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National Emergency declared in Texas

Chickenman Testa said:
This. I’ve been here 16 years - had 2 snow events before Monday. Both times snow was gone by 10 am. This is like a massive heat wave hitting Maine and Canada - most people would lack AC and be struggling.
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I've been here since graduating PSU in 1984. January 1985, we got hammered by a 12 inch snow storm. It hit a Friday afternoon. I was in an apartment and all I remember was taking a taxi to 6th street and having fun (no family or house worries at the time). We seem to get the 1/2 inch ice storm every 2-3 years though, and it lasts a day. 1989 was a super cold spell but no snow. It lasted only a day, as I remember, that was the day that we brought my son home from being born at the hospital. 2011 we had a pretty nice ice/snow storm. 2-3 inches that closed things down for a day or two. But, that was the longest cold spell I remember, at 17 degrees for 2-3 days. My hot water pipe in the attic water heater froze and I had to use an air gun to de-thaw it, and then I immediately added pipe insulation and never worried about it

Then it started here with the big snow storm last week. That didn't worry me as much as the 3 degree temps. Those were easily the coldest we've had here in my almost 40 years here. I built heat boxes for the outside 3 faucets (wood and foam boxes with an internal 150W heat bulb). I tented my well pipes and ran a heater in the well house. I added a 75 foot resistive wire along my attic water pipes (hot and cold). We dripped the indoor faucets (cold and hot). But all of that is worthless if you don;t have electricity with sub 10 degree extended temps. We are OK at the house (no electrical problems), but many close by have been without electric and water for 30+ hours. City water is mandated boil now, as they city cleaning/filtering stations have failed. Pretty hard to do if you don't have electric. A generator is my next, immediate purchase, and I'm not moving to city water - ever!

Most houses here have great insulation and double pane windows. Remember that this is needed for the 50+ 100 degree days that we get. What works for the heat, also works for the cold. But the faucets are built right into the slabs. You can't just pop a cover on them as was suggested. When the slab gets 5 degrees on the outside, no cover is going to help the direct conduction of heat to the pipe. We've aalways had the cover, then wrapped in a few towels, and then put a box around it. Now, I've added a heat lamp. Also, in two story houses, most upstairs have a separate water heater in the attic. Great pre-heating the hot water pipes in the summer! But, in these 1 in 20 year scenarios, oops. Got to wrap them tight

Stay safe all my fellow Texans. I think the worst is over. 30 degrees today as the high but no sun. Roads are still completely covered but the melt is happening from underneath on the road. I busted open a 12 inch wide path along the curb, down, the driveway and to the road. About 50 yards long, this morning. Water is fee flowing now to the road storm sewer bulk head. Two more nights of 17-20 degrees, and then we will have spring weather
 
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CentexLion said:
I've been here since graduating PSU in 1984. January 1985, we got hammered by a 12 inch snow storm. It hit a Friday afternoon. I was in an apartment and all I remember was taking a taxi to 6th street and having fun (no family or house worries at the time). We seem to get the 1/2 inch ice storm every 2-3 years though, and it lasts a day. 1989 was a super cold spell but no snow. It lasted only a day, as I remember, that was the day that we brought my son home from being born at the hospital. 2011 we had a pretty nice ice/snow storm. 2-3 inches that closed things down for a day or two. But, that was the longest cold spell I remember, at 17 degrees for 2-3 days. My hot water pipe in the attic water heater froze and I had to use an air gun to de-thaw it, and then I immediately added pipe insulation and never worried about it

Then it started here with the big snow storm last week. That didn't worry me as much as the 3 degree temps. Those were easily the coldest we've had here in my almost 40 years here. I built heat boxes for the outside 3 faucets (wood and foam boxes with an internal 150W heat bulb). I tented my well pipes and ran a heater in the well house. I added a 75 foot resistive wire along my attic water pipes (hot and cold). We dripped the indoor faucets (cold and hot). But all of that is worthless if you don;t have electricity with sub 10 degree extended temps. We are OK at the house (no electrical problems), but many close by have been without electric and water for 30+ hours. City water is mandated boil now, as they city cleaning/filtering stations have failed. Pretty hard to do if you don't have electric. A generator is my next, immediate purchase, and I'm not moving to city water - ever!

