2024 Rain Thread: All Your El Nino Are Belong to Us

[royiv 9673]

13 minutes ago, Dahobbs said:

How big of a house for the 24kw? That's a lot of power, just curious if you use anything close to that. 

About 3600sf. Wife and I wanted to be able to run everything in the house without worrying about load balancing. 

[HouTex 1912]

2 hours ago, Dahobbs said:

Generators are good, but I really think the battery + solar combination is overlooked in Houston. The battery responds instantly to any outage (the lights may flicker), requires zero maintenance, and has a renewable source of fuel that you don't have to go look for. And, generally speaking in Houston, you're going to need more power when it is hot, which also happens to be when the sun is out. Solar is generally a decent investment in Houston anyway so long as your roof gets good sunlight. And the battery while more expensive upfront than a whole home generator, isn't that much much more expensive and doesn't require fuel or maintenance. 26kwh of batteries came out to be 14k with install after tax credit. That's on the high end for the installed estimates I've seen for a 20 kw generac (10k-15k). 

I priced a Tesla solar/battery system a few years ago because my patio home does not have enough room for a natural gas powered generator.  I wanted enough battery power to last two days with no sun running both of my AC units in a typical Houston summer.  The quote was $80k and a few power guys I know didn’t think it would be feasible because the batteries would take up most of the space in my garage.  I’m still without power near Woodway and Potomac in 77057.  If I could install a solar/battery system that would meet my needs for $30-40k I’d do it.  I’ve been told that the batteries should be coming down in price.  

[Storm the Field 5358]

Getting down to the grinding, block-by-block restoration work now. When I first checked outage tracker this morning, they were showing 145K customers still without power. 5 hours later, that's down to 135K. 

[Dahobbs 18181]

10 minutes ago, HouTex said:

I priced a Tesla solar/battery system a few years ago because my patio home does not have enough room for a natural gas powered generator.  I wanted enough battery power to last two days with no sun running both of my AC units in a typical Houston summer.  The quote was $80k and a few power guys I know didn’t think it would be feasible because the batteries would take up most of the space in my garage.  I’m still without power near Woodway and Potomac in 77057.  If I could install a solar/battery system that would meet my needs for $30-40k I’d do it.  I’ve been told that the batteries should be coming down in price.  

Yeah, battery for 2-days with absolutely no sun and running both AC units would be massive. But it is also way overkill. If you have no sun for 2 days, you're usage is going to be way down because it isn't going to be as hot. And even with cloud cover, solar will still generate power. We got a 12 kw solar array and two batteries totaling 26 kwh (Tesla Powerwall). The house is small (1300 sq ft), but we have two electric vehicles, electric stove, electric oven, and a pool. Our average daily usage from June to August last year was 82.8 kwh. Average daily solar production was 54.8 kwh. Just not charging the cars would get us down below that daily average. I'm fairly certain we could last indefinitely with modest conservation. Even if the batteries run out one-day, the system will start charging them again when the sun comes back out. 

For this event, we used 41.1 kwh on Saturday and 59.5 kwh on Sunday with fairly minimal conservation (AC set to 76 instead of 73). We even charged the cars some and did some laundry because otherwise we would have had excess solar that couldn't go anywhere. Solar production was 58.1 kwh on Saturday and 61.7 kwh on Sunday. Batteries would get down to around 30% by 7 am, and then the sun would start offsetting usage again and charging the batteries. At most, I might get one more battery to provide a bit more cushion at night. 

[HouTex 1912]

18 minutes ago, Storm the Field said:

Getting down to the grinding, block-by-block restoration work now. When I first checked outage tracker this morning, they were showing 145K customers still without power. 5 hours later, that's down to 135K. 

They told us with an automated email/voice massage on Sunday evening that power should be restored by EOD yesterday.  Nope.  We got the same message yesterday evening that it would be restored by end of day today.  So far, nothing.  

