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Thread: Texas weather

  1. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dave Grubb View Post
    ...so...do you have snow plows or are you stuck waiting for warmer weather?
    I'm stocked up on what I need for weeks as long as the power and water stay on...Gas never seems to be a problem here...I've never seen a snow plow in this area although there might be some in a county storage yard somewhere...The cell phone infrastructure and internet can be a little iffy at times......Ben
    The future is forged on the anvil of history...The interpreter of history wields the hammer... - Unknown author...

  2. #17
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    This rather ominous article about the Texas grid caught my eye.

    https://arstechnica.com/science/2021...nder-the-cold/
    "Back after 5 years. I thought you had died.

    don"


    Splitting my time between the montane and the mesas

    The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
    But I have promises to keep,
    And miles to go before I sleep,
    And miles to go before I sleep.

  3. #18
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    I've heard outages are going to be an issue....

  4. #19
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    Check in goobers... how's everyone hangin'?

  5. #20
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    When my power went out, I was pretty much out of commission. The wi-fi goes down and my cell phone is usually dead. This last storm was bad enough that I didn’t want to dig over to the truck to charge it.

    No hot water - or any water -and worrying about freezers is awful.

    Oh, and lots of old dudes have heart attacks shoveling snow.

    USA Today is reporting that 150 million are without power. Be careful out there.
    Last edited by CactusCurt; 02-16-2021 at 07:26 AM.
    "Back after 5 years. I thought you had died.

    don"


    Splitting my time between the montane and the mesas

    The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
    But I have promises to keep,
    And miles to go before I sleep,
    And miles to go before I sleep.

  6. #21
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    So far I have not lost power, gas, water nor internet...That alone is remarkable in any weather around here...The roads are best described as treacherous, just sheets of snow covered ice...Current temp is 9°...I dripped two faucets, but only on the cold side since this is new to me, now I have frozen hot water pipes in the attic...No clue yet if they're broken...I was advised since to drip single handle faucets as a mix to relieve pressure on both sides of the obstruction...That's where I'm at now......Ben
    The future is forged on the anvil of history...The interpreter of history wields the hammer... - Unknown author...

  7. #22
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    Theoretically that hot water pipe will clear itself eventually. But I would keep a careful eye on that pipe.

    I have had hairline fractures in brass fittings that are hard to find. If you have steel or copper waterlines, you could have the same. I don’t know what a frozen pex line looks like because the fittings go first.

    We drip our faucets on our few very cold nights (<-10). Its just to keep the water flowing. The couple of times our line has frozen, it was at the meter can. Thats why we run it now.

    We got 3 more inches last night. Now we have dense fog with about 100’ of visibility. The trees will look cool.
    "Back after 5 years. I thought you had died.

    don"


    Splitting my time between the montane and the mesas

    The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
    But I have promises to keep,
    And miles to go before I sleep,
    And miles to go before I sleep.

  8. #23
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    10-22-01
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    It's 8 F in Tyler and 17 F in Conroe at the moment and I am hearing they are having rolling blackouts. I feel for them

    We dodged the bullet here. It was forecast to hold at about 25 F overnight and in fact it went up to 35 F and the ice never materialized here
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
    "Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
    “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis

  9. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dave Grubb View Post
    It's 8 F in Tyler and 17 F in Conroe at the moment and I am hearing they are having rolling blackouts. I feel for them

    We dodged the bullet here. It was forecast to hold at about 25 F overnight and in fact it went up to 35 F and the ice never materialized here
    If the temp gets above freezing today for a while, I may find out whether I have a broken pipe or not...I feel really fortunate that my neighborhood has not had any of the rolling blackouts...Some have been without power over 24 hours now......Ben
    The future is forged on the anvil of history...The interpreter of history wields the hammer... - Unknown author...

  10. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by Truckman View Post
    If the temp gets above freezing today for a while, I may find out whether I have a broken pipe or not...I feel really fortunate that my neighborhood has not had any of the rolling blackouts...Some have been without power over 24 hours now......Ben
    I'm relieved to hear you are OK---and may your pipe be the same!

    Being without power in this kind of weather is particularly bad. I went to bed last night expecting an ice storm and woke up sometime during the night and heard the sump pump running---and immediately thanked the Lord!

    May you stay warm and safe my friend!
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
    "Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
    “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis

  11. #26
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    8* and no power would not be fun.... We have a fire place but have never used it.

  12. #27
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    I hope Mike is OK.

    I think of extreme cold here but those were "normal" and we were prepared, this isn't the case for Texas

    I recall one winter that was particularly bad and I was trying to work on a housing development. I was building a retention basin and pushing out slabs of frozen earth 2-3' thick and about 10' across--into a pile.
    I had a pipe crew trying to lay water mains with a big hydraulic excavator (Koehring 1066). They had put a new set of teeth on the bucket when they started---by noon they needed new teeth. A new set of teeth was very expensive, the weather won, I shut down for about a month. The frost went down about 4' that year and a lot of service lines froze that were often at 3'.

    In late April I went back to grade off the pile that I had pushed up that morning----as I got into it there were still slabs of frozen soil.
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
    "Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
    “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis

  13. #28
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dave Grubb View Post
    I hope Mike is OK.
    I've seen him online, but no answer yet to a text......Ben
    The future is forged on the anvil of history...The interpreter of history wields the hammer... - Unknown author...

  14. #29
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    Good news on hot water pipe is that if it has burst, it can be turned off at the HWH and you will have some water until it’s repaired... I froze a pipe in the garage ceiling on the fourth day below 20 degrees, fortunately I must have caught it in time, I cut a hole in the drywall and stuck a running hair dryer up inside the ceiling..

    Forgetting to winterize the rear hose bib explains the scared and patched pipe between the garage doors..

    Stay warm.. April is coming

  15. #30
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    We are alive and cold. No internet. No electricity.

    Using fuel way too fast in the 5th wheel and no way to get more. We have to cut way back because this is going to last a while.

    Moved a large natural gas space heater from the shop to the unfinished house. Hooked it up to the water heater gas connection and it is working well. Still no electricity.

    Moved beds into the house.

    Lots more but I'll have to tell you later.

    -2 here this morning.
    The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible - Arthur C. Clarke

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