2024 Hurricane Season thread of DOOM

[SydneyCarton 47,298]

Just now, Storm the Field said:

Still in a nested outage, but heard some scuttlebutt among neighbors about a half hour ago that there is finally some activity on the street north of me, which appears to be the source of the problem. Not 100% getting my hopes up just yet, but best news I've heard in a while.

Also lost power for several days and had pool pumps freeze and crack during Uri. After losing power for 6 days following the derecho, we decided "never again" and bit the bullet on a whole-home generator. Unfortunately, we didn't account for their being another massive outage less than 2 months later, before installation could be completed. Next freak storm though!!!!!!!!!!

You might get your genny in time for winter. That's currently my expectation. 

[tx 3 putt 75,235]

23 hours ago, jdhorn92 said:

Heading to Galleria area tomorrow from Dallas for a meeting Wed.  Marriott West Loop has power, hoping i dont run into a bunch of bs trying to get around.  How is that area?

cough 

 

cough 

[tx 3 putt 75,235]

6 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

You might get your genny in time for winter. That's currently my expectation. 

Has anyone tried this place, I’ve only heard good things for people wanting to go the non genrac route …..

http://www.gavins-garage.com/

21215 FM 529 Suite 220, Cypress, TX 77433

 

 

[immamac 41,617]

I'm gonna laugh so hard when the generacs using natgas don't work in the winter cuz the nat gas lines freeze. Not because it's funny but because the irony of the utility doing everything possible to make it impossible to use or generate your own electricity is par for the course. 

[texasdago 7,389]

"fentanyl-laced water"

[Gatorubet 29,538]

36 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

Has anyone tried this place, I’ve only heard good things for people wanting to go the non genrac route …..

http://www.gavins-garage.com/

21215 FM 529 Suite 220, Cypress, TX 77433

 

 

my phone says the link has aids

[tx 3 putt 75,235]

Just now, Gatorubet said:

my phone says the link has aids

off, zero issues with duck duck go 

https://www.gavins-garage.com/buyers-guide/

[Gatorubet 29,538]

Just now, tx 3 putt said:

off, zero issues with duck duck go 

https://www.gavins-garage.com/buyers-guide/

counterpoint: my phone has aids

[SydneyCarton 47,298]

15 minutes ago, immamac said:

I'm gonna laugh so hard when the generacs using natgas don't work in the winter cuz the nat gas lines freeze. Not because it's funny but because the irony of the utility doing everything possible to make it impossible to use or generate your own electricity is par for the course. 

I'd considered this and I think it's different. The natural gas that froze was attempting to pipe it to the generation facilities, who couldn't then get electricity to the people. This was entirely different than it getting to people's homes for things like water heaters or gas ranges, which is how this would work. Several of my neighbors generacs worked fine during the big freeze. 

[Brisketexan 103,515]

2 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

I'd considered this and I think it's different. The natural gas that froze was attempting to pipe it to the generation facilities, who couldn't then get electricity to the people. This was entirely different than it getting to people's homes for things like water heaters or gas ranges, which is how this would work. Several of my neighbors generacs worked fine during the big freeze. 

That wasn't the case everywhere.  A lot of the lines that froze were supply lines from wells and systems that did feed municipal/local supply.  Gas was constrained and ran out in several areas, IIRC, not just to power plants.

[tx 3 putt 75,235]

34 minutes ago, immamac said:

I'm gonna laugh so hard when the generacs using natgas don't work in the winter cuz the nat gas lines freeze. Not because it's funny but because the irony of the utility doing everything possible to make it impossible to use or generate your own electricity is par for the course. 

tri fuel generator is the way 

[Dahobbs 17,180]

10 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

tri fuel generator is the way 

solar + battery + backup tri fuel generator + large hamster wheel. Redundancy is key. 

