Coldpocalypse II: We are Literally All Going to Die Thread

[ZipZap]

Originally Posted by TripleBlack

Much of Ft. Worth is now under a 'boil water' order after issues at one of the water stations. Our city gets water from Ft. Worth from a different station, but we have been cut off by Ft. Worth so they can take care of their own.


I had a little heads up and have plenty of drinking water, but...



Question: Is it considered "Third World" if you have to break the ice on the spa section of your swimming pool so you can carry in water to flush your toilets?

Just drop one in the spa

[Aerovette]

Jumpin mother shit balls !! What a fecked up 50 plus hours !! I'm hot-spotting from my phone since nothing in the freaking state seems to work worth a shit if it dips below 90 degrees.

This morning after many hours of no electricity, it was 43 degress in the house. I moved the refrigerator contents outside since it was colder there than in the refrigerator. Power finally came on today which gave me a chance to figure out why I had no water for two days. I figured I'd get the old heat gun and thaw some pipes. Yeah right. The elbow at the connection into the house was shattered like glass and I could see the ice in each end of the broken pipe. I went to Lowe's where I was realistically at LEAST the 120th person in line. Maybe more. A "Town Crier" employee is going up and down the line shouting out the items they DON'T have...all of which were pretty easy to guess...No space heaters, no generators, no fire logs, no fire starters, no propane, no butane...on and one down the list. I needed about 1 foot of 3/4 PVC and an elbow, you got that? "Yes, I think we do". They did. Took forever to get in and once in, the plumbing section looked like the front row of a rock concert during the encore. People 6 deep and arms grabbing anything they could. I got my stuff and left. HOURS shot.

As it turn out, my shitty builder, who I would love to track down and feed to a gator, ran about 30 feet of PVC, in and UNINSULATED wall. Gee, I wonder why it froze? Let me tell you all something that only a fool would dispute...wrapping pipes does NOTHING. NOTHING at all. NADA...ZILCH. 10 degrees is ten degrees and EVERY material will reach that same 10 degrees no matter the number of layers or how well applied. Unless you have a heat source, you cannot wrap something and warm it up. The news people stating this should be shot. I already knew it to be true, but I was a good soldier and did it just the same.

I had to cobble together a repair that I hope will last until I can get the right materials and cut the drywall and access the plumbing the proper way. It's holding, but who knows for how long?

Power came on at 10:00 am this morning and I was just waiting for the moment that it would go back off. Just like I am right now I hurriedly made something to eat, edged the furnace up in increments, relit the water heater, checked on friends, charged my phone, etc. 9:22 it went back off. Temps right now are 34, but I have water running anyway since it will be about 28 in a couple hours.

Highlights:
Shoveled snow in to 5 gallon buckets in order to flush the toilets...except that the house was so damn cold, the snow didn't melt even sitting next to the fireplace.

Gas log fireplaces are WORTHLESS unless you are willing to nearly climb inside the damn thing to get warm. I took a thermometer and set it where I was sitting and in comparison with across the room, there was a two degree difference.

Learned that I need to have a fully stocked arsenal of plumbing supplies in my garage.

Learned that you can't put water lines 6 inches deep in the ground and expect them not to freeze.

Learned that I have to run my truck for over an hour to charge my cell phone. At 30 minutes I hit 50% and called it good.

Learned that ABS doesn't mean shit on hard ice/snow. I slid right out of the exit to my subdivision going about 1/2 mph. Thankfully no one was coming.

Learned 4 wheel drive is quite handy

Learned that ice will scratch paint as it flies off.

Learned that this green energy shit is for the birds.

Learned that a patio heater is as valuable as a shovel when you are clearing a sidewalk of ice.

Learned that the only way I can fix my plumbing the right way, is to duct house air into what will become a plywood and foam duct in the wall.

Learned that being outside in 18 degree weather is actually a good time to wear a mask. Nose was warm.

Learned that if the weathermen say it will be a nice day it will suck ass. If the weathermen say it will be a shitty day...it will be.

Learned that I am addicted to TV and the internet and the last few days have been what I imagine a heroin addict goes through. There was shivering, incoherence, and misery.

I'm going to watch something on Netflix while I still have power and I am not going to be at work tomorrow. Nope.

[LisaJohn]

OMG! I’m going to ask J if he has back up plumbing supplies. Thank goodness we haven’t lost power or water this time. My dad was without power for a few hours. My sis or I were about to try go get him but luckily his power came back on. We have a kerosene heater that we bought after an ice storm and no power for a week. Best wishes!

