IT'S FRIGGIN COOOOOLDDD!!!!

[AApple]

Heat wave goin on now...it's 22F w/11f wind chills. Have been without power at the house for several days, but have it now....or did when I left. At the shop right now for the first time this week. This "storm" is something Texas has NEVER seen before....EVER! Lots of folks in dire straights....
Texas is NOT ok right now!
Reporting's from the police scanner↓
Apartment buildings with burst pipes, water damage so severe the roofs have collapsed.
More accidents than officers and EMS can keep up with.
House fires
No power for hours at a time, some haven't had power for several days now.
Elderly without their oxygen
Hundreds of THOUSANDS are freezing
Calls for help from those that have found frozen/near lifeless bodies under blankets outside
Wind turbines are frozen
Power lines are down from Ice
Power stations have frozen pipes and aren’t able to operate.
Cities without water supply all together
TEXAS has NEVER had lows below ZERO before.
No fleets of salt or plow trucks.. It’s impossible for the cities to have predicted the demand for salt and sand to this extent and cities are cashed out. There is no way to clear the roads. The roads are solid ICE and impassable! Texas already had “snow day” January 10th and used majority of sand/salt supply on the roads to clear for those few days.
The houses are not designed for this and nobody is prepared for this type of weather in Texas.
Many hotels are unavailable to stay they are either all booked or pipes bursting and one hotel had set off all the sprinkler systems- severe water damage and they had to evacuate.
I know people who were stuck at a freezing airport. No Uber’s or taxis transporting. Hotels loosing power and are completely booked up.

 

[mcgovern61]

WOW! My heart goes out to all of those folks. Ice and cold is very difficult to deal with when power is lost. Up here in the Northeast, this is ordinary winter weather. But in an area like Texas that does not normally have winter like this, it is almost impossible to prepare for.

The amount of burst pipes and collapsing roofs will only be the beginning. When that ice melts, it will be as though all of those building have been through a flood. The water damage (and mold that follows) will be tremendous.

There is no easy way out even when power is restored! Hang in there and stay as warm as you can Joel!

 

[dan filipi]

Wow! Make what little problems we have in Cali very petty.

Be careful Joel.

 

[joedrum]

Hmmm I'm surprised you got to the shop I'm hearing all kinds of things went on on Texas and the govenor calling most of the power problems sabotage ..no telling w hats all in play there ..but for sure Biden's predicted dark winter is diffinitly happening to Texas

 

[skiri251]

Amazing... How can you stay warm w/o power? Propane?
Hope you have good camping gear.

 

[DaveKamp]

Hat is off to you, Joel- accept our prayers, and stay calm, tend to the basics, as it'll pass. Cleanup will kinda be like a hurricane.

I've been coaching my southern buddies on how to 'harden' their homes for this sort of thing, alas, the best way would've been to teleport myself there BACKWARDS in time by a few days, to all those locations, and walk up and down the street, setting up everyone prior to the arctic blast.

It's difficult to 'sell' a sociologic on preparation for something that they've never seen... and for obvious reasons- how can one be prepared for something they haven't experienced, and cannot relate to?

It's like an Iowegan like myself, being able to conceptualize the sustained high-speed winds of a hurricane... save for the fact that I've been through those sorts of things (and some nasty tornados, and last summer's derecho)... but I would not expect my neighbors to be quick to adapt to say... an Arizona basin dust-storm... or a Kansas prairie fire... or a pacific-rim earthquake.

Man is strong, yet foolish. Strong, be he able to hold back water, be it liquid or solid, from parts of his domain, but foolish to think himself strong enough to be master of that compound's realm. As surfers say, one must adapt to be WITH the waves, not fighting AGAINST them. Stupid cold, and heat waves, clear skies and clouds, calm and gale, we adapt to all, or suffer greatly.

 

[DaveKamp]

skiri251 » 11 minutes ago[/url]":39rtscr9]
Amazing... How can you stay warm w/o power? Propane?