Most houses here have great insulation and double pane windows. Remember that this is needed for the 50+ 100 degree days that we get. What works for the heat, also works for the cold. But the faucets are built right into the slabs. You can't just pop a cover on them as was suggested. When the slab gets 5 degrees on the outside, no cover is going to help the direct conduction of heat to the pipe. We've aalways had the cover, then wrapped in a few towels, and then put a box around it. Now, I've added a heat lamp. Also, in two story houses, most upstairs have a separate water heater in the attic. Great pre-heating the hot water pipes in the summer! But, in these 1 in 20 year scenarios, oops. Got to wrap them tight

Stay safe all my fellow Texans. I think the worst is over. 30 degrees today as the high but no sun. Roads are still completely covered but the melt is happening from underneath on the road. I busted open a 12 inch wide path along the curb, down, the driveway and to the road. About 50 yards long, this morning. Water is fee flowing now to the road storm sewer bulk head. Two more nights of 17-20 degrees, and then we will have spring weather
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Going to be a lot of rich plumbers when the thaw starts.
 
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CentexLion said:
I've been here since graduating PSU in 1984. January 1985, we got hammered by a 12 inch snow storm. It hit a Friday afternoon. I was in an apartment and all I remember was taking a taxi to 6th street and having fun (no family or house worries at the time). We seem to get the 1/2 inch ice storm every 2-3 years though, and it lasts a day. 1989 was a super cold spell but no snow. It lasted only a day, as I remember, that was the day that we brought my son home from being born at the hospital. 2011 we had a pretty nice ice/snow storm. 2-3 inches that closed things down for a day or two. But, that was the longest cold spell I remember, at 17 degrees for 2-3 days. My hot water pipe in the attic water heater froze and I had to use an air gun to de-thaw it, and then I immediately added pipe insulation and never worried about it

Then it started here with the big snow storm last week. That didn't worry me as much as the 3 degree temps. Those were easily the coldest we've had here in my almost 40 years here. I built heat boxes for the outside 3 faucets (wood and foam boxes with an internal 150W heat bulb). I tented my well pipes and ran a heater in the well house. I added a 75 foot resistive wire along my attic water pipes (hot and cold). We dripped the indoor faucets (cold and hot). But all of that is worthless if you don;t have electricity with sub 10 degree extended temps. We are OK at the house (no electrical problems), but many close by have been without electric and water for 30+ hours. City water is mandated boil now, as they city cleaning/filtering stations have failed. Pretty hard to do if you don't have electric. A generator is my next, immediate purchase, and I'm not moving to city water - ever!

Most houses here have great insulation and double pane windows. Remember that this is needed for the 50+ 100 degree days that we get. What works for the heat, also works for the cold. But the faucets are built right into the slabs. You can't just pop a cover on them as was suggested. When the slab gets 5 degrees on the outside, no cover is going to help the direct conduction of heat to the pipe. We've aalways had the cover, then wrapped in a few towels, and then put a box around it. Now, I've added a heat lamp. Also, in two story houses, most upstairs have a separate water heater in the attic. Great pre-heating the hot water pipes in the summer! But, in these 1 in 20 year scenarios, oops. Got to wrap them tight

Stay safe all my fellow Texans. I think the worst is over. 30 degrees today as the high but no sun. Roads are still completely covered but the melt is happening from underneath on the road. I busted open a 12 inch wide path along the curb, down, the driveway and to the road. About 50 yards long, this morning. Water is fee flowing now to the road storm sewer bulk head. Two more nights of 17-20 degrees, and then we will have spring weather
Click to expand...
Not sure where you live in town Centex (though I think you mentioned north of town when we met), but I’m south of town (Circle C). Even those few miles between here, and say, Northwest hills, can be huge in terms of impact. But yeah, we dodged a bullet this am. More rain than freezing so roads are slushy. We’re just trying to conserve power for our neighbors so I’m just binge watching Shooter. Sitter has no power so she’s taken over my house with her Mexican cooking and her and my older son are having a blast
 
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BBrown said:
Going to be a lot of rich plumbers when the thaw starts.
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Plumbers already do make a very good living here. I tried convincing my son, to go down the Trade route after high school. Plumbing, Electrical, or HVAC. But, he wanted no part of it as the peer pressure and school pressure is for ALL to go to college. He struggled in college (most of it was self inflicted) but finally got his degree after 5 years. Now, at 30 years old, he is going back to school to become a nurse (front line people work is what he loves). He has a great wife that is supporting him on this.