[Giraffe (He/Him)]

Originally Posted by Mick

I have done a lot of camping and skiing in conditions down to about -20 F, maybe -25 a time or two. The "general wisdom" among the folks I have done it with is that below about 0 F, the "dry bulb" temperature doesn't really matter much, that is where the wind becomes the major enemy.

Having spent many a winter working outside here in Minnesota, I can tell you; -20° at the end of your driveway and-20° sitting in a pipe rack at a refinery are worlds apart. Just driving in the gate it feels like the temperature drops 50°.

[Bill]

Damn, Aero, that sucks. I cut the water at Mom's house off at the meter and bled the lines, so hopefully their place is OK.

I had power when I went to bed, but woke up an hour ago and....no power, 55 in house, and our little burg was nice enough to call while I did have power, and tell us we are under a boil water order, so I haven't had a shower in a couple of days, was looking forward to one yesterday and....bam! Sorry!

[Rodnok1]

Yep Aero been there done that for many years, so I moved away from it. Granted you're not in an area gets cold usually though. Need put blankets at doorways and stay in one room. Keep a heat gun always although a hair dryer can melt ice in pipes.
Feel lucky your toilet drains didn't freeze up...
Hope your parents are ok man.

Wait a month and people will start selling off the generators they bought and pick one up, start it twice a year in spring and fall and keeo a fresh 5 gal of gas at all times handy, extra spark plugs and fuel filter for it. Get 2 or 3 good extension cords and leave tied to generator as they'll walk off.

[Torqaholic]

My basement gets pretty darn cold. No heater down there and the foundation has cracks you can see daylight thru. I leave the tub faucet drizzling all Winter long to avoid pipes freezing. Won't help if it gets down to -20 but normal Winter temps don't freeze my pipes as long as I keep water moving.

In fact my heater went out last month. Was down for a couple weeks. Kept the upstairs warm by boiling a couple kettles of water on the stove top. Had doubts the pipes would hold up but they did just fine.

[Bill]

Well, I woke up just now to the pleasant sound of the fridge running. Yup, power's back on, heaters and fridge are doing their thing.

[snide]

Originally Posted by aerovette

You'd think the electrician in the group would have a standby generator.

[Bill]

Originally Posted by snide

You'd think the electrician in the group would have a standby generator.

Most of us here have generators. The thing is, it's just a question of what level of discomfort we are willing to put up with before we roll them out. They're noisy, too. Usually, it's required after a few hours, to power the fridge, to not lose food. This is something we've never experienced, really, in my 40 plus years in Houston.....power outages of significance in the Winter.

So for me, rather than dragging out the generator, running outdoor extension cords, etc. I just said screw it, emptied out the fridge into a cooler and put the cooler out on the frozen back patio.

Having said that, when this is all over, I'm going to do what one of my neighbor's did....installed a 220 plug outside, by his breaker panel. When we lost power, he isolated the house from the grid, then plugged a pigtail from his generator into the 220 outlet, and had enough power with a 5,000 kW generator to power his fridge AND both his gas heating units, plus lights, etc.

I want that. I just never knew I'd need it. Who ever thought we'd be worried about staying warm in tropical Houston?

[Jeff '79]

Originally Posted by bill_daniels

Most of us here have generators. The thing is, it's just a question of what level of discomfort we are willing to put up with before we roll them out. They're noisy, too. Usually, it's required after a few hours, to power the fridge, to not lose food. This is something we've never experienced, really, in my 40 plus years in Houston.....power outages of significance in the Winter.

So for me, rather than dragging out the generator, running outdoor extension cords, etc. I just said screw it, emptied out the fridge into a cooler and put the cooler out on the frozen back patio.

Having said that, when this is all over, I'm going to do what one of my neighbor's did....installed a 220 plug outside, by his breaker panel. When we lost power, he isolated the house from the grid, then plugged a pigtail from his generator into the 220 outlet, and had enough power with a 5,000 kW generator to power his fridge AND both his gas heating units, plus lights, etc.

I want that. I just never knew I'd need it. Who ever thought we'd be worried about staying warm in tropical Houston?

With that solution and that size generator, you'll be able to power your entire house. That is exactly what I used up in Buffalo when we had ice storms or blizzards that knocked the power out. Heat, internet, TV, freezer, 2 fridges..... Everything.