Being 'ahead' of the situation is the biggest part, but first and foremost, when the power is going out, having ANY source of power option is better than none... having foresight, some are much better, but use what one can, and use it wisely.

A barbeque grille to cook dinner, heat up a can of recovered bacon fat, soak an old cotton sock twisted into a wick... and you have a slow-burning heat source useful for many things... a little stinky, but not particularly dangerous...

The difficult part, is that water systems down there are NOT 'hardened' against freeze. My well feeder lines are below our frost depth by over two feet... and they enter the basement at that depth, so even with no power, we'll not have frozen water supply piping... and THIS is the part that'll hurt 'em the most. When water freezes, it assumes a crystalline structure GREATER than it's liquid volume... it expands, and the force by which that occurs, is 117,000 PSI. This fractures pipes, and crushes the internals of valves, meters, regulators...

If someone can't protect it from freezing, they need to swiftly remove the water from any exposed pipes... easy for us, we do it all the time, but not for someone who hasn't done it before.

Damage control STARTS by taking as much action as one can PRIOR to really bad stuff happening. Afterwards, DC is taking actions to prevent the immediate degradation of already-affected assets so as to prevent further damage... like capping off damaged plumbing, drying out stuff that's been drenched, etc.

Most people never live amidst this kind of thing, so it's difficult to relate. It takes a certain mindframe... like combat... :help:

 

[skiri251]

DaveKamp » Thu Feb 18, 2021 1:48 pm[/url]":fcbhtiq6]

skiri251 » 11 minutes ago[/url]":fcbhtiq6]
Amazing... How can you stay warm w/o power? Propane?

Being 'ahead' of the situation is the biggest part, but first and foremost, when the power is going out, having ANY source of power option is better than none... having foresight, some are much better, but use what one can, and use it wisely.

A barbeque grille to cook dinner, heat up a can of recovered bacon fat, soak an old cotton sock twisted into a wick... and you have a slow-burning heat source useful for many things... a little stinky, but not particularly dangerous...

The difficult part, is that water systems down there are NOT 'hardened' against freeze. My well feeder lines are below our frost depth by over two feet... and they enter the basement at that depth, so even with no power, we'll not have frozen water supply piping... and THIS is the part that'll hurt 'em the most. When water freezes, it assumes a crystalline structure GREATER than it's liquid volume... it expands, and the force by which that occurs, is 117,000 PSI. This fractures pipes, and crushes the internals of valves, meters, regulators...

If someone can't protect it from freezing, they need to swiftly remove the water from any exposed pipes... easy for us, we do it all the time, but not for someone who hasn't done it before.

Damage control STARTS by taking as much action as one can PRIOR to really bad stuff happening. Afterwards, DC is taking actions to prevent the immediate degradation of already-affected assets so as to prevent further damage... like capping off damaged plumbing, drying out stuff that's been drenched, etc.

Most people never live amidst this kind of thing, so it's difficult to relate. It takes a certain mindframe... like combat... :help:

I grew up in cold enough climate so I have experiences of water pipe frozen and burst. But back then, our country houses were really basic. No flush toilets, no central heating. The only plumbing was for kitchen sink and came directly from outside through outer wall. So bursting didn't cause major water damage. Back then, we either kept water dripping from faucet at night or when it's going to get really cold, closed "no-freeze" valve which drains water from vulnarable part of plumbing.

But when I lived in NY, I forgot all about it. Obviously NY plumbing are designed for freezing winter but I wonder what happens if NY loses power. Aren't they dependent on electric heater to keep plumbing from freezing?

 

[dan filipi]

All this cold is making Cali look better. At the moment I’m glad I live here. Probably be different next week.

 

[desertrefugee]

Arizona ain’t so bad right about now either.

Best wishes and warm thoughts to all of those affected in Texas and elsewhere.