But the biggest house in the county are owned by the local HVAC company. Most of the plumbers have big spreads with a second house on the coast as well. Really good living if you care to build the business and treat people right. 5 years working as an apprentice, and then go out on your own. Hire good people and keep adding trucks. A great business to be in, and work all of the time
 
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CentexLion said:
Plumbers already do make a very good living here. I tried convincing my son, to go down the Trade route after high school. Plumbing, Electrical, or HVAC. But, he wanted no part of it as the peer pressure and school pressure is for ALL to go to college. He struggled in college (most of it was self inflicted) but finally got his degree after 5 years. Now, at 30 years old, he is going back to school to become a nurse (front line people work is what he loves). He has a great wife that is supporting him on this.

But the biggest house in the county are owned by the local HVAC company. Most of the plumbers have big spreads with a second house on the coast as well. Really good living if you care to build the business and treat people right. 5 years working as an apprentice, and then go out on your own. Hire good people and keep adding trucks. A great business to be in, and work all of the time
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There is a lot of crap in Texas. ;)
 
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Chickenman Testa said:
Not sure where you live in town Centex (though I think you mentioned north of town when we met), but I’m south of town (Circle C). Even those few miles between here, and say, Northwest hills, can be huge in terms of impact. But yeah, we dodged a bullet this am. More rain than freezing so roads are slushy. We’re just trying to conserve power for our neighbors so I’m just binge watching Shooter. Sitter has no power so she’s taken over my house with her Mexican cooking and her and my older son are having a blast
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Here in Round Rock. Moved up here in 1994 after living on Shoal Creek prior to that. My ranch is east of here, out 79 (through Hutto, Taylor, and Thrall). Close to Granger Lake. Haven't been out there since Sunday, but my neighbor there is holding the fort down for me. Going to make an attempt to get there today, but not seeing anybody on the road.

Super jealous of you having the sitter cooking Mexican food now. Would be nothing better than some enchiladas, refried beans, and spanish rice. I cooked up a big batch of chili, and that has been great.

Stay safe my friend. LMK if you ever want to bring the boys up to the ranch to have them play with the donkeys, goats, and chickens. You can get on the tractor with them and move around the big bales of hay. Got 50 acres there. Pre travel shut down, always hosted our Chinese friends there. The ladies especially liked going out there and driving the tractors. They especially liked shooting the shotgun and pistol (not able to do that in China). you are always welcome out there
 
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CentexLion said:
Here in Round Rock. Moved up here in 1994 after living on Shoal Creek prior to that. My ranch is east of here, out 79 (through Hutto, Taylor, and Thrall). Close to Granger Lake. Haven't been out there since Sunday, but my neighbor there is holding the fort down for me. Going to make an attempt to get there today, but not seeing anybody on the road.

Super jealous of you having the sitter cooking Mexican food now. Would be nothing better than some enchiladas, refried beans, and spanish rice. I cooked up a big batch of chili, and that has been great.

Stay safe my friend. LMK if you ever want to bring the boys up to the ranch to have them play with the donkeys, goats, and chickens. You can get on the tractor with them and move around the big bales of hay. Got 50 acres there. Pre travel shut down, always hosted our Chinese friends there. The ladies especially liked going out there and driving the tractors. They especially liked shooting the shotgun and pistol (not able to do that in China). you are always welcome out there
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Just lost power. Luck ran out. See you on the other side.
 
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CentexLion said:
Plumbers already do make a very good living here. I tried convincing my son, to go down the Trade route after high school. Plumbing, Electrical, or HVAC. But, he wanted no part of it as the peer pressure and school pressure is for ALL to go to college. He struggled in college (most of it was self inflicted) but finally got his degree after 5 years. Now, at 30 years old, he is going back to school to become a nurse (front line people work is what he loves). He has a great wife that is supporting him on this.

But the biggest house in the county are owned by the local HVAC company. Most of the plumbers have big spreads with a second house on the coast as well. Really good living if you care to build the business and treat people right. 5 years working as an apprentice, and then go out on your own. Hire good people and keep adding trucks. A great business to be in, and work all of the time
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In the trades the joke is "plumbing school consists of 3 lessons: 1. Hot is on the left 2. 💩 runs down hill 3. Don't bite your fingernails."
 