[Mick]

Originally Posted by aerovette

Let me tell you all something that only a fool would dispute...wrapping pipes does NOTHING. NOTHING at all. NADA...ZILCH. 10 degrees is ten degrees and EVERY material will reach that same 10 degrees no matter the number of layers or how well applied. Unless you have a heat source, you cannot wrap something and warm it up. The news people stating this should be shot. I already knew it to be true, but I was a good soldier and did it just the same.

While this is technically true, you do have a heat source in this case. The water in your incoming pipe is probably at 40 degrees or so, so when it is 0 degrees outside, the water itself is the heat source. That is why you insulate the pipes, to slow down the cooling of that water to below freezing. This is also why, when it gets ridiculously cold here, we leave a faucet running a skinny stream of water at all times to keep the water in the inlet pipe slowly moving so it doesn't freeze. I have also added insulation to the pipe. Good luck!

[Rodnok1]

Couple more items Aero...
A cheap invertor and bring a car battery inside to charge electronics and a battery pack for phones. I have several and they'll charge a phone 2 to 4 times easily and cost 20 bucks or so.
When we are due a hurricane I take a battery out of a car(old furd right now) and put on charger, when running generator I recharge it also then run invertor if needed.
You get hurricanes and floods there so time to start building your stock up of items. Every incident I pack a few more things away.
Oh almost forgot, guy up the street told me this one, keep few cans spray foam handy. When a branch goes thru roof you can hack it off leaving it in roof and spray foam it in, acts like a cork and better than a tarp for punctures.

[kingpin]

Originally Posted by aerovette

Jumpin mother shit balls !! What a fecked up 50 plus hours !! I'm hot-spotting from my phone since nothing in the freaking state seems to work worth a shit if it dips below 90 degrees.

This morning after many hours of no electricity, it was 43 degress in the house. I moved the refrigerator contents outside since it was colder there than in the refrigerator. Power finally came on today which gave me a chance to figure out why I had no water for two days. I figured I'd get the old heat gun and thaw some pipes. Yeah right. The elbow at the connection into the house was shattered like glass and I could see the ice in each end of the broken pipe. I went to Lowe's where I was realistically at LEAST the 120th person in line. Maybe more. A "Town Crier" employee is going up and down the line shouting out the items they DON'T have...all of which were pretty easy to guess...No space heaters, no generators, no fire logs, no fire starters, no propane, no butane...on and one down the list. I needed about 1 foot of 3/4 PVC and an elbow, you got that? "Yes, I think we do". They did. Took forever to get in and once in, the plumbing section looked like the front row of a rock concert during the encore. People 6 deep and arms grabbing anything they could. I got my stuff and left. HOURS shot.

As it turn out, my shitty builder, who I would love to track down and feed to a gator, ran about 30 feet of PVC, in and UNINSULATED wall. Gee, I wonder why it froze? Let me tell you all something that only a fool would dispute...wrapping pipes does NOTHING. NOTHING at all. NADA...ZILCH. 10 degrees is ten degrees and EVERY material will reach that same 10 degrees no matter the number of layers or how well applied. Unless you have a heat source, you cannot wrap something and warm it up. The news people stating this should be shot. I already knew it to be true, but I was a good soldier and did it just the same.

I had to cobble together a repair that I hope will last until I can get the right materials and cut the drywall and access the plumbing the proper way. It's holding, but who knows for how long?

Power came on at 10:00 am this morning and I was just waiting for the moment that it would go back off. Just like I am right now I hurriedly made something to eat, edged the furnace up in increments, relit the water heater, checked on friends, charged my phone, etc. 9:22 it went back off. Temps right now are 34, but I have water running anyway since it will be about 28 in a couple hours.

Highlights:
Shoveled snow in to 5 gallon buckets in order to flush the toilets...except that the house was so damn cold, the snow didn't melt even sitting next to the fireplace.

Gas log fireplaces are WORTHLESS unless you are willing to nearly climb inside the damn thing to get warm. I took a thermometer and set it where I was sitting and in comparison with across the room, there was a two degree difference.

Learned that I need to have a fully stocked arsenal of plumbing supplies in my garage.

Learned that you can't put water lines 6 inches deep in the ground and expect them not to freeze.

Learned that I have to run my truck for over an hour to charge my cell phone. At 30 minutes I hit 50% and called it good.

Learned that ABS doesn't mean shit on hard ice/snow. I slid right out of the exit to my subdivision going about 1/2 mph. Thankfully no one was coming.

Learned 4 wheel drive is quite handy

Learned that ice will scratch paint as it flies off.

