My power bill actually went down last month even tho I used 14% more power.
The bill is split between supply and delivery charges.
Supply charges dropped dramatically.
What a difference 1 month makes.

I just got my water back.
My triple redundant freeze protection worked like a charm.
Nothing froze up.
Plus I didn't run out of drinking water.
Smokey got ice in her water bowl to thaw for water.
Had a wonderful fried rice for dinner that I cooked on the griddle that was leftover from another meal.

This pic was taken outside of houston today by a facebook friend. Her water pipes in the ceiling froze and burst, then wet the insulation and now everything is collapsing. I can only imagine a lot of people are going through something similar.

The cold Texas weather is serious - especially for those born in 1980 and up. They haven't seen a cold spell like this one. I won't compare it to winters in much colder regions, but for us, it was dangerously cold.

They say that we adapt to the cold, and I found myself doing that and my wife did too. When it finally got to 34 degrees outside today, I was thinking about water pipes and maybe even the toilet and water heater being damaged. I looked down as I was shoveling snow and ice off of the deck and realized, "I'm in my cotton summer shorts and a T shirt" I wasn't cold at all.

For every bad story and video you see on the news/Internet - there are millions of real human stories. When it finally thaws, we might be replacing waterlines and whatever. Otherwise

worth1 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 19, 2021 7:22 pm I just got my water back.
My triple redundant freeze protection worked like a charm.
Nothing froze up.
Plus I didn't run out of drinking water.
Smokey got ice in her water bowl to thaw for water.
Had a wonderful fried rice for dinner that I cooked on the griddle that was leftover from another meal.
20210219_125551.jpg

Wow, looks like General Tsao Chicken and fried rice mixed with bulk pork sausage and scrambled eggs? I give it a thumbs up! Recipe please! I'd eat it!

These pictures are terrible to see and I know that Texans do not have experience with extreme cold but I wonder why officials and media didn't tell people to shut off their main water supply where it enters the house and then drain the pipes by turning on a faucet? It would have been such an easy way to save so many houses. The main water supply is controlled by a simple valve that anyone can turn off, no tools required.

Actually everyone in any climate should know where this is in case a pipe or a faucet breaks and water is spraying out.

rhines81 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 19, 2021 11:46 pm

worth1 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 19, 2021 7:22 pm I just got my water back.
My triple redundant freeze protection worked like a charm.
Nothing froze up.
Plus I didn't run out of drinking water.
Smokey got ice in her water bowl to thaw for water.
Had a wonderful fried rice for dinner that I cooked on the griddle that was leftover from another meal.
20210219_125551.jpg

Wow, looks like General Tsao Chicken and fried rice mixed with bulk pork sausage and scrambled eggs? I give it a thumbs up! Recipe please! I'd eat it!

Thanks you guessed it almost dead on.
Have no idea how I made it.
Because it was all leftovers.
[mention]brownrexx[/mention]
Many Texans like myself do have experience with cold weather.
But I know what you mean.
My logic on the water.
I live on a hill and when told to shut my water off I didn't.
Here is why but it's complicated.
The main water line runs down the hill from me.
It is fed from up the hill.
My reduced pressure assembly isn't like a regular double back pressure valve.
If there is a pressure loss the valve dumps the water out onto the ground.
This in effect empties the water from the valve and drains my lines.
This part of my supply branches off on it's own line at the meter with yet another shutoff valve.
This assembly is at the house not on the street.
Easy access to electricity for freeze protection.
Now with the power going out the city water pumps went down.
By leaving my main feed valves open the water still in the main line siphoned all the water out of my lines and into the main lines.
I actually turned all my faucets on to help the siphon effect.
None of my faucets had water in them.
I literally sucked warm air into the water line to the street.
This won't work in every home but it does mine and I planned for a worst case scenario.
So in my opinion I didn't get lucky because I don't gamble and I don't bank on luck.

About 4 or 5 days ago my heat pump on my HVAC unit froze up due to heavy snow.
Been running on impulse power ever since.
Defrost part of unit couldn't keep up for whatever reason.
The fan blade was frozen solid in a block of ice inside the unit.
Today I took a heat gun out and freed the fan up.
Then on impulse power I got the house warm and toasty.
Then ran the heating thermostat down to 50.
Ran the AC down to 60 and turned it on.
This reversed the hot freon back to outside and in good time melted all the ice off the coils.

brownrexx, I agree, and if I had believed what the sensationalized media was yapping on about, I would have done things a little differently. It never occurred to me that a drain could freeze. The last time we had weather like this was 37 years ago. I probably had a girlfriend back then. If you can remember her name, you're memory is better than mine

AlittleSalt wrote: ↑Sat Feb 20, 2021 12:24 pm brownrexx, I agree, and if I had believed what the sensationalized media was yapping on about, I would have done things a little differently. It never occurred to me that a drain could freeze. The last time we had weather like this was 37 years ago. I probably had a girlfriend back then. If you can remember her name, you're memory is better than mine

One lady called in and said she had water but her toilet wouldn't flush.
The first thing I thought of was the P trap was frozen.
When I ran the sewer line from my new location for the washing machine I made sure all plumbing was inside the garage not the wall.
My P trap never froze up.