[Trey3216 15450]

1 hour ago, utee94 said:

If you decide to wire a backup generator directly into your house's breaker panel please hire a professional and do not attempt to backfeed the system through the dryer outlet. There are many potential safety issues with the dryer hack. 

Do it right, do it once.

In the instance of badly done…do it wrong, do it once is likely as well.    The only difference is having some appliances working and having a pile of ashes and subrogation.   

Edited May 21 by Trey3216

[texasdago 7752]

1 hour ago, Dahobbs said:

How big of a house for the 24kw? That's a lot of power, just curious if you use anything close to that. 

We had a 14kw with a 2400 sq foot house in Houston.  We could function like normal although I would usually conserve a bit so we didn't push it.

[HouTex 1912]

6 minutes ago, Dahobbs said:

Yeah, battery for 2-days with absolutely no sun and running both AC units would be massive. But it is also way overkill. If you have no sun for 2 days, you're usage is going to be way down because it isn't going to be as hot. And even with cloud cover, solar will still generate power. We got a 12 kw solar array and two batteries totaling 26 kwh (Tesla Powerwall). The house is small (1300 sq ft), but we have two electric vehicles, electric stove, electric oven, and a pool. Our average daily usage from June to August last year was 82.8 kwh. Average daily solar production was 54.8 kwh. Just not charging the cars would get us down below that daily average. I'm fairly certain we could last indefinitely with modest conservation. Even if the batteries run out one-day, the system will start charging them again when the sun comes back out. 

For this event, we used 41.1 kwh on Saturday and 59.5 kwh on Sunday with fairly minimal conservation (AC set to 76 instead of 73). We even charged the cars some and did some laundry because otherwise we would have had excess solar that couldn't go anywhere. Solar production was 58.1 kwh on Saturday and 61.7 kwh on Sunday. Batteries would get down to around 30% by 7 am, and then the sun would start offsetting usage again and charging the batteries. At most, I might get one more battery to provide a bit more cushion at night. 

Then I may need to revisit it.  Last September was my heaviest load as I averaged 101 kWh per day.  My home is around 3,900 so ft and I have two AC units.  My home is fairly new and well insulated.  But I think I need to assume at least 24 hours of no sun.  We had no sun last Friday after the storm, but by Sat morning it was full sun.  I’d welcome your suggestions on solar array and battery size. 

[InkaUtexas 26793]

Good thing it will never rain again so we can all get educated on generators and solar programs.

[SydneyCarton 49321]

1 hour ago, jimmyjazz said:

Regarding the small inverter generators -- our heat is propane (tank buried in the front yard), as Austin chose not to run natural gas to our street.  (Thanks, Austin.)

But, we lost all heat during the two recent freezes because the blower, dampers etc. couldn't run due to no electrical power.  I assume those are fairly small loads, though.  Anyone know if such a small generator could actually get such a system running?

There are plenty of charts out there telling how many watts it takes to run something. There was a fairly long list in the manual for my inverter. But where do you plug in the control to a generator for a tank in the ground?

[jimmyjazz 46958]

9 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

But where do you plug in the control to a generator for a tank in the ground?

I'd have to look at our breaker setup and figure out what circuit the pump is on.  I would be leaning towards tying the generator into a new switch that I could flip when grid power is down, and using the breakers to control power flow (to some degree).

[ROFL BOX 6654]

4 hours ago, Dahobbs said:

 

Solar panels are considered attached to the house and are generally covered by HO policies. There are sometimes exclusions for damage caused by wind or hail depending on where you live. There may also be issues getting damage covered if one didn't notify their insurer previously of the install. But I can't think of any reason that an insurer would refuse to cover a house entirely. I think that is misinformation and may even be against the law. Finally, if the roof is damaged enough to be replaced, I don't see how removing the panels is really any extra labor. Reinstalling, sure. 

We are doing a re-roof soon & Farmers IS paying $ 6,000+ for the PV panel D&R (Detach & Replace).