[Hard Times 285]

2 hours ago, SydneyCarton said:

Becuase the post you sourced it from is SUPER political, and has an obvious political agenda, and is trying very hard to make it political. He also wasn't sharing other posts that linemen themselves posted. Those may exist, but this guy shared those videos himself, not just commenting on videos uploaded by linemen themselves. It's funny you say "why does everything have to be political" when the last sentence of the post YOU brought here is "Democrat-run cities are unsafe!"



 

 

 

I don't even have a twitter account so I wouldn't have seen that, I didn't click on it to see all the text. A friend of mine posted it elsewhere and I copied the url and pasted here. He's more liberal than me. I also don't have the time to research and find out what everyone's motivation is. Have a cow why don't you!!

Personally, when I see someone else do something like that I just move on. I don't have to attack people and make them feel bad to make myself feel superior. 

Edited July 16 by Hard Times

[wildcat09 28,486]

2 hours ago, wildcat09 said:

*posts insane rant about Democrats giving everyone fentanyl water*

"Why is everyone accusing me of being political?!?!"

 

[Dahobbs 17,180]

8 minutes ago, wildcat09 said:

*posts insane rant about Democrats giving everyone fentanyl water*

"Why is everyone accusing me of being political?!?!"

He 100% knew what was in the that post. 

[atomheartbevo 88,914]

2 hours ago, Willfully Horn said:

Fentanyl laced water? Seems fucky.

2 hours ago, Ted Lange said:

I wonder if he accidentally got high from the cocaine-laced snickers I gave his kids for Halloween.

All of us Gen Xers?  We’re actually not posting here.  We all died back in the 70s, 80s and 90s from all of the needles in tootsie rolls and razor blades in candy bars that we consumed while trick-or-treating, not to mention the cocaine that was inside of Pixy Stix.  Our posts are hallucinations of the Baby Boomers, Mormon Gen Xers who didn’t trick-or-treat and the in-betweeners that are desperately trying to keep the civilization going.

There are thousands of out-of-state linemen that came for Beryl.  Are we supposed to believe that one or two were somehow poisoned with fentanyl from water given to them by residents (you know, the residents who would like their fucking power back and therefore needed those linemen alive and on the job)?  Or should we think that maybe out of thousands of utility workers who found themselves bored off their asses and sitting in parking lots or hotel rooms while hopefully getting paid, that maybe one or two played with some drugs?  And let’s not kid ourselves, if you trucked in thousands of Americans from all walks-of-life and then had them sit in trucks in parking lots or hotel rooms bored off their asses, there’s going to be at least a couple who brought something to ease the boredom.

I notice that this guy doesn’t name names, like all good urban legends.

[mchookem 15,535]

11 minutes ago, Hard Times said:

Have a cow why don't you!!

ok i laughed

[Brisketexan 103,515]

6 minutes ago, wildcat09 said:

 

Fucking seriously.  It was an entirely political post, and the cherry on top was the insane allegation that someone gave out the totally real thing that absolutely exists: FENTANYL WATER.  And don't ask any questions as to "ummm....why in the hell would anyone do that?  If people even want and use fentanyl....why are they giving it away?  Wouldn't they prefer to ingest it themselves?  Might as well have said that "Antifa BLM MS-13 members gave out water laced with fentanyl and heroin and the cocaines and marihuana!"  Just use a tiny bit of scrutiny and your bullshit filter before passing shit on as if it was true.

[atomheartbevo 88,914]

2 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

Dude who can bend spoons with his mind.  Duh.

 

 

 

[Gatorubet 29,538]

43 minutes ago, Dahobbs said:

solar + battery + backup tri fuel generator + large hamster wheel. Redundancy is key. 

agree.  I am also a big advocate of not needing to power your entire home 24/7.    You need to keep your food frozen/chilled and have one place in your home with AC, be at a bedroom or a sleeper sofa semi-near your refrigerator freezer.    I rattle around my house and have four bedrooms I don’t use.  for Ida, I powered my kitchen den area and my bedroom. I eventually just slept in the den area.     

