worth1 wrote: ↑Tue Feb 16, 2021 11:41 am I heard an interview where the guy reported that there was a cold weather package/option they chose not to get for the wind power generators.

My employer makes components for wind power. We have delivered a lot to China and most or our equipment there has heaters installed. One year one of our engineers was doing measurements in a wind power plant close to Urumchi in China and he had to use a hair dryer to heat the oscilloscope to make measurements from a working turbine.

It's right on top of me.
Predicted possible an inch of ice.
Not believing what I read.

svalli wrote: ↑Wed Feb 17, 2021 12:40 am

worth1 wrote: ↑Tue Feb 16, 2021 11:41 am I heard an interview where the guy reported that there was a cold weather package/option they chose not to get for the wind power generators.

My employer makes components for wind power. We have delivered a lot to China and most or our equipment there has heaters installed. One year one of our engineers was doing measurements in a wind power plant close to Urumchi in China and he had to use a hair dryer to heat the oscilloscope to make measurements from a working turbine.

Yeah my equipment it out in the truck probably frozen.

It is literally pouring down rain outside.
Too dark to see what's going on but I need to see what the road looks like.
Millions of people still without power across Texas.
Can't stream my radio station and I have no TV because I shut it down a long time ago.
Around 7:00 last night one of the head city of Bastrop water department guys knocked on my door.
He came to my house because he knows I monitor the water pressure in my area.
He asked what the pressure was because they are losing a thousand gallons a minute and can't figure out where it is.
He also informed me to keep watch for a boil water notice.
That's all we need is a busted water main and a house fire happen.
My water pressure is fine so far.

We are currently at 8deg outside this morning with 2-4 inches of snow/ice combination due tonight. We still have power. The supply line to our farm along with my neighbors up the road was actually moved/replaced last summer for better access. Our farm is the last one on the line. The old power line used to drop over the hill behind our house and seemed to go out every time the wind blew with any force.
My heart goes out to you guys in Texas. We have over a 100,000 without power in eastern Ky. but the millions in Texas without power is a staggering number.

Raining here, around 40 degrees. Wind coming off the Gulf of Mexico enough to keep a little pocket of territory above freezing. I understand from WU it is freezing rain 50-75 more miles inland.

We have not lost power at all not for a second which puts us in the tinniest of fractions of Texans. We might be getting some powerless zero electricity refugees, assorted scattered family, here at the house at some point, but who is to say we won’t lose power then? I suspect something is on our grid that demands uninterrupted service and I believe I know what it is, but that’s just my guess as to why we still have power. Most of the rest of town has no electricity including almost the entire business district. No grocery stores open, no fast food. One part of town did have electricity yesterday afternoon, Jack in the Box and Raising Cane’s and the drive thru lines were like nothing I’ve ever seen. Lowe’s had power for a time and I was able to get pool salt and a square shovel to help bust up and melt an inch of super slick solid ice from a commercial walkway, seems sort of pointless now since no one can open up anyway.

Daughter the nurse is living in her hospital until Friday as part of the deal of employment. But, since she has mostly not had power anyway, I think living on a cot at the hospital with the lights on beats a freezing cold and dark apartment. Son the policeman may also be living at the station when not out on patrol, not exactly sure of the state of affairs. Previously, he was bouncing around to places with power, but it’s now impossible to understand when and where the power will be on or off and for how long.

Wife the state farm insurance agent has had the system crash so that the many thousands that want to initiate claims cannot. That too something to do with the statewide power disruptions. Lots of busted pipes and flooded homes. People left powerless homes to go somewhere with power and the freeze broken pipes thawed yesterday when things got briefly above freezing, voila, flooded home. Turn off your water folks if you leave. Sub freezing temperatures and no heat in a home guarantee frozen pipes and frozen pipes almost guarantee broken pipes and broken pipes guarantee water will come into the house.

Cannot have a modern functioning society without abundant always on power.

My neighbor opened his garage door during the coldest part of the weather.
He lives with my neighbor lady that is his mother.
The garage as well as mine were built back when you didn't have to put up drywall.
When I bought this place I insulated the walls and attic in the garage and put up drywall.
One of my neighbors told me that I probably had the only house around that had an insulated garage.
Well it has paid off many times.
This event is one of then.
Due to the neighbors house not being insulated and him opening up the garage door he now has a water on his washing machine.
My garage never got below about 37 degrees.
When it got that cold right before I went to bed I pumped hot air into it to warm it back up.
I don't mind doing plumbing but on my terms not out of emergencies in freezing cold weather.
One thing I am concerned about is my irrigation reduced pressure value.
It has heat trace a cold weather drip value and wrapped.
I hope it all worked.
My lines are at least 18 inches deep the code is 6 inches.
That's 12 inches deeper than code.
Basically I designed everything for places much colder than this.
I just kicked it on and it's working just fine.
When I designed and installed it on my own I got laughed at for over kill.
All my valve control wire is direct burial tray cable inside underground conduit.
Who's laughing now.
My garage is a toasty 50 degrees F inside.

