Astronomically high bills, with an electrical system that couldn’t handle the load, had massive rolling and days long blackouts.
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Bellyflop in TX
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crofter
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And Airlift to Cancun MX ended after the first few people departed....
PlethoraOfGuns
Well-known member
Hmmmm, as an electrician, this sounds very tempting. Water and electricity usually do bad things when they meet...
I lived in South and Central Texas for most of my life. We ALL knew to drip faucets when it went below freezing. We ALL knew to fill the bathtub and every other available container with water when a hurricane was coming and to have plywood around to board up windows. Or at least I thought we ALL knew these things.
Two years ago, I moved to Colorado. The first winter was record snowfall. My Texas winter clothes were a joke. Didn't take me long to figure that out, lol. The house I bought has a crawl space, never heard of that, and when the realtor said I didn't have to worry about dripping faucets, the outside faucets were frost free and the crawl space protected everything else, I thought, "yeah, right." I placed a remote thermometer in the crawl space and the temp down there has never gone below mid-40'sF. I covered the outside faucets until a plumber showed me how they work and had a little laugh at my covered ones. Never heard of frost free faucets. And the water line coming into my house is buried at 38"+ (don't ask me how I know) and all run through the crawl space and up on inside walls. Same with gas and electric lines. This house was built for this climate and I am thankful for that.
I still have close friends in Texas and the past week was a challenge but they are former full timers and long time campers and know how to be prepared for most anything. The one thing that is now on her list is a Birkey, altho she did have cases of bottled water stashed. Also on her list is a generator for the freezers full of meat. Luckily, she had rolling power and lost none of that. Her husband is deployed overseas. It was her and her two teens, and she invited a woman and her three young children who had no preps for anything. Water was just a trickle but they caught it in pots, etc., and boiled it during the short periods when power was on. Used fireplace for heat, (buddy heater as backup) blanketed off doorways, and they all slept in the living room. Two adults, five kids, two large dogs, four guinea pigs and they rigged up a "hobo hut" outside for the feral cats she feeds. Oh, and the roads were iced over so no going out for anything. They did fine. In fact, they went sledding, made snow people, and since no power for remote schooling, no school! A vacation time. These folks know how to make lemonade.
Btw, when I quit wheeled living, I kept the buddy heater, the birkey, and all the camping gear. Just in case.
Two years ago, I moved to Colorado. The first winter was record snowfall. My Texas winter clothes were a joke. Didn't take me long to figure that out, lol. The house I bought has a crawl space, never heard of that, and when the realtor said I didn't have to worry about dripping faucets, the outside faucets were frost free and the crawl space protected everything else, I thought, "yeah, right." I placed a remote thermometer in the crawl space and the temp down there has never gone below mid-40'sF. I covered the outside faucets until a plumber showed me how they work and had a little laugh at my covered ones. Never heard of frost free faucets. And the water line coming into my house is buried at 38"+ (don't ask me how I know) and all run through the crawl space and up on inside walls. Same with gas and electric lines. This house was built for this climate and I am thankful for that.
I still have close friends in Texas and the past week was a challenge but they are former full timers and long time campers and know how to be prepared for most anything. The one thing that is now on her list is a Birkey, altho she did have cases of bottled water stashed. Also on her list is a generator for the freezers full of meat. Luckily, she had rolling power and lost none of that. Her husband is deployed overseas. It was her and her two teens, and she invited a woman and her three young children who had no preps for anything. Water was just a trickle but they caught it in pots, etc., and boiled it during the short periods when power was on. Used fireplace for heat, (buddy heater as backup) blanketed off doorways, and they all slept in the living room. Two adults, five kids, two large dogs, four guinea pigs and they rigged up a "hobo hut" outside for the feral cats she feeds. Oh, and the roads were iced over so no going out for anything. They did fine. In fact, they went sledding, made snow people, and since no power for remote schooling, no school! A vacation time. These folks know how to make lemonade.
Btw, when I quit wheeled living, I kept the buddy heater, the birkey, and all the camping gear. Just in case.
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Obviously, it's been a bit of a rough ride here in North Texas--even in the S&B. Truthfully, we were among the fortunate, with a full larder, relatively short power outages and a fairly short boil water advisory period. We also had full tanks of gas in the van and Prius. I raided the van for a few helpful items I've carried in case of unexpected cold, and was very glad to have them.
Before temperatures dropped significantly, I "stashed" hot water in thermos containers in ice chests packed with towels and hot water bottles--one of which stayed under the covers, keeping my winter coat and our feet warm. At the same time, I filled all manor of empty cans and other containers with water and set them outside to freeze for use in the refrigerator/freezer "in case" of power loss. I also drew water. This all became useful.
Yes, plumbers (the Governor just authorized those from outside Texas or with expired licenses to provide services--but bring your own parts/fittings!), dry wall contractors, and carpet installers will find plenty of work here. Oh, and fence builders: some people burned theirs for heat.
Before temperatures dropped significantly, I "stashed" hot water in thermos containers in ice chests packed with towels and hot water bottles--one of which stayed under the covers, keeping my winter coat and our feet warm. At the same time, I filled all manor of empty cans and other containers with water and set them outside to freeze for use in the refrigerator/freezer "in case" of power loss. I also drew water. This all became useful.
Yes, plumbers (the Governor just authorized those from outside Texas or with expired licenses to provide services--but bring your own parts/fittings!), dry wall contractors, and carpet installers will find plenty of work here. Oh, and fence builders: some people burned theirs for heat.
