was because all the bullshit, lib windmill blades froze up so there is that too. 

you sound shitty, go help your fucking dad!   one day you won't be able to 

[Trey3216 15355]

13 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

 

But…there’s a little more to it

 

I helpeD their financial burden by not turning my Christmas tree or outside lights off at all.   

[squib 1122]

6 minutes ago, MontereyMXmuthafucka said:

you sound shitty, go help your fucking dad!   one day you won't be able to 

10-hour round trip drive and taking a day off work to help a rich old field company? They need to hire some help with all them profits. 

[HouTex 1891]

We seem to be doing ok in meeting the demand.  

[WBT 20661]

2 hours ago, Captainant said:

Pretty ridiculous that a year and a half after the last freeze, our gas supplies are freezing up AGAIN! For fucks sake O&G bros, get your shit together 

They are?  Link?

2 hours ago, Earl Haffler said:

We've got rolling blackouts in Tennessee.  10 minutes every hour.

Abbott is in charge in Tennessee?

[washparkhorn 9939]

On 12/22/2022 at 6:39 PM, mchookem said:

Denver, high of 0 ❄️🎄

Looks like the 80231. It will be warmer in Denver today than it here in Clemson. I miss Colorado weather. 

[Fuck Tim Beck 3834]

2 hours ago, Earl Haffler said:

We've got rolling blackouts in Tennessee.  10 minutes every hour

ERCOT: wait, so the power actually comes back on after 10 minutes?