Been an interesting week of freeze no power and water

[Ironbuilt]

C'Mon guys, play nice. This thread can help us make sure our fellow members are okay.

 

[SattyNoCar]

still only Cranky posting here 'from Texas'

Sorry I'm late to the party!

I live not too far from Cranky. I'm back in an apt after almost 17 yrs in a house. No power for almost 4 days with reduced water pressure. I was shocked, but not surprised how fast this place got cold. It went from 73 to 46 in less than three hours.

The next morning, I walked to the front of the complex and found this......

Once the roads cleared some, I bailed on my place and went and stayed with my Mother at her apt. Her place never went below 60. I had told her to fill the tub, and she took it a few steps further and filled any bucket she could find. By dumb luck, the Friday before things went sideways, I stocked up on my usual supply of water, not even thinking about the coming storm, so we had plenty of water. I have a Colman propane burner and we used that sparingly to heat up food. Over three days, the power at her place came on maybe 5 times, but never more than 20 minutes. The water never came on until full power came back.

The roughest part of the whole thing was that there basically was no internet when the power was out, so we were feeling a bit cut off. I need to get a portable radio.

The power at my place was off for almost four days. The power was on when I came back but it hadn't been on long. My freezer had completely thawed out, but before I left, I had put all my cold food in an outside closet the apt has.

I'm originally from MA, I moved here (in part) because I didn't want to deal with this nonsense anymore! Thankfully, this type of extreme cold is rare around here. We got thru this unscathed, no pipes broke, just inconvenienced for a few days.

Now the question is, how long is it gonna take for the grocery stores to get fully stocked again? I went out last night to pick up a few things and see just how bad the stores were, and they were as expected. But, I managed to get what I needed, so I'm good for awhile.

I hope everyone else, in Texas or not, got thru this alright, and you got no damage or very little.

This is the LAST time I want to take one of these pics of my truck!

Take care everyone.

 

[Ironbuilt]

This happens all over all Nation and been this way for awhile at least the last 7-8 years that I know of... Some people have their electric set-up like variable rate mortgages when it's low it's great but when it's high not so much..... I have a friend who passed a few years ago.. His house is set-up for geothermal and when the temps dropped one winter and they had to use their electric heat his bill skyrocketed. He was paying under $100 a month year round for a 5 bedroom large home. When the electric came on to heat since it was single digits and only in the low teens for the highs. They "pro rated" his usage according to his plan which resulted in 2 months of electric bills that were over $1200 a month...
This should stop the False Narrative of deregulation..

A variable-rate electricity plan is just what it sounds like – the rate you pay for electricity can vary from one month to the next. These rate changes are usually caused by changes in how much it costs to generate and deliver electricity.
What is a Variable Rate Electricity Plan? | First Choice Power

I know that Duke energy here in N.C. has that same deal. My wife wanted to sign up for it and I told her not to. I know how that scam works. They give you an "average" payment, until something happens to interrupt the "average", then they hammer you.

 

[steve from staten island]

Easy Steve, let's just make sure that our fellow members from Texas are alive and well.

Nothing I want more....Its just the way Texas runs their system. Getting back to the discussion,,,from what I was told weather like this hasn't been a issue for so long nobody could see it coming but think of it as Texas is alone by itself,.,, Power plants had to disconnect before loads tripped them and thats what at least saved some of the state... Texas as far as I know cant get power from outside of the state

 

[Ironbuilt]

Nothing I want more....Its just the way Texas runs their system. Getting back to the discussion,,,from what I was told weather like this hasn't been a issue for so long nobody could see it coming but think of it as Texas is alone by itself,.,, Power plants had to disconnect before loads tripped them and thats what at least saved some of the state... Texas as far as I know cant get power from outside of the state

It didn't help that windmills froze solid and there was no sun for the solar farms. I believe that 30% of Texas power comes from wind/solar.

 

[QuickBpBp]

I was banned too, is that how you feel about me? Just ignore him.