One end of the house & not a large array.  Removal is specialty work & unless you know what you're doing to disconnect from the electricity components, that's a dangerous thing.  Nobody on my crew would do anything other than to clean a panel while it is on the roof. .

 

Pic attached is the best Google Mapolator has & I don't have house photos on my phone any longer. 

I'm trying to find a reason why they will not pay for panel D&R If they are not damaged & can only assume because insurance wanted advance notice so they could attach a rider to accomodate costs for possible D&R or even full R&R (the recent Dripping Springs hail we had out here completely destroyed 8 panels on a house we ate working with & that's being covered completely by their insurance as a total loss inclusive to the shingles).

 

[Dahobbs 18181]

22 minutes ago, ROFL BOX said:

We are doing a re-roof soon & Farmers IS paying $ 6,000+ for the PV panel D&R (Detach & Replace).

One end of the house & not a large array.  Removal is specialty work & unless you know what you're doing to disconnect from the electricity components, that's a dangerous thing.  Nobody on my crew would do anything other than to clean a panel while it is on the roof. .

 

Pic attached is the best Google Mapolator has & I don't have house photos on my phone any longer. 

I'm trying to find a reason why they will not pay for panel D&R If they are not damaged & can only assume because insurance wanted advance notice so they could attach a rider to accomodate costs for possible D&R or even full R&R (the recent Dripping Springs hail we had out here completely destroyed 8 panels on a house we ate working with & that's being covered completely by their insurance as a total loss inclusive to the shingles).

 

Yeah, fair, normally the solar company would handle removal of the panels. Still, my understanding is that the majority of any additional work is on the re-install and not the removal. I think your assumption makes sense regarding failure to provide notice of the panels. I'll note, if the panels were destroyed by hail, it would be worthwhile for the homeowner to look at the manufacturing warranty. If the panels were rated for above that level of hail, they likely have a warranty claim. 

[Grimas 674]

5 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

hire a professional 

I did - electrician put in the lock-out switch on the breaker box and then connected the external socket where I p-lug in the 240V cable from the generator. And the lockout switch is what keeps the power from back-feeding up the external wiring to the pole and is required by law.

Edited May 21 by Grimas

[CHIEF 5197]

1 hour ago, ROFL BOX said:

We are doing a re-roof soon & Farmers IS paying $ 6,000+ for the PV panel D&R (Detach & Replace).

One end of the house & not a large array.  Removal is specialty work & unless you know what you're doing to disconnect from the electricity components, that's a dangerous thing.  Nobody on my crew would do anything other than to clean a panel while it is on the roof. .

 

Pic attached is the best Google Mapolator has & I don't have house photos on my phone any longer. 

I'm trying to find a reason why they will not pay for panel D&R If they are not damaged & can only assume because insurance wanted advance notice so they could attach a rider to accomodate costs for possible D&R or even full R&R (the recent Dripping Springs hail we had out here completely destroyed 8 panels on a house we ate working with & that's being covered completely by their insurance as a total loss inclusive to the shingles).

 

I had Farmers for a while. They always paid like a slot machine, and covered pretty much any and all supplemental payments, same with Farm Bureau. It is mainly State Farm and Allstate giving everyone around here grief. If the panels are okay, but the roof needs to be replaced, they are pushing, or trying to push the homeowners with, "the solar panels are fine, and not considered part of the claim, but you must pay to remove and reinstall them so we can make the repairs to your roof." I mean, insurance companies deny legitimate claims and sometimes pay on bogus claims. I'v e seen it go both ways.

CHIEF

[Storm the Field 5358]

4 hours ago, Storm the Field said:

Getting down to the grinding, block-by-block restoration work now. When I first checked outage tracker this morning, they were showing 145K customers still without power. 5 hours later, that's down to 135K. 

115K as of the 5:30 update. Sure hope they can do better than 30K tomorrow. Or at least include me in tomorrow's 30K.