Obviously, if you have a ton of kids, that would be a different story, although having them sleep on sofas and blowup mattresses in one area would not scar them for life.  

All I’m saying is that it’s easier to power a small area of your home then pray that your 20k Generac powers your whole house

 

[Brisketexan 103,515]

2 minutes ago, Gatorubet said:

agree.  I am also a big advocate of not needing to power your entire home 24/7.    You need to keep your food frozen/chilled and have one place in your home with AC, be at a bedroom or a sleeper sofa semi-near your refrigerator freezer.    I rattle around my house and have four bedrooms I don’t use.  for Ida, I powered my kitchen den area and my bedroom. I eventually just slept in the den area.     

Obviously, if you have a ton of kids, that would be a different story, although having them sleep on sofas and blowup mattresses in one area would not scar them for life.  

All I’m saying is that it’s easier to power a small area of your home then pray that your 20k Generac powers your whole house

 

This is our approach with just a portable 3500W generator.  Granted, in Austin, it seems that we're much more likely to need it in the winter (we've been without power for nearly a week twice in two years, both during the winter).  Got the generator after the big freeze, used it after the ice storm.  It powered a heater in our bedroom, a lamp, and charged our phones -- enough to let us stay in our own house at night when it got pretty cold.  For perishables, my dad lives a few miles away, had power, and had decent fridge and freezer space, so we just shuttled a bunch of stuff over there for a few days.

If we lose power for a long time in the summer heat, however, our plan is insufficient.

[Schulz2.0 28,626]

1 hour ago, Dahobbs said:

solar + battery + backup tri fuel generator + large hamster wheel. Redundancy is key. 

https://www.acehardware.com/departments/heating-and-cooling/wood-and-pellet-stoves/stoves/4015919?x429=true&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIydDmxsWshwMVVyytBh00tw4LEAQYAyABEgJl7_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

[HouTex 1,838]

2 hours ago, SydneyCarton said:

I'd considered this and I think it's different. The natural gas that froze was attempting to pipe it to the generation facilities, who couldn't then get electricity to the people. This was entirely different than it getting to people's homes for things like water heaters or gas ranges, which is how this would work. Several of my neighbors generacs worked fine during the big freeze. 

Exactly.  There is an issue in some areas with a high number of natural gas generators going on at the same time.  It can cause a drop in the pressure necessary to maintain service.  Some areas also may not have gas lines large enough to supply the needed gas.  
 

edit.  And, of course, CP owns the gas lines.  

Edited July 16 by HouTex

[Hate 20,046]

1 hour ago, tx 3 putt said:

tri fuel generator is the way 

This is exactly what I am doing. I posted in the “grid failure” thread that I have already scheduled an electrician to install a 50 Amp connection that will power whatever I want in the house…just not simultaneously. I may need to get a soft start installed on my AC, but the 13kw to fuel I’m purchasing so be more than enough to power the downstairs. The whole solution should cost less than $4k. 

[Dahobbs 17,180]

4 minutes ago, Hate said:

This is exactly what I am doing. I posted in the “grid failure” thread that I have already scheduled an electrician to install a 50 Amp connection that will power whatever I want in the house…just not simultaneously. I may need to get a soft start installed on my AC, but the 13kw to fuel I’m purchasing so be more than enough to power the downstairs. The whole solution should cost less than $4k. 

Everyone should have a soft start anyway. 

[Brisketexan 103,515]

2 minutes ago, Dahobbs said:

Everyone should have a soft start anyway. 

At my age, that's more common than I'd like.

[tx 3 putt 75,235]

2 minutes ago, Dahobbs said:

Everyone should have a soft start anyway. 

what’s soft start ?

[Bevo 13,436]

2 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

what’s a soft start ?

 

a peck on the cheek.

[Dahobbs 17,180]

4 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

what’s soft start ?