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This is just brutal for Texans. Hopefully when this is over and they recover changes are made to make sure this does not happen again. Texas is not supposed to get this kind of weather but it's likely to happen again. It could happen next year, five years from now, or ten. My bet is on sooner rather than later.

To all you Texans, stay safe and I hope you get power back soon and that the damage isn't too severe for you.
 
CentexLion said:
I've been here since graduating PSU in 1984. January 1985, we got hammered by a 12 inch snow storm. It hit a Friday afternoon. I was in an apartment and all I remember was taking a taxi to 6th street and having fun (no family or house worries at the time). We seem to get the 1/2 inch ice storm every 2-3 years though, and it lasts a day. 1989 was a super cold spell but no snow. It lasted only a day, as I remember, that was the day that we brought my son home from being born at the hospital. 2011 we had a pretty nice ice/snow storm. 2-3 inches that closed things down for a day or two. But, that was the longest cold spell I remember, at 17 degrees for 2-3 days. My hot water pipe in the attic water heater froze and I had to use an air gun to de-thaw it, and then I immediately added pipe insulation and never worried about it

Then it started here with the big snow storm last week. That didn't worry me as much as the 3 degree temps. Those were easily the coldest we've had here in my almost 40 years here. I built heat boxes for the outside 3 faucets (wood and foam boxes with an internal 150W heat bulb). I tented my well pipes and ran a heater in the well house. I added a 75 foot resistive wire along my attic water pipes (hot and cold). We dripped the indoor faucets (cold and hot). But all of that is worthless if you don;t have electricity with sub 10 degree extended temps. We are OK at the house (no electrical problems), but many close by have been without electric and water for 30+ hours. City water is mandated boil now, as they city cleaning/filtering stations have failed. Pretty hard to do if you don't have electric. A generator is my next, immediate purchase, and I'm not moving to city water - ever!

Most houses here have great insulation and double pane windows. Remember that this is needed for the 50+ 100 degree days that we get. What works for the heat, also works for the cold. But the faucets are built right into the slabs. You can't just pop a cover on them as was suggested. When the slab gets 5 degrees on the outside, no cover is going to help the direct conduction of heat to the pipe. We've aalways had the cover, then wrapped in a few towels, and then put a box around it. Now, I've added a heat lamp. Also, in two story houses, most upstairs have a separate water heater in the attic. Great pre-heating the hot water pipes in the summer! But, in these 1 in 20 year scenarios, oops. Got to wrap them tight

Stay safe all my fellow Texans. I think the worst is over. 30 degrees today as the high but no sun. Roads are still completely covered but the melt is happening from underneath on the road. I busted open a 12 inch wide path along the curb, down, the driveway and to the road. About 50 yards long, this morning. Water is fee flowing now to the road storm sewer bulk head. Two more nights of 17-20 degrees, and then we will have spring weather
Click to expand...
Why wouldn't they use self draining for outside spigots?
 
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Chickenman Testa said:
Not sure where you live in town Centex (though I think you mentioned north of town when we met), but I’m south of town (Circle C). Even those few miles between here, and say, Northwest hills, can be huge in terms of impact. But yeah, we dodged a bullet this am. More rain than freezing so roads are slushy. We’re just trying to conserve power for our neighbors so I’m just binge watching Shooter. Sitter has no power so she’s taken over my house with her Mexican cooking and her and my older son are having a blast
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Nice. My in laws are all over Austin. Pflugerville, South Congress Area, and Kyle so they are pretty much all over so I am all over that city when we visit usually once a year. I now just take the toll roads when I don't need to be downtown, it's crazy what 35 has become...it sucks, but the area is great. My kids grew up Chorizo and Egg, Barbacoa, and Potato n egg breakfast tacos with home made hot sauce once a weekend.

Here is a simple Hot sauce that goes on everything in our house via her grandmother's quick recipe. It's not pure fire as the grandfather would mix in Habeneros on his and take it up a notch. We usually make a batch every other weekend.