 

[DaveKamp]

Skiri asked:

But when I lived in NY, I forgot all about it. Obviously NY plumbing are designed for freezing winter but I wonder what happens if NY loses power. Aren't they dependent on electric heater to keep plumbing from freezing?

NY, and most any other state north of the Ohio/Mississippi river confluence, protects water by having it all subterranian greater than frost depth. Officially, our county identifies 'frost depth' at 42 inches, but in reality, I've found frost penetration to well beyond 60, so MY critical water undergrounds are down 72"... and at that depth, it's basically 54F year round. I've got some irrigation feeders that are much shallower, but I blow them clear with compressed air around mid October. I even have an air feeder setup from my air compressor system so that in literally 10 minutes, I can throw two valves, walk to the farthest spigot, open it, then walk backwards to open every other, and they'll be ready for whatever winter can throw... basically, because it can go from 72 and sunshine, to -15F in a matter of just a few hours here.

There are SOME situations where houses were built with their water supply plumbing for say... kitchen and bathroom... built into an exterior wall. Of course, the walls are insulated, but that doesn't necessarily prevent a substantial heat loss from plumbing. Most well-hardened homes (ours included) don't have any supply or drain lines within 10 feet of any exterior wall... mine are all WELL within the heated envelope, so basically, impervious to any outside circumstance. Even if we were to lose power, and have the heating system totally shut down, the house's starting temp of 73F, with our insulation factors allowing a 1 degree F drop per hour (at -35F), would mean that I'd have nothing to worry about for at least 41 hours... and if I had a fully charged well tank, and I left the faucets dripping, it'd go for another 40 hours and STILL not have frozen water pipes... as the basement (where the water supply is) is actually about 8 degrees warmer than the main and upper floor... and the piping would STILL be warmed enough (by drip flow) to not freeze...

But that just doesn't happen here. I have two 1000-gallon propane tanks, and four different sizes of generating plants in my gen-shed... the inter-building feeders are all underground, so nothing short of being flattened by a direct EF4 will take us down.

 

[Ohara]

Hope it warms up soon. Winter weather is not fun when you are used to it.

 

[skiri251]

DaveKamp » Fri Feb 19, 2021 12:50 am[/url]":34xzx246]
Skiri asked:

But when I lived in NY, I forgot all about it. Obviously NY plumbing are designed for freezing winter but I wonder what happens if NY loses power. Aren't they dependent on electric heater to keep plumbing from freezing?

NY, and most any other state north of the Ohio/Mississippi river confluence, protects water by having it all subterranian greater than frost depth. Officially, our county identifies 'frost depth' at 42 inches, but in reality, I've found frost penetration to well beyond 60, so MY critical water undergrounds are down 72"... and at that depth, it's basically 54F year round. I've got some irrigation feeders that are much shallower, but I blow them clear with compressed air around mid October. I even have an air feeder setup from my air compressor system so that in literally 10 minutes, I can throw two valves, walk to the farthest spigot, open it, then walk backwards to open every other, and they'll be ready for whatever winter can throw... basically, because it can go from 72 and sunshine, to -15F in a matter of just a few hours here.

There are SOME situations where houses were built with their water supply plumbing for say... kitchen and bathroom... built into an exterior wall. Of course, the walls are insulated, but that doesn't necessarily prevent a substantial heat loss from plumbing. Most well-hardened homes (ours included) don't have any supply or drain lines within 10 feet of any exterior wall... mine are all WELL within the heated envelope, so basically, impervious to any outside circumstance. Even if we were to lose power, and have the heating system totally shut down, the house's starting temp of 73F, with our insulation factors allowing a 1 degree F drop per hour (at -35F), would mean that I'd have nothing to worry about for at least 41 hours... and if I had a fully charged well tank, and I left the faucets dripping, it'd go for another 40 hours and STILL not have frozen water pipes... as the basement (where the water supply is) is actually about 8 degrees warmer than the main and upper floor... and the piping would STILL be warmed enough (by drip flow) to not freeze...