He is on ignore now.. For some reason when he came back from vacation it was reset like I did not ignore him... As far as how I feel about you I guess it depends on why you were banned??? I don't know what you did. Are you saying there was no reason? You can PM me that no reason to post here and ruin the OP's thread further...

 

[steve from staten island]

I know that Duke energy here in N.C. has that same deal. My wife wanted to sign up for it and I told her not to. I know how that scam works. They give you an "average" payment, until something happens to interrupt the "average", then they hammer you.

I agree thats what they do and I also agree it sucks but I dont think thats what happened in Texas hence my red X to the crybaby. The provider is paying though the nose now and passing kilowatt hour charges

 

[Ironbuilt]

Sorry I'm late to the party!

I live not too far from Cranky. I'm back in an apt after almost 17 yrs in a house. No power for almost 4 days with reduced water pressure. I was shocked, but not surprised how fast this place got cold. It went from 73 to 46 in less than three hours.

View attachment 1073096

The next morning, I walked to the front of the complex and found this......

View attachment 1073097

Once the roads cleared some, I bailed on my place and went and stayed with my Mother at her apt. Her place never went below 60. I had told her to fill the tub, and she took it a few steps further and filled any bucket she could find. By dumb luck, the Friday before things went sideways, I stocked up on my usual supply of water, not even thinking about the coming storm, so we had plenty of water. I have a Colman propane burner and we used that sparingly to heat up food. Over three days, the power at her place came on maybe 5 times, but never more than 20 minutes. The water never came on until full power came back.

The roughest part of the whole thing was that there basically was no internet when the power was out, so we were feeling a bit cut off. I need to get a portable radio.

The power at my place was off for almost four days. The power was on when I came back but it hadn't been on long. My freezer had completely thawed out, but before I left, I had put all my cold food in an outside closet the apt has.

I'm originally from MA, I moved here (in part) because I didn't want to deal with this nonsense anymore! Thankfully, this type of extreme cold is rare around here. We got thru this unscathed, no pipes broke, just inconvenienced for a few days.

Now the question is, how long is it gonna take for the grocery stores to get fully stocked again? I went out last night to pick up a few things and see just how bad the stores were, and they were as expected. But, I managed to get what I needed, so I'm good for awhile.

View attachment 1073098

I hope everyone else, in Texas or not, got thru this alright, and you got no damage or very little.

This is the LAST time I want to take one of these pics of my truck!

View attachment 1073099

Take care everyone.

Glad to hear that you and your Mom are okay @satilite73

 

[steve from staten island]

He is on ignore now.. For some reason when he came back from vacation it was reset like I did not ignore him... As far as how I feel about you I guess it depends on why you were banned??? I don't know what you did. Are you saying there was no reason? You can PM me that no reason to post here and ruin the OP's thread further...

. Thank God

 

[Ironbuilt]

He is on ignore now.. For some reason when he came back from vacation it was reset like I did not ignore him... As far as how I feel about you I guess it depends on why you were banned??? I don't know what you did. Are you saying there was no reason? You can PM me that no reason to post here and ruin the OP's thread further...

I have nothing to hide. I was banned for attacking the Liberals in the PF, and for daring Joey to ban me. He did, and I deserved it.

 

[QuickBpBp]

I know that Duke energy here in N.C. has that same deal. My wife wanted to sign up for it and I told her not to. I know how that scam works. They give you an "average" payment, until something happens to interrupt the "average", then they hammer you.

Exactly they are in it to make money and sometimes LOTS of it and normally when a catastrophe strikes... Gives them consistent pay then a massive bonus then back to consistent pay.. That "program" has been around for awhile and is Nationwide...

 

[mopar 3 B]

I piled up some water (got a bunch of buckets from a pool supply this summer) for the 'turlets' just in case and am working on getting a couple of new gens. Really can't afford it but it's cheaper than letting the house freeze up an me (P dogs too) trying to llive in freezing temps.