Just saw that a bunch of the blocks in my neighborhood that got power back yesterday had it turned off again a couple hours ago. Apparently planned and supposed to be back on by 8 pm, but man I'd be livid. People freaking out about how they stocked up on groceries earlier, houses were just starting to cool down...

[Biff Tannen 46060]

7 hours ago, SydneyCarton said:

I also hate being hot and uprooting everything in our lives X days a year, and these days it seems like we have some kind of shit event every damn year.

I don't think solar or a generator is the solution here.  It's move the fuck out of Texas.

[Armybrat 41304]

My older brother has a 48kw Generac LP setup for his 3,100 sq/ft well insulated house.

His power went off for a couple of hours the other day near Sun City, but the Generac switched on and performed like a champ.

 

Edited May 21 by Armybrat

[jdhorn92 1586]

To circumvent the expense of a Generac, my FIL added a "switch" to his breaker box.  When power goes out, he can switch his fridge and a few other breakers to his portable generator.  He can run his fridge and a half dozen fans , lights and TV with a gas powered Honda he rolls to the box. Trying to do some research on my own , got a call into an electrician. He's got a small house on the bay so his set up is not super complicated...not sure how feasible it will be for mine.  Anyone got experience with a set up like that?

Edited May 22 by jdhorn92

[CHIEF 5197]

14 minutes ago, jdhorn92 said:

To circumvent the expense of a Generac, my FIL added a "switch" to his breaker box.  When power goes out, he can switch his fridge and a few other breakers to his portable generator.  He can run his fridge and a half dozen fans , lights and TV with a gas powered Honda he rolls to the box. Trying to do some research on my own , got a call into an electrician. He's got a small house on the bay so his set up is not super complicated...not sure how feasible it will be for mine.  Anyone got experience with a set up like that?

If you shut off your hvac, and don’t run the washer/dryer, dishwasher, and turn off the water heaters, 3500 watts to 6500 watts should do it. Those units are pretty inexpensive, small, and be kept in a storage shed, or garage. Anything with a direct short to generate heat are the biggest power draw. That will keep you from losing fridge and freezer items. 
 

CHIEF

[MissingInAction 25478]

Friend just had 80k worth of solar panel repair from the hail storm that hit north central Austin a couple months ago. 

I like to troll him with hail reports complete with pics of incoming systems.

 

[NorthLoop 14420]

33 minutes ago, MissingInAction said:

Friend just had 80k worth of solar panel repair from the hail storm that hit north central Austin a couple months ago. 

I like to troll him with hail reports complete with pics of incoming systems.

 

 

Shoulda installed a Russian cope cage. 

[Captainant 28374]

1 hour ago, jdhorn92 said:

To circumvent the expense of a Generac, my FIL added a "switch" to his breaker box.  When power goes out, he can switch his fridge and a few other breakers to his portable generator.  He can run his fridge and a half dozen fans , lights and TV with a gas powered Honda he rolls to the box. Trying to do some research on my own , got a call into an electrician. He's got a small house on the bay so his set up is not super complicated...not sure how feasible it will be for mine.  Anyone got experience with a set up like that?

My inlaws installed a 10kw propane generator and hired an electrician to install a cut over switch that takes the house off line power if you're running the gen. From there, you just choose which house circuits you want to energize after flipping the cut over and bingo bango ya good.

The 10kw generator was something like $600 for em, and the electrician visit was another few hundred. 