Boil for 30-35 minutes, then strain, cut off stems, cut, remove most seeds.
6 serrano's
1 Jalapeno
4-5 Roma Tomatoes

Add to food processor along with tomatoes and peppers.
1 large tablespoon of minced garlic
1 tablespoon spoon of Cumin
salt and pepper (1/2 tablespoon or less of each)

Throw on any meal where hot sauce is needed or just use chips to enjoy. You can up the heat by leaving more seeds in or adding a second Jalapeno. It's simple, but pretty flavorful. Hope everyone down there is doing ok.
 
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MikeDerukey said:
This is just brutal for Texans. Hopefully when this is over and they recover changes are made to make sure this does not happen again. Texas is not supposed to get this kind of weather but it's likely to happen again. It could happen next year, five years from now, or ten. My bet is on sooner rather than later.

To all you Texans, stay safe and I hope you get power back soon and that the damage isn't too severe for you.
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My main house is on the Pedernales grid and no outages yet. I’m at my ex wife’s place just 3 miles away in Austin energy territory (don’t ask - complicated) and we just had a 10 minute outage only - not sure why we are avoiding the worst of it, but I’ll take it.
 
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WDLion said:
Why wouldn't they use self draining for outside spigots?
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Certainly makes sense now, right? I don't think it is in the building codes, so they are taking the cheapest way out is my guess. I despise any piping and wiring into a slab. You are really betting that the skilled labor did a good job that will last 100 years. In my prior house in downtown Austin, I had a termite guy come out to treat a starting problem coming up through an internal tub opening in the slab. All you do is drill a 3/4 inch hole in the slab and pump in the termicide. Couldn't be any easier. About 6 feet away from the tub, under the carpet, he drilled a hole and dead hit the 3/4" main water line coming into the house. I had water spouting 6 feet high in the living room. Fun. had to rent a jackhammer and pull a 18 inch diameter part of the slab out to be able to repair the water line.

I just built a 10x12 greenhouse in the back yard between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Trenched from the well house and installed faucets inside and outside. Used PEX tubing as well, as it handles the freezing better (it expands more without breaking versus copper). I added a shutoff at the well for the water line, and before the freeze, I shut off that line, and blew compressed air throughout the pipes to remove all water. Would be nice to have that ability for outside faucets as well.

But nobody will do anything, and in 10 more years, we'll be having the same discussion
 
CentexLion said:
Certainly makes sense now, right? I don't think it is in the building codes, so they are taking the cheapest way out is my guess. I despise any piping and wiring into a slab. You are really betting that the skilled labor did a good job that will last 100 years. In my prior house in downtown Austin, I had a termite guy come out to treat a starting problem coming up through an internal tub opening in the slab. All you do is drill a 3/4 inch hole in the slab and pump in the termicide. Couldn't be any easier. About 6 feet away from the tub, under the carpet, he drilled a hole and dead hit the 3/4" main water line coming into the house. I had water spouting 6 feet high in the living room. Fun. had to rent a jackhammer and pull a 18 inch diameter part of the slab out to be able to repair the water line.

I just built a 10x12 greenhouse in the back yard between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Trenched from the well house and installed faucets inside and outside. Used PEX tubing as well, as it handles the freezing better (it expands more without breaking versus copper). I added a shutoff at the well for the water line, and before the freeze, I shut off that line, and blew compressed air throughout the pipes to remove all water. Would be nice to have that ability for outside faucets as well.

But nobody will do anything, and in 10 more years, we'll be having the same discussion
Click to expand...
maybe true but how many communities can withstand temperatures that are ten degrees colder than anyone living has ever experienced? I mean, the coldest I can remember here is -17. I can't imagine it hitting -27 for a sustained period and the system be able to maintain that.

The reality is, you plan for 99%. When the 1% hits, you just try to get through it. No different than the hurricane hitting NY/NJ. When the hurricane hit Cleveland, which nobody ever once suspected would happen (80 mph winds for 8 hours) I lost power for five days. (mostly because our power company sent all the trucks and people to NY/NJ).
 
