Weather

[Alli]

Gonna stay in the 40’s tonight. Yay!

In the meanwhile, the plumber taught us a great lesson yesterday. When you’re expecting freezing weather overnight, turn off the water main and empty all your faucets. In the morning, turn the water back on. Worked a treat. Unfortunately, it looks like we’ll have to repeat this trick again tomorrow night. But then we’ll be going back to the 60’s and 70’s where it’s supposed to be.

 

[Huntn]

Gonna stay in the 40’s tonight. Yay!

In the meanwhile, the plumber taught us a great lesson yesterday. When you’re expecting freezing weather overnight, turn off the water main and empty all your faucets. In the morning, turn the water back on. Worked a treat. Unfortunately, it looks like we’ll have to repeat this trick again tomorrow night. But then we’ll be going back to the 60’s and 70’s where it’s supposed to be.

When your insulation is questionable, some people will let their faucets drip to a slow stream over night. For a house like ours when the heat drops off, on a concrete slab, this would be pipes on the outside walls like our kitchen sink, and our master bathrooms sinks. Also leave the cabinet doors for those sinks open to the room, and yes, if really bad turn off water outside and drain your faucets.

For us this was compounded when you lose the heat in your house. It went from a not really worried about it, to when the power shutdown, to oh crap. What's interesting is that they are calling these rolling blackouts, but they are doing that in Tulsa and our friend there is losing power for 2 hrs and then it's back on. When you lose power for 1-4 days, then that is not a great description. Even having the power off for 6 hrs, then on for 18 hrs would be workable.

What is interesting is that insulation does 2 things, keeps the cold out, cold in, heat out, heat in. In Minnesota 8" exterior walls is a standard, but not the case in Houston. When I was putting in the 2' of insulation in the attic, my wife's brilliant friend asked, why do that, it does not get that cold here. Yeah well the attic insulation knocked our AC bill almost to half of what it was. And if more houses here had 8" walls filled with insulation, it would have a huge positive impact on freak events like this cold spike and save money in the summer too.

 

[Alli]

When your insulation is questionable, some people will let their faucets drip to a slow stream over night. For a house like ours when the heat drops off, on a concrete slab, this would be pipes on the outside walls like our kitchen sink, and our master bathrooms sinks. Also leave the cabinet doors for those sinks open to the room, and yes, if really bad turn off water outside and drain your faucets.

We have great insulation. We recently had insulation placed under the house to keep the heat (or cold) from dissipating through the floorboards. Unfortunately, the house is not on a slab. (Very few homes on the gulf are built on slabs.) Like every other home around here, the house is on pillars. That means all the pipes are pretty much exposed to the wind and cold (which we rarely get). Even wrapping each pipe doesn't give a lot of protection from an icy wind. Live and learn.

 

[JayMysteri0]

Not something you see often
https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1362196368631074822/

 

[lizkat]

My understanding is that Windmills up North, Minnesota, Iowa, run through out the winter.

Yeah, yer genius gov Abbott was reading propaganda talking points. Windmills even run in Antarctica....

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1362127602123702273/

 

[Huntn]

Texas is getting knocked. 4million citizens lost elec power and/or water. The State prides itself in shoving away regulation, yet the business interests involved failed to spend the money to prepare their equipment for cold, icing conditions as if that never happens in Texas. Profits are music to their ears, except now... who knows?

I think some regulatory changes maybe coming. When you have a corporation managing the Texas electrical power grid, the State’s own grid without State oversight, and don’t need no stink’n regulations, well then maybe 4M citizens take it on the chin for your wallet.

My sister inlaw lives in a fancy newish house over by Lake Austin, my understanding is they had not lost electrical power when a water pipe burst Inside their home. As a veteran of Minnesota winters, I have to ask, what kind of houses are they building in Texas?? To myself, not them.

 

[fooferdoggie]

well the snow is melting. it goes fast in portland. but a road I came home on with some snow slush. well it was 37 out but that one stretch I guess it had frozen and it was pretty tricky on the bike. but now its just what's left from the plows but that can cover the bike lanes in places. saw this poor tree when I came home. so many beaches down from older trees. but this was the biggest I saw.

 

[fooferdoggie]

Texas is getting knocked. 4million citizens lost elec power and/or water. The State prides itself in shoving away regulation, yet the business interests involved failed to spend the money to prepare their equipment for cold, icing conditions as if that never happens in Texas. Profits are music to their ears, except now... who knows?

I think some regulatory changes maybe coming. When you have a corporation managing the Texas electrical power grid, the State’s own grid without State oversight, and don’t need no stink’n regulations, well then maybe 4M citizens take it on the chin for your wallet.