Just think how many people will be employed after the big freeze is over! Not all are do it yourselfers.
If everyone did as you did Worth, there would lots less to fix later on.

Well I'm not all that prepared.
For some stupid reason I let myself run out of coffee.
I normally never get below one unopened container.
Next I ran out of winter storm chili.
There is nothing worse than an empty Dutch oven.

Cannot find a plumber in Houston, this I know from my wife’s niece that has a busted pipe among the thousands and thousands of others. Our former youth pastor broke his leg bad enough to require surgery, this during a repair of a broken pipe in Galveston. One thing that’s about impossible to do along the coast is buildings with basements. Of course, large office buildings and such have sub floors, but the water table and soil is such that the engineering is daunting. I know of one home with a basement in my town of 30,000. The homeowner was an engineer and spent a lot of extra money putting in a small basement and his home site was ideal as they come locally, up on a somewhat raised silty sandy bank along a creek.

Crawl spaces are also around, but aren’t ordinarily winterized along the coast to withstand days of sub freezing weather. Most water comes into the house via an exposed pipe main through the siding or bricks, often in the uninsulated garage, and then travels up the wall and throughout the house up in the attic. Attics themselves are rarely insulated, only the living space below is, and the pipes are often uninsulated or lightly insulated and simply are running along the joists exposed to the cold attic air., this is true here along the coast, I’ve been in hundreds if not more attics via my former work as a PCO.

Lose electricity, lose the ability to heat the home in sub freezing weather, house gets too cold and pipes easily freeze. They can still freeze even if the house has electricity and heat, but it’s harder to accomplish.

I wrapped the well I’m on in tons of foam insulation and tape and then piled 1/4 a cubic yard of Spanish moss around that wrapped in plastic. Did the same for where the main comes into the house. Mid century house with a minuscule, impossible for me to access attic so I left a drip on in the extreme end areas. Had we lost power for an extended time, I’d likely would have drained the system the best I could and tripped the breakers on the water heater, partially drained that too, and disable the well pump.

My friend’s brother was in Key West. Friend was checking on brother’s house. Friend left the faucets dripping, but came back later to see one faucet was not dripping, rut row. House had no power and no heat, due to the state wide shortage. Friend had to work, manages 100s of employees, but informed neighbor of the situation and neighbor agreed to check on house every 30 minutes. 2 pm house fine, 2:25 water pouring out of garage. Pipe burst in upstairs attic above the master bedroom in the interim. Water got turned off, but not before sheet rock was ruined in many places and damaged flooring was rampant. Friend’s brother can’t get back to Texas from Florida. Flight goes to NC, he and wife rent a car there and are driving back to Texas, right into another ice storm. Last I heard he was stuck somewhere in Northern Louisiana. Come on people, use your brains!

Here's your sign!! LOL.

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karstopography wrote: ↑Wed Feb 17, 2021 11:44 am
Attics themselves are rarely insulated, only the living space below is, and the pipes are often uninsulated or lightly insulated and simply are running along the joists exposed to the cold attic air.,

Ya mean like this?

Having lived in areas with cold winters all my life, it is hard to imagine what all can happen, when areas with no freezing normally do get cold. Still if the power goes out during cold weather, most people here would also be in trouble, but a day or two without power would not still be a catastrophe, due to well insulated houses. In our house main heat source is electricity, but the house has two fireplaces and a wood burning stove, so we could live quite comfortably without power. Water could be an issue, since the pressure would stop quite quickly, if the pump stations in the city would not run.

Tonight should be the last of the really cold nights for us, so I remembered to take advantage of it. Since temperature outside is same as in the freezer, I carried everything from the old freezer downstairs to outside and used a blower heater to defrost the freezer. Before putting everything back in, I can do an inventory and throw all too old stuff away.

Sari

It is sometimes the way that extremes cannot be handled, but that is only extremes for where you live. Some of those we only need to look at other countries and really see that yes you can cope but you are not just prepared. Sometimes the north and south of uk has some quite different weathers but down south a couple of flakes of snow and the world grinds to a halt.

Amateurinawe wrote: ↑Wed Feb 17, 2021 2:09 pm It is sometimes the way that extremes cannot be handled, but that is only extremes for where you live. Some of those we only need to look at other countries and really see that yes you can cope but you are not just prepared. Sometimes the north and south of uk has some quite different weathers but down south a couple of flakes of snow and the world grinds to a halt.

With me it's the posi track in my deferential.
With regular spider gears only one wheel spins.
This thing is what they call a limited slip.
Both wheels spin on wet pavement mud and ice.
When that happens it's a toss up as to which way you go.
In spider gears.
If one wheel spins the other will hold you straight.
The drawback of spider gears is if one wheel is on a slick surface it spins and the other won't do anything.
Both are good in the right situation.
But the limited slip isn't worth a hoot on ice

Power just went off.
Looking like ice cream for suppe.

I hear ice cream and chilli is good

Just checked auto drip on my sprinkler valve and its working.

Just looked at my email spam box and found out my dues to the Illuminati were past due.
Sent them my annual dues and 5 minutes later my power came back on.
These people are serious...