Basically just a circuit and capacitor that protects the motor in your AC by limiting the current/voltage during initial startup. Has the added benefit of reducing the strain on small generators in meeting the higher initial startup demand of an AC.

Edited July 16 by Dahobbs

[YGIFS 19,445]

It's why when you come home from a trip, and had set the A/C to 90 or the Furnace to 50, you don't just turn the system back to 70 with a hard start.  It's horrible on the capacitor, too.  

[UT_OB1 2,197]

2 hours ago, Hard Times said:

I don't even have a twitter account so I wouldn't have seen that, I didn't click on it to see all the text. A friend of mine posted it elsewhere and I copied the url and pasted here. He's more liberal than me. I also don't have the time to research and find out what everyone's motivation is. Have a cow why don't you!!

Personally, when I see someone else do something like that I just move on. I don't have to attack people and make them feel bad to make myself feel superior. 

Maybe don’t post obvious bullshit that is politically slanted and try to pass it off as truth?  Then come back with the “oh I didn’t know I didn’t even check just reposting”. Fuck off

[Bevo&Pevo 4,923]

3 hours ago, immamac said:

I'm gonna laugh so hard when the generacs using natgas don't work in the winter cuz the nat gas lines freeze. Not because it's funny but because the irony of the utility doing everything possible to make it impossible to use or generate your own electricity is par for the course. 

Very unlikely that NG would freeze because it is mostly methane.  However, if the NG stream has any water molecules, well there's the problem.  

Found this today on Memorial Dr.  Yikes, you'd think the city would have done something with this one by now.

 

[Pato del Muerto 52,036]

Maybe it’s a…memorial

[InkaUtexas 24,932]

14 minutes ago, Bevo&Pevo said:

Very unlikely that NG would freeze because it is mostly methane.  However, if the NG stream has any water molecules, well there's the problem.  

Found this today on Memorial Dr.  Yikes, you'd think the city would have done something with this one by now.

 

Nah, it will be fine. Trees straighten up towards the sun don't ya know.

[hookemATL 11,503]

Just now, InkaUtexas said:

Nah, it will be fine. Trees straighten up towards the sun don't ya know.

Yep. Tree is just sippin that lean 

[Dahobbs 17,180]

28 minutes ago, Bevo&Pevo said:

Very unlikely that NG would freeze because it is mostly methane.  However, if the NG stream has any water molecules, well there's the problem.  

Found this today on Memorial Dr.  Yikes, you'd think the city would have done something with this one by now.

 

The mayor probably decided he needed to personally review the contract to get it done. 

[fattyflattie 4,633]

1 hour ago, Dahobbs said:

Everyone should have a soft start anyway. 

Went to post and you nailed it with the first post.  Don’t know why anyone wouldn’t have soft starts installed, generator or not.   So much smoother on the unit and something like $100 installed iirc. 

[davidg 4,015]

18 minutes ago, fattyflattie said:

Went to post and you nailed it with the first post.  Don’t know why anyone wouldn’t have soft starts installed, generator or not.   So much smoother on the unit and something like $100 installed iirc. 

If it’s only $100, then you’re not actually getting a soft starter.   That would probably be an extra capacitor and dropout relay to help the start winding.  
 

A true SS for a typical home AC  will be $350-500+  and will have SCR circuitry to limit inrush current.   That 5 ton AC that pulls 28a running might spike 65-70a or more during a normal across the line contactor startup.  A good SS can reduce that down to 35-40a which is much nicer for smaller KW rating generators.    MicroAir makes a popular SS for RV ACs and I noticed they have a SS for up to 6 ton home compressors.

[Post Oak 20,092]

Well I for one am shocked by this.

 

[Updawg 2,245]

Well I for one am shocked by this.
 