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Austinite here, just catching up on this thread after being offline for a while. My home hasn't had power since 3 AM Monday morning. The "rolling" blackouts are anything but here in Austin. The story we've been hearing is that Austin Energy had shut off every possible grid on Monday, except those that share energy with a critical business like a hospital, nursing home, first responder location, etc. Despite this, our energy supplier ERCOT apparently is still asking Austin to cut more power so critical businesses may soon be impacted as well. They keep pleading for people with power to save as if they don't have it because with supply issues, demand might be the only way to possibly put a proper rolling blackout in effect. Given the temperatures and weather forecast I'm not confident I'll get power until Fri or Sat when it warms up a bit and demand lessens.

I'm fortunate that I'm not in an at risk demographic but I worry about my elderly neighbors. I'm fortunate that I have experience driving in bad weather so I was comfortable leaving home so I could sleep somewhere with heat the last 2 days. I'm fortunate that my indoor faucets are still dripping, so my water pipes (so far, knocks wood) seem OK.

Despite all that, this has been an epic failure in emergency preparedness. The Texas infrastructure was tested like never before and it failed miserably. Communication to those without power has been poor at best as well. I expect some heads will roll at the top of the relevant companies when this is over. The responsible parties are all just playing the blame game which sickens me as someone without power for 3 days and counting. Austin Energy, ERCOT, power plants, politicians, etc. I don't care who is to blame right now, I care about what you are doing to get energy supply back online. If you can't, be honest and give it to me straight instead of stringing us along every day and kicking the can down the road. I understand cost concerns about worst case scenario risk management, but when millions of your residents don't have heat during days of single digit temps and people are dying due to cold, fires and CO poisoning as they try to warm up, the costs are justified. I don't want more token platitudes during press conferences, I want specifics. JC, what a f**k up.
 
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PSUSignore said:
Austinite here, just catching up on this thread after being offline for a while. My home hasn't had power since 3 AM Monday morning. The "rolling" blackouts are anything but here in Austin. The story we've been hearing is that Austin Energy had shut off every possible grid on Monday, except those that share energy with a critical business like a hospital, nursing home, first responder location, etc. Despite this, our energy supplier ERCOT apparently is still asking Austin to cut more power so critical businesses may soon be impacted as well. They keep pleading for people with power to save as if they don't have it because with supply issues, demand might be the only way to possibly put a proper rolling blackout in effect. Given the temperatures and weather forecast I'm not confident I'll get power until Fri or Sat when it warms up a bit and demand lessens.

I'm fortunate that I'm not in an at risk demographic but I worry about my elderly neighbors. I'm fortunate that I have experience driving in bad weather so I was comfortable leaving home so I could sleep somewhere with heat the last 2 days. I'm fortunate that my indoor faucets are still dripping, so my water pipes (so far, knocks wood) seem OK.

Despite all that, this has been an epic failure in emergency preparedness. The Texas infrastructure was tested like never before and it failed miserably. Communication to those without power has been poor at best as well. I expect some heads will roll at the top of the relevant companies when this is over. The responsible parties are all just playing the blame game which sickens me as someone without power for 3 days and counting. Austin Energy, ERCOT, power plants, politicians, etc. I don't care who is to blame right now, I care about what you are doing to get energy supply back online. If you can't, be honest and give it to me straight instead of stringing us along every day and kicking the can down the road. I understand cost concerns about worst case scenario risk management, but when millions of your residents don't have heat during days of single digit temps and people are dying due to cold, fires and CO poisoning as they try to warm up, the costs are justified. I don't want more token platitudes during press conferences, I want specifics. JC, what a f**k up.
Click to expand...

+1.
 
Obliviax said:
maybe true but how many communities can withstand temperatures that are ten degrees colder than anyone living has ever experienced? I mean, the coldest I can remember here is -17. I can't imagine it hitting -27 for a sustained period and the system be able to maintain that.

The reality is, you plan for 99%. When the 1% hits, you just try to get through it. No different than the hurricane hitting NY/NJ. When the hurricane hit Cleveland, which nobody ever once suspected would happen (80 mph winds for 8 hours) I lost power for five days. (mostly because our power company sent all the trucks and people to NY/NJ).
Click to expand...
Agree. Can't implement the last 1% as the cost would be infinite. Still investigate the possibilities. And learn from history. The Texas grid made a lot of mistakes, but hopefully they learn from it, harden the system where they can for the next event. And I've learned a lot as well. Getting a generator for here and my ranch so I don;t have to 100% depend on them. Certainly my next truck is a 4x4 (I do have a tri-motor Cybertruck on order - it should do great in the snow). I have a setup for all my pipes and faucets now implemented.