^^^ you might want to check out an inverter for your Prius it is pretty easy to get 1500 watts out of your 12 volt small battery and 3,000 watts out of the main battery. Actually cheaper and quieter than a Honda generator to run.
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Bullfrog: I would like to know more about that.
We had planned to use the Prius to warm up in if needed, but I didn't act quickly enough. I left it in the garage too long, and there was no way I was going to open the garage door to a 25 mph north wind with single digit temps. What if I couldn't get it closed again?! Also, my steep driveway was under 5 inches of snow. Next time, I'll pull it around sooner.
We had planned to use the Prius to warm up in if needed, but I didn't act quickly enough. I left it in the garage too long, and there was no way I was going to open the garage door to a 25 mph north wind with single digit temps. What if I couldn't get it closed again?! Also, my steep driveway was under 5 inches of snow. Next time, I'll pull it around sooner.
A 1500 watt inverter simply connects to your positive and negative posts of your small 12 volt battery. The 12 volt battery is charged by a wire with a 100 amp fuse (the reason you can only run a maximum 1500 watt inverter) from the big main battery from the factory so when the big main battery gets low the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) starts up (be sure the exhaust fumes are vented) and charges the big main battery. Just plug in a heavy duty extension cord and run it in the house. You should be able to run a small ceramic heater or charge things as long as they don’t use more than 1500 watts. There is a more costly system that hooks up to your big battery that can produce 3,000 watts. They were used to run whole households during the hurricanes that went up the east coast a few years ago. They usually use a plug in in the car and a transfer switch in the house and a 30 amp Marine or RV extension cord to attach to an external plugin on you house which is directly wired to the transfer switch which uses selected house circuits like lights, refrigerator or furnace.
mpruet
Well-known member
Stargazer. said:
The outside faucets in my home near Dallas have a rod about two feet long which opens the valve. That causes the water for the outside faucets to be contained two feet inside the house.
Sofisintown
Well-known member
in my area the water pipes are buried 5 feet under, and the sewer lines 6 feet under.
There is no plumbing on the outside walls of houses, except for the yard faucet that shuts off from inside the house.
There is no plumbing on the outside walls of houses, except for the yard faucet that shuts off from inside the house.
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Thanks, Bullfrog, for the info re Prius inverter/generator. It might have been easier to get warm using the heated seats and "instant" on cab heat than running a, say, 750 watt heater through an inverter. Maybe not, though, given all that glass and fierce wind. I will look into getting an inverter to have more options.
mpruet
Well-known member
Well, the cold snap is over, but a lot of folks are seeing some really high electric bills coming in.
OK - Texas power system is much like the ‘shoot-em-up’ Wild West. There are several electric distribution companies which sell to the consumer. The state government allows those companies to either have a fixed charge per kilowatt usage or to use an index based over the wholesale price that the producers charge. Basically with the index charging, the consumer pays a small percentage over the wholesale price.
It was the variable index folks that got hit because the wholesale price is based on the supply/demand ratio. As the demand exceeds the supply, the wholesale price increases.
Normally the index rate plans are quite a bit cheaper than the fixed rate planes because the Texas Grid is isolated from other states, so the power generated has to go somewhere. But during the cold snap, the wholesale price rose.
Probably the really nasty thing that occurred is that many, if not most, of the folks on the index rate plans use direct billing so they were hit from their banks and CC companies with overdrawn accounts.
BIG TIME RULE - Do not use automatic withdrawals for variable costs!!!
SECONDARY RULE - Avoid automatic withdrawals period.
OK - Texas power system is much like the ‘shoot-em-up’ Wild West. There are several electric distribution companies which sell to the consumer. The state government allows those companies to either have a fixed charge per kilowatt usage or to use an index based over the wholesale price that the producers charge. Basically with the index charging, the consumer pays a small percentage over the wholesale price.
It was the variable index folks that got hit because the wholesale price is based on the supply/demand ratio. As the demand exceeds the supply, the wholesale price increases.
Normally the index rate plans are quite a bit cheaper than the fixed rate planes because the Texas Grid is isolated from other states, so the power generated has to go somewhere. But during the cold snap, the wholesale price rose.
Probably the really nasty thing that occurred is that many, if not most, of the folks on the index rate plans use direct billing so they were hit from their banks and CC companies with overdrawn accounts.
BIG TIME RULE - Do not use automatic withdrawals for variable costs!!!
SECONDARY RULE - Avoid automatic withdrawals period.
MythicTraveler
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I grew up in snow country, but ended up living in the South for a few decades ... they don't get enough snow and ice to have the right equipment. Also, they don't build the grid system to withstand ice ... Ice Storm from Kansas and northward no problem, in Atlanta the power lines just snap.
The weather manipulation capabilities have increased since they first started cloud seeding in the 50's. High Octane Speculation could run wild given the current political climate. Snow in Mexico?? We are in the middle of climate change and just read some scientific data that says that the Earth experiences these in cycles even when there are no people on the planet, so it's a natural thing. Also, we're entering a Solar Minimum heading towards a mini-ice age. It will take a while to get there, so this snow in Texas/Mexico is just plain strange.
The weather manipulation capabilities have increased since they first started cloud seeding in the 50's. High Octane Speculation could run wild given the current political climate. Snow in Mexico?? We are in the middle of climate change and just read some scientific data that says that the Earth experiences these in cycles even when there are no people on the planet, so it's a natural thing. Also, we're entering a Solar Minimum heading towards a mini-ice age. It will take a while to get there, so this snow in Texas/Mexico is just plain strange.