But that just doesn't happen here. I have two 1000-gallon propane tanks, and four different sizes of generating plants in my gen-shed... the inter-building feeders are all underground, so nothing short of being flattened by a direct EF4 will take us down.

Okay, so even refuges from tropics who know nothing about cold weather don't have to worry about anything. LOL

"two 1000-gallon propane tanks"

WOW

 

[detdrbuzzard]

i was just on FB ( sunday ) asking my niece how her family was holding out, her job has her in VA. but her husband and kids are in Huston

 

[julimike54]

Well I consider us one of the lucky???? Power went out Monday 3 am, it returned 51 hours later and has stayed on, so far. The coldest official temp was -2, but that's not the coldest it's ever been. 1899 it was -8, 1989 we tied three records of negative temperature. This is not unheard of here, but the power fiasco is worse than it's ever been and that's after 2011 "revamp", had lot's of outages then. I set faucets to running slow and the temp in the house never fell below 48 (thank goodness). A neighbor took us in for the time the power was off. I'll know the real water damage (ie broken stuff) either today of tomorrow as temps are to be above freezing, finally. Roads are melting and refreezing over night causing traffic issues. I'm so done with this.....

 

[DaveKamp]

"I'm so done with this...." :smilie_happy: :smilie_happy:

Two 1000-gallon tanks...

Yeah... this used to be a very successful dairy farm... they had one tank dedicated to house heat and hot water, the other tank was piped to two 26x35ft grain drying/storage bins. The bins are no longer economically beneficial (they're too small) so they're empty, power and fuel disconnected. I'll be turning them into workshop buildings ;-) But the second propane tank has been plumbed into the first, so I have twice the fuel capacity avail to the house now. Makes it nice to have plenty of reserve capacity on hand. k:

 

[AApple]

Almost kinda sorta back to "normal" around here now. We went without power for 3 days all-together, and in the process of the power going on/off we lost our ATT service...apparently fried the modem, so no tv/net/phones.....just to make not having any HEAT more exciting. Got down to 43f in the house at one point....brrr! At least we dint hafta worry aboot the crap n the refridgedeezer goin bad....lol. Went out and fired up the truck and Mama's car several times to keep them operational, but the truck popped a lower raditater hose...just blew the hose apart, but it was an old hose with a bad spot in it anyway. Still had antifreeze in it at the time, but wasnt able to do a damn thing aboot it until the weather warmed up above freezing, which I think was Friday.
At the shop right now with net service....but had SEVERAL pipes pop over the course of the past week. Got them all taken care of now tho. Thankfully we dint have any pipes blow at the house...that I know of. Lucked out on that, for sure. Left the water running slow in all of the fixtures, but even with that, the cold water to the kitchen sick froze. I went to Lowes and got a small propane torch, and was just about ready to craw down the hole into the crawl space(pier & beam house) to see if i could heat the line up, and...the water just started flowing out of the faucet!! Whew!! I sure dint wanna be crawlin around under the house with a bad back, tryin to fix a busted water line...in below freezing temps.
Now just waiting on our modem to show up from ATT so we can get service back on and watch some tv, and play on the net. weather today is PERFECT!! Sun is out, boids is sangin, roads are clear....hallabalooya!!! arty: :clapping:

This is the kind of weather our parents had to walk to skool in...barefoot....uphill....both ways....lol

 

[skiri251]

Glad you only had minimal damage.

> no tv/net/phones

Good old reading books. I guess. LOL

 

[AApple]

skiri251 » Mon Feb 22, 2021 1:38 pm[/url]":3e42ox6b]
Good old reading books. I guess. LOL

Yup!!! Lottsa doin that!! :read:

 

[AApple]

Glad you guys made it thru Mike. That mess was unreal, for sure. Hope we NEVER have weather like that again!!