Would I plan for a seismic event here in Texas? Nope. Should our grid here (no in my opinion). Can it happen - yes, but that is the last percent that is infinite costs.
 
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PSUSignore said:
Austinite here, just catching up on this thread after being offline for a while. My home hasn't had power since 3 AM Monday morning. The "rolling" blackouts are anything but here in Austin. The story we've been hearing is that Austin Energy had shut off every possible grid on Monday, except those that share energy with a critical business like a hospital, nursing home, first responder location, etc. Despite this, our energy supplier ERCOT apparently is still asking Austin to cut more power so critical businesses may soon be impacted as well. They keep pleading for people with power to save as if they don't have it because with supply issues, demand might be the only way to possibly put a proper rolling blackout in effect. Given the temperatures and weather forecast I'm not confident I'll get power until Fri or Sat when it warms up a bit and demand lessens.

I'm fortunate that I'm not in an at risk demographic but I worry about my elderly neighbors. I'm fortunate that I have experience driving in bad weather so I was comfortable leaving home so I could sleep somewhere with heat the last 2 days. I'm fortunate that my indoor faucets are still dripping, so my water pipes (so far, knocks wood) seem OK.

Despite all that, this has been an epic failure in emergency preparedness. The Texas infrastructure was tested like never before and it failed miserably. Communication to those without power has been poor at best as well. I expect some heads will roll at the top of the relevant companies when this is over. The responsible parties are all just playing the blame game which sickens me as someone without power for 3 days and counting. Austin Energy, ERCOT, power plants, politicians, etc. I don't care who is to blame right now, I care about what you are doing to get energy supply back online. If you can't, be honest and give it to me straight instead of stringing us along every day and kicking the can down the road. I understand cost concerns about worst case scenario risk management, but when millions of your residents don't have heat during days of single digit temps and people are dying due to cold, fires and CO poisoning as they try to warm up, the costs are justified. I don't want more token platitudes during press conferences, I want specifics. JC, what a f**k up.
Click to expand...

Praying for all you Texas guys and your families. What a freakin' mess! Hang in there.

Meanwhile, linked below is an interesting write-up on what's going on, to include some overhead night-time shots of downtown Austin and near-by neighborhoods.

As discussed above in the thread, the frozen pipes, which have begun to burst big-time, are already a huge problem:

Is Texas Facing A Humanitarian Crisis? | ZeroHedge
 
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CentexLion said:
Agree. Can't implement the last 1% as the cost would be infinite. Still investigate the possibilities. And learn from history. The Texas grid made a lot of mistakes, but hopefully they learn from it, harden the system where they can for the next event. And I've learned a lot as well. Getting a generator for here and my ranch so I don;t have to 100% depend on them. Certainly my next truck is a 4x4 (I do have a tri-motor Cybertruck on order - it should do great in the snow). I have a setup for all my pipes and faucets now implemented.

Would I plan for a seismic event here in Texas? Nope. Should our grid here (no in my opinion). Can it happen - yes, but that is the last percent that is infinite costs.
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I have seen some chatter that the last bad winter storm in 2011 had already brought to light many of the issues that the power grid has experienced this week. I've even seen links to a report of investigations into 2011 and what didn't go well. I haven't had time to read the full report given that I'm trying to conserve energy and battery life, but the comments online (who knows how truthful) are indicating that these problems were known 10 years ago and the power plants and ERCOT did not do anything to address them, and we are seeing a repeat but on a larger scale in 2021. Being isolated from other regional power grids also gives no margin for error. If you're going to decide to handle it on your own, then you better be damn sure you have a good disaster recovery and contingency plans. Clearly they do not. This week former Texas gov Rick Perry was quoted as saying Texans would rather be without power for a few days than succumb to the required Federal oversight that entails if connected to other regional power grids. I can't speak for everyone, but I'd imagine most people that are struggling to stay above 45 degrees indoors right now would strongly disagree with him. I know I do.
 
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Jerry said:
Praying for all you Texas guys and your families. What a freakin' mess! Hang in there.

Meanwhile, linked below is an interesting write-up on what's going on, to include some overhead night-time shots of downtown Austin and near-by neighborhoods.