P dogs are not large enough for a one dog night are they.

 

[sam dupont]

Don't forget the 40 or 50 gallons of water in your water heater.

 

[dadsbee]

Don't forget the 40 or 50 gallons of water in your water heater.

And remember to turn the breaker off that feeds it before you borrow the water !!

 

[Ironbuilt]

Don't forget the 40 or 50 gallons of water in your water heater.

I agree. 1 1/2 gallons of water will force flush a toilet. My truck has a 6000 watt 16.5 HP Kubota diesel generator, thanks @Roger63 and will run my whole house in an emergency.

 

[sam dupont]

6K is a lot in a truck, but it's amazing how you have to ration that number in a house. Using the washer and dryer at the same time would be too much.

 

[steve from staten island]

Ive read were not all power generating plants in Texas tripped off line because of freezing temps. Some had to open feeds or all would have been tripped, plunging the entire state into darkness
In worked operations when the blackout in NYC happened. I was in the control board and watched as plants tripped. Our plant tried to keep up, the mega watts kept rising and our two units tripped....the entire plant went pitch black...We lost the seals on the generators and hydrogen leaked out of the seals... We were at max generation and I scrambled to back out ever gun in the boiler as it was all manual in one plant back then
Emergency generators came on...We lite off the small donkey boiler to make steam and began getting the plant on line again.
We got the boilers lite and making steam, had the turbine running but we couldnt go online as substations were still in trouble
There is a lot of factors going on in Texas and they are going to have to make changes and of course be prepared if weather like this ever happens again
Thats the points I was trying to make before some idiot chimed in

 

[mopar 3 B]

Im not sure but it seems to be true...Its not the provider milking customers, its the providing having to pay very high rates and having to pass that cost on to the consumer....Its being looked into to try and provide help to people to pay insanely high bills
Ive worked for electric utilities and I know people who worked and are knowledgable in this field.
Texas is on their own grid, they wanted it this way, they want no federal regulations. There system failed because of unseen weather conditions

Not all of Texas. A portion of the North is in a collective that goes all the way to Canada. We had roving outages here to make sure the grids in Oklahoma and that part of north Texas never went completely dark. If their power stations had gone down it would take lots longer to restore power to the grids. Someone needs to pay for that inconvenience.
Our bill here will also be larger but not on count of rate increases. We had two days I know the furnace never shut down and the propane tank took a beating.
We just got the water fully restored today our selves. Spent the last four days repairing frozen line breaks after 3 days of frozen lines. Most of it could have been prevented if I had known the heat tape to the main line was not working.

 

[Ironbuilt]

Ive read were not all power generating plants in Texas tripped off line because of freezing temps. Some had to open feeds or all would have been tripped, plunging the entire state into darkness
In worked operations when the blackout in NYC happened. I was in the control board and watched as plants tripped. Our plant tried to keep up, the mega watts kept rising and our two units tripped....the entire plant went pitch black...We lost the seals on the generators and hydrogen leaked out of the seals... We were at max generation and I scrambled to back out ever gun in the boiler as it was all manual in one plant back then
Emergency generators came on...We lite off the small donkey boiler to make steam and began getting the plant on line again.
We got the boilers lite and making steam, had the turbine running but we couldnt go online as substations were still in trouble
There is a lot of factors going on in Texas and they are going to have to make changes and of course be prepared if weather like this ever happens again
Thats the points I was trying to make before some idiot chimed in

The blackout of 77 was infamous!! I remember as a little kid, my mother was listening to 102.7 FM and they managed to broadcast through the entire blackout. Memories!!

 

[Ironbuilt]

6K is a lot in a truck, but it's amazing how you have to ration that number in a house. Using the washer and dryer at the same time would be too much.

That generator ran my house when we lost power last week for 3 days. That APU (Alternative Power Unit) is a beast!! It keeps me warm in the winter, cool in the summer and saves me thousands in fuel. Thanks again @Roger63