Learned that this green energy shit is for the birds.

Learned that a patio heater is as valuable as a shovel when you are clearing a sidewalk of ice.

Learned that the only way I can fix my plumbing the right way, is to duct house air into what will become a plywood and foam duct in the wall.

Learned that being outside in 18 degree weather is actually a good time to wear a mask. Nose was warm.

Learned that if the weathermen say it will be a nice day it will suck ass. If the weathermen say it will be a shitty day...it will be.

Learned that I am addicted to TV and the internet and the last few days have been what I imagine a heroin addict goes through. There was shivering, incoherence, and misery.

I'm going to watch something on Netflix while I still have power and I am not going to be at work tomorrow. Nope.

Insulating pipes with pipe wrap or split foam isn't to warm them up. It's too reduce heat loss on the hot water side and keep condensation down on the cold side. It also helps to save the pipes from any type of drafts which aids in the pipe freezing. It's why it's called insulation.
I will guess that the houses built in that climate aren't built to consider this type of weather though so things like running pipe in an uninsulated wall is pretty common.

https://thehtrc.com/2013/insulating-...lines-worth-it

[Stangkiller]

Damn Aero,

I'm not terribly far behind you.

at 5:45am Monday morning we lost power

4:00 PM Monday evening our water pressure dropped.
I cut off at the meter, drained all the lines and dropped the whole house filter.
8:30pm I was notified the water pressure drop was city water not my house freezing up, I decided to leave the pipes empty for the night.

4am I hear a very loud POP in the ceiling over the master

2pm Tuesday I thawed the frozen filter head and restored water. We had water and good pressure everywhere but the apartment over the garage had no water. (still haven't figured that one out yet) Unfortunately the loud pop was a copper pipe blowing out a 90* bend above my ceiling, so despite trying to be careful I wound up with a waterfall in my master bedroom anyways.

Tuesday afternoon pulled the ceiling down in the master, found the pipe, begged neighbor for a shower and finally sought evacuation to a coworkers house.

With the freezing rain forecast for today we didn't even go back to the house.

I have the parts to fix my copper blow out, but no solder or paste so we'll see if I can get somebody to do the fix for me.


Since I'm at a coworkers house with plenty of power and internet, I ordered a metric shit tone of piping caps and connectors for copper, CPVC and PVC. like $1700 bucks worth. Hoping I'll be able to help a few neighbors out next week.

[snide]

Originally Posted by bill_daniels

Most of us here have generators. The thing is, it's just a question of what level of discomfort we are willing to put up with before we roll them out. They're noisy, too. Usually, it's required after a few hours, to power the fridge, to not lose food. This is something we've never experienced, really, in my 40 plus years in Houston.....power outages of significance in the Winter.

So for me, rather than dragging out the generator, running outdoor extension cords, etc. I just said screw it, emptied out the fridge into a cooler and put the cooler out on the frozen back patio.

Having said that, when this is all over, I'm going to do what one of my neighbor's did....installed a 220 plug outside, by his breaker panel. When we lost power, he isolated the house from the grid, then plugged a pigtail from his generator into the 220 outlet, and had enough power with a 5,000 kW generator to power his fridge AND both his gas heating units, plus lights, etc.

I want that. I just never knew I'd need it. Who ever thought we'd be worried about staying warm in tropical Houston?

One of Aero's styrofoam coolers I hope....

[Stangkiller]

Originally Posted by snide

One of Aero's styrofoam coolers I hope....

No LIE I did find Aero's coolers on north 610...but they were just Styrofoam dust.

[Raazor]

I hear it's cold in places

[ZipZap]

I have a 6500w generator that I moved from VA. It is plenty to keep a whole house good to go. Being on a well, it was essential to have a back-up. While it is a one-time expense, it can make a huge difference. During Katrina, we would run the well, fridges/freezers, and a/c in cycles.

Fast forward to the CO Rockies and I upgraded to a whole house 22kw NG set up. I still kept the gas generator for the disaster need. I have not replaced the dead man's hook up here, but have the Romex to do it if needed. I have a cut off from the line to safe the workers if I do so.

I do remember the first time we were without power, on a well, and how helpless I felt. I will not be there again. If folks' water is removed, that's a serious game changer. I hope y'all get through this!

[Aerovette]

Checking the maps, an area very close to me has a boil water alert, but my neighborhood does not. I'm thinking I don't trust that map and should do it anyway.

What about for pets? Boil or are they more resilient and immune to such things ( I mean my old dog ate dead birds)