As discussed above in the thread, the frozen pipes, which have begun to burst big-time, are already a huge problem:

Is Texas Facing A Humanitarian Crisis? | ZeroHedge
Click to expand...
Wow, there was terrifying stuff in that story. This may be worse than any hurricane as it is so widespread.
 
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BBrown said:
Is this some test board bullshit bitch fight your'e bringing over here? Cause if it is you can go the hell back.
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He is bringing truth. It is not surprising that you failed to recognize it.
 
The Spin Meister said:
He stated that he invests in wind because of the tax advantages. You denying people and investment firms do that?
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No I'm saying take your tired ass vendetta arguments back to the test board. Its obvious there is a history with the quickly devolving discussions between the 2.
Is it really that hard to understand?
 
BBrown said:
No I'm saying take your tired ass vendetta arguments back to the test board. Its obvious there is a history with the quickly devolving discussions between the 2.
Is it really that hard to understand?
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So no one is allowed to opine on what went wrong. Just wring our hands, say ‘how terrible’ so we feel good about ourselves, and just move on.

Got it.
 
CentexLion said:
Agree. Can't implement the last 1% as the cost would be infinite. Still investigate the possibilities. And learn from history. The Texas grid made a lot of mistakes, but hopefully they learn from it, harden the system where they can for the next event. And I've learned a lot as well. Getting a generator for here and my ranch so I don;t have to 100% depend on them. Certainly my next truck is a 4x4 (I do have a tri-motor Cybertruck on order - it should do great in the snow). I have a setup for all my pipes and faucets now implemented.

Would I plan for a seismic event here in Texas? Nope. Should our grid here (no in my opinion). Can it happen - yes, but that is the last percent that is infinite costs.
Click to expand...
yep...there are two main issues. The first is that it was state wide, meaning, the entire state. With such a large state that is pretty unreal. Even when the Hurricanes hit, other parts of TX were able to pick up the energy needs for that area. Secondly, the amount of weather impact. It looks like this was 10 Degrees, or more, colder than what anyone in TX has experienced in their lifetimes. That is amazing. So I've experienced 17 below. What if it hit 27 below and sustained for several days? At the same time, many homes in TX are single pane windows, aren't insulated, are on a slab, only have a single source of heat (often, electric), often heat with a heat pump (which won't work in that cold of weather even if it had electricity), etc.

I am hearing, now, that the fuel system to keep gas flowing was from the wind turbine so when the wind farms froze up, that resulted in the gas systems freezing up.

Crazy.
 
Euc4dJ2VoAAn_SZ.jpg
 
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Obliviax said:
yep...there are two main issues. The first is that it was state wide, meaning, the entire state. With such a large state that is pretty unreal. Even when the Hurricanes hit, other parts of TX were able to pick up the energy needs for that area. Secondly, the amount of weather impact. It looks like this was 10 Degrees, or more, colder than what anyone in TX has experienced in their lifetimes. That is amazing. So I've experienced 17 below. What if it hit 27 below and sustained for several days? At the same time, many homes in TX are single pane windows, aren't insulated, are on a slab, only have a single source of heat (often, electric), often heat with a heat pump (which won't work in that cold of weather even if it had electricity), etc.

I am hearing, now, that the fuel system to keep gas flowing was from the wind turbine so when the wind farms froze up, that resulted in the gas systems freezing up.

Crazy.
Click to expand...
I'm really interested in the exact equipment that failed. Supplier and part number. I design Smart Grid equipment (IEEE-1613) for a living. The standard requires -40C (-40F) cold start and -40C sustained requirements for all equipment. 5F or -20F should never be an issue by itself. On the other end, it also must operate at 85C (185F) for a minimum of 16 hours without any errors (we design and test for >96 hours). Our equipment is incrementally more expensive than many of our competitors (+15%), and we lose deals on cost. A few of our competitors only operate 0 to 70C, and are less expensive for certain.

The outdoor equipment is also tested to ice buildup in the NEMA/IP standards and testing. The water goes through multiple freeze/thaw cycles to verify and validate all seals (and thus water ingress capability)

This is why I'm very interested in what specifically failed. We'll never get the information, as that will put a few bureaucrats and purchasing agents at severe risk. These people are very good at covering their tracks and diverting blame. We'll see
 
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