 

Also, y'all should look into installing (having a pro install) an easy start control unit onto your AC unit, it learns how much juice your unit actually needs to start and only juices the caps that much. The result is a 60-70% reduction in cranking current for the AC to start, reduces the demand on generators and battery units, and makes the "KA-CHUNK" of an AC starting much quieter

[Grimas 674]

My 13000w propane (Tri-fuel) will power my 4K sqft house so long we don’t use the dryer, microwave or stove when it’s on. I’ve got soft start capacitors on both my 5 and 3 ton a/c’s but still need to set both to 60deg when the gen is running to keep them from cycling on and off (or just use the upstairs one) to keep the load down.  I get about 6 hours per propane tank (have 5) so can run awhile before I need to add gasoline or connect to the gas line in the laundry room to power it indefinitely. I think the whole setup cost me 2-2.5k including gen, cable and electrician. Beats the 15k quote in got for a Generac (as my gas main is on the opposite side of the house from the breaker panel…) only pain is it isn’t “instant on” as I have to turn on the propane and flip the switch on the breaker box but that takes less than a minute…. I’ve also added a few UPS’s to my mesh wifi so that never goes down and can run some stuff interrupted until I fire up the gen. Luckily my gen sits in a covered pool house so I don’t need to wheel it out of storage and all I have to do is turn on the gas and fire it up…

[Okie State 3887]

19 hours ago, royiv said:

We’ve  got a 24kw Kohler in our backyard. For those thinking about a standby generator, I highly suggest you look at Kohler over Generac. Much more reliable and they’re a little bit quieter than the Generacs. 

I've been thinking about getting a quote for a Kohler at my house. We have a lot of square footage, but my gas meter and breaker are within 10 feet of each other so I'm hoping that keeps install costs down.

[CleverNickname 1345]

a 6000btu widow unit for a bedroom and a 2000w generator would be under $1400 and would enough to keep comfortable for a couple of days. But I'm a cheap mofo.

[texasdago 7752]

1 hour ago, Okie State said:

I've been thinking about getting a quote for a Kohler at my house. We have a lot of square footage, but my gas meter and breaker are within 10 feet of each other so I'm hoping that keeps install costs down.

Mine were about 50 feet from each other so we had to run a trench from the meter to the breaker.  Didn't help with install costs but I'd do it again in a heartbeat.  We had an automatic transfer switch installed as well.  Power goes out... "clank!" count to 7 and power is back on.

[Captainant 28374]

1 minute ago, texasdago said:

Mine were about 50 feet from each other so we had to run a trench from the meter to the breaker.  Didn't help with install costs but I'd do it again in a heartbeat.  We had an automatic transfer switch installed as well.  Power goes out... "clank!" count to 7 and power is back on.

Just curious with the automated systems do you also have a brief outage when switching back onto mains?

[texasdago 7752]

4 minutes ago, Captainant said:

Just curious with the automated systems do you also have a brief outage when switching back onto mains?

No.  I remember it being seamless.  The power would come back on, you would hear the "clank", the generator would run for a couple of minutes and cool down and then all would be back to normal.  We had it installed through Reliant back in 2018 so there's no telling what they charge now but they handled everything... all turnkey and the permitting process was a piece of cake since they had all the connections with the city and CenterPoint.

[CHIEF 5197]

11 hours ago, Captainant said:

My inlaws installed a 10kw propane generator and hired an electrician to install a cut over switch that takes the house off line power if you're running the gen. From there, you just choose which house circuits you want to energize after flipping the cut over and bingo bango ya good.

The 10kw generator was something like $600 for em, and the electrician visit was another few hundred. 

 

Also, y'all should look into installing (having a pro install) an easy start control unit onto your AC unit, it learns how much juice your unit actually needs to start and only juices the caps that much. The result is a 60-70% reduction in cranking current for the AC to start, reduces the demand on generators and battery units, and makes the "KA-CHUNK" of an AC starting much quieter

Both of my a/c units have the variable speed compressors. They hardly ever shut completely off. I loved how my a/c guy explained the concept. Regular a/c units are like a teenage driver. They either have the accelerator matted, or they are standing on the brake. Variable speed compressors are like the old man that gives it just enough gas to line up the traffic lights and never has to come to a complete stop. Starting and stopping the units is about 80% of the power consumption. I keep our 3000 sqft. house at 66 degrees, my electric bill runs about $200-250 per month. 
 