Nothing to see there I’m sure

[Storm the Field 5,254]

5 hours ago, Storm the Field said:

Still in a nested outage, but heard some scuttlebutt among neighbors about a half hour ago that there is finally some activity on the street north of me, which appears to be the source of the problem. Not 100% getting my hopes up just yet, but best news I've heard in a while.

Also lost power for several days and had pool pumps freeze and crack during Uri. After losing power for 6 days following the derecho, we decided "never again" and bit the bullet on a whole-home generator. Unfortunately, we didn't account for their being another massive outage less than 2 months later, before installation could be completed. Next freak storm though!!!!!!!!!!

Posting tonight from my home computer for the first time in 8.5 days. Power came back on sometime between when I left my office and pulled into my driveway around 6:30. All I was planning to do was pop in and pack a bag while sweating buckets and then head over to my brother's house for the night. Immediately hauled ass to go pick up my dogs from the kennel before the cutoff between daycare and overnight boarding.  Never been so happy to see a front porch light on in my life.

Just started a load of laundry with a shit-eating grin on my face. Still uncomfortably warm in the house, but it has already dropped from 85 to 80.

We ended up being in the final 3% of addresses without power before getting restored. I stayed optimistic and held up pretty well for the most part, but yesterday when we started getting the "maybe not until Friday" texts, it finally broke me. Spent the evening alternating between pissed and depressed. It is my fervent hope that I was the last Surly poster still in the dark. 

[Sawbonz 26,808]

7 hours ago, Hard Times said:

That's a bizarre question. I only posted a contractors experience and why he won't be coming back. I don't know why it would be political and why anyone would try to make it political. Why does everything have to be political?

Moron

[fattyflattie 4,633]

46 minutes ago, davidg said:

If it’s only $100, then you’re not actually getting a soft starter.   That would probably be an extra capacitor and dropout relay to help the start winding.  
 

A true SS for a typical home AC  will be $350-500+  and will have SCR circuitry to limit inrush current.   That 5 ton AC that pulls 28a running might spike 65-70a or more during a normal across the line contactor startup.  A good SS can reduce that down to 35-40a which is much nicer for smaller KW rating generators.    MicroAir makes a popular SS for RV ACs and I noticed they have a SS for up to 6 ton home compressors.

Yeah I don’t remember but know I didn’t pay  that much, I don’t think.  I know it went from the units making a horrible sound when they’d spin up to something that sounded easy.  I only put them on as a suggestion to limp the units along a bit longer and they was ~4-5 years ago now.  Will definitely look into the “real” soft starts when I replace the units. 

[Mez2 4,013]

My wife's vet clinic is still without power, they're in Oak Forest off TC Jester, near 610. Latest is not until Friday will they get their shit back. Fortunately, they don't have boarding for clients anymore but the response from them is as demanding as you can imagine with prescriptions and other pet related issues. 

Ugh. 

[PTINS 3,420]

4 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

That wasn't the case everywhere.  A lot of the lines that froze were supply lines from wells and systems that did feed municipal/local supply.  Gas was constrained and ran out in several areas, IIRC, not just to power plants.

1 hour ago, Bevo&Pevo said:

Very unlikely that NG would freeze because it is mostly methane.  However, if the NG stream has any water molecules, well there's the problem.  

Gas Processing 101:
 

An oil and/or gas well produces a mix of oil, gas and water, and other impurities, the"blood, guts & feathers." 

The impurities are removed and the hydrocarbons separated at different stages in the processing chain, with safety, synergies and economies of scale being the primary considerations. The purity products consumed by end use customers are separated at various points in the value chain, with the value of the products increasing though the process.

The first separation is at or near the wellhead, separating the well stream into oil, water & gas (3 phase separator).

The "natural gas"that is separated at the wellhead is saturated with water vapor, and is a combination of hydrocarbons, primarily methane, smaller quantities of light and heavier hydrocarbons, as well as other impurities, usually carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrogen sulfide(H2S).