Crazy weather in Germany! After one week living in a freezer, we now have spring! Imagine, in some parts of the country from -27°C to +20°C within one week!!! I really enjoyed a whole day with bright sunshine! And the best: It will continue, at least for some days!

Our pea trap didn't either under the kitchen sink. I removed it and put a pan under the drain because the pipe beyond that froze. I didn't expect that, but at least we had water.

What I don't understand at all - Our trailer house was built in 1979. It has Quest plumbing and there are no leaks. ...figure that one out because I haven't. I thought I was going to be fixing plumbing or replacing it all with PVC and CPVC. Instead, I'm washing a load of clothes right now.

[mention]AlittleSalt[/mention] Quest pipes can stretch and expand a little while PVC is rigid and will crack. Quest is probably what saved you.

[mention]worth1[/mention] we have a similar HVAC unit at our cabin in western PA and one winter 2 years ago we noticed that it was all frozen up. It turned out that mice had gotten inside and chewed the wires to the defrost unit so it was not coming on. Lots of deer mice in this wooded area and they apparently found a warm spot in the HVAC unit so after it was repaired I bought some stainless steel pads and pushed it into all of the holes where pipes or wires came through the case.

clara wrote: ↑Sat Feb 20, 2021 1:00 pm Crazy weather in Germany! After one week living in a freezer, we now have spring! Imagine, in some parts of the country from -27°C to +20°C within one week!!! I really enjoyed a whole day with bright sunshine! And the best: It will continue, at least for some days!

[mention]clara[/mention] ,
We are looking at doing something similar, going from -20˚F(-29˚C) to about 61˚F(16˚C)in about eight days. But another storm is forecast for the next day, so the warmth will be short-lived. But like you, seeing bright sun and blue skies is uplifting.

Every so often you get a reality check on the grid or on your home system. Ideally it is a small inconvenience that causes you to make better plans for a future issue. Sometimes though it takes a large issue to generate some action towards a better preparedness.
Here's hoping that all the sad outcomes will produce some overall strengthening of the system to protect against future events.
It is a fact that these events could become more common as the thaw of the arctic continues. The cold up there is not enough to keep the polar vortex localized and so the horrible cold goes travelling in the winter where it doesn't usually go. It is well worth it to be prepared for that, IMO.

I just now fixed my own burst pipe. The pipe had a heat tape on it that was warm to the touch, then pipe insulation taped over that, and I left the tap dripping, and it still froze. I am learning a lot about frozen pipes. The pipe will freeze at the first elbow after it comes out of the ground. When I put the heat tape back, I wrapped more of it around the elbow than before.

Cole, my brother's PVC water pipe to a free standing faucet burst yesterday in a V shape. Also a T fitting below that split. It was heavily wrapped and on the south end of his house. My son fixed it for him, but a new T fitting and faucet was not easy to find at the local Home Depot. The plumbing store was closed because they ran out of parts to sell.

AlittleSalt wrote: ↑Sat Feb 20, 2021 9:52 pm Cole, my brother's PVC water pipe to a free standing faucet burst yesterday in a V shape. Also a T fitting below that split. It was heavily wrapped and on the south end of his house. My son fixed it for him, but a new T fitting and faucet was not easy to find at the local Home Depot. The plumbing store was closed because they ran out of parts to sell.

I think in the summer I will rig up some crazy insulation over that pipe, like 5 gallon buckets split sideways and put over the pipe, then stuffed with fiberglass. Doing things the normal way is not working any more.

This is the reduced pressure assembly I was speaking of.
It costs 400 dollars to replace.
As luck would have it I have a spare that someone gave me because one part of his froze and busted.
That replaceable part costs about 35 dollars or so.
It is a ball valve with a test port.
It happened several years ago during a freeze.
I helped him with fixing his stuff and I got a 400 dollar valve for free.

brownrexx wrote: ↑Sat Feb 20, 2021 2:06 pm @AlittleSalt Quest pipes can stretch and expand a little while PVC is rigid and will crack. Quest is probably what saved you.

@worth1 we have a similar HVAC unit at our cabin in western PA and one winter 2 years ago we noticed that it was all frozen up. It turned out that mice had gotten inside and chewed the wires to the defrost unit so it was not coming on. Lots of deer mice in this wooded area and they apparently found a warm spot in the HVAC unit so after it was repaired I bought some stainless steel pads and pushed it into all of the holes where pipes or wires came through the case.

I do not know the validity of what I am saying, but there was a period of time (several years) where wire manufacturers switched over to a more environmentally friendly, SOY-based wire coating, instead of 100% plastic/rubber coating. There has been a flood of reports from car owners and other consumers (where wires were exposed outside in an environment) that mice, chipmunks and other vermin were feasting on the wire coatings. I think most manufacturers have now changed back to using a chemical polymer coating that are not SOY based due to this issue. Again, I have not researched this, and it could be all hear-say.
My wife's heater blower motor (2013 vehicle) just failed 3 days ago.... a dead mouse was found inside the motor cage.