CHIEF

[huge 3824]

I ended up buying a Champion that does peak 8500w on flash amazon sale yesterday for $785.

[Dahobbs 18181]

1 hour ago, Captainant said:

Just curious with the automated systems do you also have a brief outage when switching back onto mains?

 

1 hour ago, texasdago said:

No.  I remember it being seamless.  The power would come back on, you would hear the "clank", the generator would run for a couple of minutes and cool down and then all would be back to normal.  We had it installed through Reliant back in 2018 so there's no telling what they charge now but they handled everything... all turnkey and the permitting process was a piece of cake since they had all the connections with the city and CenterPoint.

It does take a generator a moment or two to kick in. You'll likely have to reset clocks and the like. If you have a desktop or other electronics that shouldn't go down at all, you'd want to pair it with an UPS. 

(edit - just realized the question was about switching back to main, so the answer above doesn't apply to that)

Edited May 22 by Dahobbs

[InkaUtexas 26793]

Tiny shower in the 666. Just enough to make the ground muddy.

[fattyflattie 4640]

14 hours ago, Captainant said:

Also, y'all should look into installing (having a pro install) an easy start control unit onto your AC unit, it learns how much juice your unit actually needs to start and only juices the caps that much. The result is a 60-70% reduction in cranking current for the AC to start, reduces the demand on generators and battery units, and makes the "KA-CHUNK" of an AC starting much quieter

Troof.  

[NorthLoop 14420]

15 minutes ago, InkaUtexas said:

Tiny shower in the 666. Just enough to make the ground muddy.

you fuckers get all the rain

[InkaUtexas 26793]

8 minutes ago, NorthLoop said:

you fuckers get all the rain

Not shit year. And of course neighbors insist on perfect lawns no matter what.

[bolverk 30227]

19 minutes ago, NorthLoop said:

you fuckers get all the rain

 

10 minutes ago, InkaUtexas said:

Not shit year. And of course neighbors insist on perfect lawns no matter what.

I dunno, man, NorthLoop's complaint looks valid to me.

 

https://water.weather.gov/precip/

[HenryJames 67113]

39 minutes ago, InkaUtexas said:

Tiny shower in the 666. Just enough to make the ground muddy.

Will you need a generator?

[InkaUtexas 26793]

Yeah, but most of our rain runs off into the river and gets mixed with frat boy piss.

[Judge Roybeanbag 11856]

3 minutes ago, bolverk said:

 

I dunno, man, NorthLoop's complaint looks valid to me.

 

https://water.weather.gov/precip/

I blame Buccees. 

[InkaUtexas 26793]

Just now, HenryJames said:

Will you need a generator?

Yes, and redundant solar panels.

[NorthLoop 14420]

1 hour ago, bolverk said:

 

I dunno, man, NorthLoop's complaint looks valid to me.

 

https://water.weather.gov/precip/

I fucking knew it! 

[Storm the Field 5358]

After 138 hours, my street finally has power. Neighbor just texted that we're back in business as of about 20 minutes ago and confirmed that my front porch light is on. 

[gsoda3 3358]

14 minutes ago, Storm the Field said:

After 138 hours, my street finally has power. Neighbor just texted that we're back in business as of about 20 minutes ago and confirmed that my front porch light is on. 

during the day? quit hogging all the electricity.

glad that your nightmare's over though.  i would not wish that on anyone.

[HenryJames 67113]

27 minutes ago, Storm the Field said:

After 138 hours, my street finally has power.

[TXLNGHRN10 341]

Coleman got hammered, Brownwood prepare your Anus

[boknowstecmo 221]

Large tornado producing storm heading righ at San Angelo. 

[HenryJames 67113]

Looks like it's going north of it.

[texasdago 7752]

Lake Buchanan watershed killing it today.

Meanwhile Lake Travis

[jimmyjazz 46958]

KXAN "future radar" suggesting rain will hit Austin ~ 8 PM.  Good luck with that.