The natural gas is aggregated until there is enough volume to efficiently dehydrate the gas (remove the water), which is done as early in the processing chain as practical (well battery, compressor station, or processing plant).

The CO2 and H2S are corrosive and dangerous, (H2S is fatal in concentrations measured in parts per million). They are usually removed at the Gas Processing Plant, where the lighter methane is separated from the the other heavier Natural Gas Liquids (NGL).

The Residue Gas ( 95+% methane) at the tailgate of the plant is what is consumed as fuel or feedstock by industrial and residential consumers. Though this end use product is the interface with people, 99.9% of any disruptions in the gas supply chain happen upstream of the gas processing plants in the producing area, well away from the consumer base.  Digging equipment hitting a buried pipeline, or a ruptured pipeline, would be the exception.

During the great freeze, some gas processing plants, and other upstream facilities lost power, either intentionally cut off or through normal circumstances (The ocean of West Texas oil production is heavily dependent on the forest of wind mill power generation). 

A common sensical answer would be that individual people needed electricity over industrial customers, especially oil & gas companies. Flip a switch, shut them off, easy peasy.

But wait. Ironically, Gas Processing Plants and compressor stations use large electric motors and are big power consumers. No power means no gas processing and no gas supply. Ok. Flip the switch back.

Shutting a plant down shuts down everything behind it, the compressor stations, pipelines, and de-hy facilities, all the way back to the wellhead. You no longer have warm saturated gas moving though a pipeline, you have static gas lines that cool, form hydrates (frozen gaseous ice-plugs) in the pipelines, and everything is dead in the water, for which there is no easy fix.  Why don't they winterize their facilities? Heat tracing requires electric power.

FAFO. Hard to get that toothpaste back in the tube.

I would think the new home generator sets would have a reliable source of natural gas.

But I would also think Houston fucking Texas has a reliable means of supplying electricity to the common folks. 

[Updawg 2,245]

So should we all start drilling our own wells and make mini refineries in our backyards.

[atomheartbevo 88,914]

1 hour ago, Mez2 said:

My wife's vet clinic is still without power, they're in Oak Forest off TC Jester, near 610. Latest is not until Friday will they get their shit back. Fortunately, they don't have boarding for clients anymore  

Did Beryl take care of that?

[billfromlaketravis 11,286]

First day back in the office today. A shit ton of water got in the walls and on to the floor. Old ass windows at height have to be to blame. Horizontal rain will find cracks. 

Oh well some boxes full of junk got wet and I got sections of new carpet and sheetrock. Hopefully the dehumidifiers are gone tomorrow because it was louder than shit all day.

[Storm the Field 5,254]

10 hours ago, billfromlaketravis said:

First day back in the office today. A shit ton of water got in the walls and on to the floor. Old ass windows at height have to be to blame. Horizontal rain will find cracks. 

Oh well some boxes full of junk got wet and I got sections of new carpet and sheetrock. Hopefully the dehumidifiers are gone tomorrow because it was louder than shit all day.

All of our first floor window offices had water come in through the floor to ceiling windows, but apparently not bad enough to rip out carpet. Building had those damn dehumidifier fans running 24 hours a day from Tuesday morning through Friday night. The noise made it impossible to get anything done.  Fortunately we had some extra space on a different floor so i was able to temporarily relocate and moved back in to my normal office yesterday morning.  

[texasdago 7,389]

6 minutes ago, Storm the Field said:

All of our first floor window offices had water come in through the floor to ceiling windows, but apparently not bad enough to rip out carpet. Building had those damn dehumidifier fans running 24 hours a day from Tuesday morning through Friday night. The noise made it impossible to get anything done.  Fortunately we had some extra space on a different floor so i was able to temporarily relocate and moved back in to my normal office yesterday morning.  

Our neighbors in Austin have a house in Port A.  After Harvey, they went down and saw that the house looked relatively unscathed until they realized that the water had been forced through the siding and gotten inside.  Water finds a way.