My sister inlaw lives in a fancy newish house over by Lake Austin, my understanding is they had not lost electrical power when a water pipe burst Inside their home. As a veteran of Minnesota winters, I have to ask, what kind of houses are they building in Texas?? To myself, not them.

Dont bet on it. I remember after that chemical plant blew up they made it impossible for people to know what the plants are and they actually reduced the overbite of them.

 

[Eraserhead]

When your insulation is questionable, some people will let their faucets drip to a slow stream over night. For a house like ours when the heat drops off, on a concrete slab, this would be pipes on the outside walls like our kitchen sink, and our master bathrooms sinks. Also leave the cabinet doors for those sinks open to the room, and yes, if really bad turn off water outside and drain your faucets.

For us this was compounded when you lose the heat in your house. It went from a not really worried about it, to when the power shutdown, to oh crap. What's interesting is that they are calling these rolling blackouts, but they are doing that in Tulsa and our friend there is losing power for 2 hrs and then it's back on. When you lose power for 1-4 days, then that is not a great description. Even having the power off for 6 hrs, then on for 18 hrs would be workable.

What is interesting is that insulation does 2 things, keeps the cold out, cold in, heat out, heat in. In Minnesota 8" exterior walls is a standard, but not the case in Houston. When I was putting in the 2' of insulation in the attic, my wife's brilliant friend asked, why do that, it does not get that cold here. Yeah well the attic insulation knocked our AC bill almost to half of what it was. And if more houses here had 8" walls filled with insulation, it would have a huge positive impact on freak events like this cold spike and save money in the summer too.

My house has pretty good insulation mostly for the winter, but when it is super warm in the summer you can keep the temperature close to the nighttime minimum inside by closing the curtains and opening the windows at night.

 

[Huntn]

Dont bet on it. I remember after that chemical plant blew up they made it impossible for people to know what the plants are and they actually reduced the overbite of them.

Several plants have blown up over the years the one I remember is the West Fertilizer Plant (ammonia nitrate) in a facility in the middle of the town of West Texas. At one point, I also remember entities in the State either making or trying to make new regulations to keep the location of large amounts of ammonia nitrate secret from average citizens though official reporting.

Feds: Deadly Fertilizer Plant Explosion Was 'Criminal Act'

A fertilizer plant blast that killed 15 people and injured 160 others in April 2013 was caused by a criminal act, federal officials said Wednesday.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[Huntn]

We have great insulation. We recently had insulation placed under the house to keep the heat (or cold) from dissipating through the floorboards. Unfortunately, the house is not on a slab. (Very few homes on the gulf are built on slabs.) Like every other home around here, the house is on pillars. That means all the pipes are pretty much exposed to the wind and cold (which we rarely get). Even wrapping each pipe doesn't give a lot of protection from an icy wind. Live and learn.

They have rubberized sleeved to wrap the pipes in which you most likely have on those exposed pipes.

 

[Huntn]

My house has pretty good insulation mostly for the winter, but when it is super warm in the summer you can keep the temperature close to the nighttime minimum inside by closing the curtains and opening the windows at night.

Where are you?

 

[Eraserhead]

Where are you?

The UK. My house was mostly built in 2018 so building standards are pretty high.

 

[Alli]

They have rubberized sleeved to wrap the pipes in which you most likely have on those exposed pipes.

We have them on most of the pipes. No one wants to crawl under the house amidst the cat shit and dead things to rewrap all of them.

 

[Huntn]

My house has pretty good insulation mostly for the winter, but when it is super warm in the summer you can keep the temperature close to the nighttime minimum inside by closing the curtains and opening the windows at night.

Adding 2’ of cellulose insulation to the attic has made a huge difference in our summer cooling bills.

 

[Huntn]

The UK. My house was mostly built in 2018 so building standards are pretty high.

I thought so, sorry, it’s just that you were momentarily out of context here at talkedabout. As a rule my impression is that the UK does not deal with frigid cold or stifling hot.

 

[Huntn]

We have them on most of the pipes. No one wants to crawl under the house amidst the cat shit and dead things to rewrap all of them.

You need them on all of the pipes or else, said with the warmest of intentions..

 

[Eraserhead]

I thought so, sorry, it’s just that you were momentarily out of context here at talkedabout. As a rule my impression is that the UK does not deal with frigid cold or stifling hot.

True to an extent. But it still regularly gets down to freezing point or a little below and some times gets to 35 degrees C.

To be clear here you could get away with passive cooling only. Whereas in America that would be crazy.

 

[Alli]

You need them on all of the pipes or else, said with the warmest of intentions..

Can I get you to make a quick call to my husband? He's already got them on the list for our next trip to Lowe's. And now we won't need them for another 6 years. Already back to the normal 60's here.

 

[Joe]

Where are you? Sorry if I should know that. On NPR this morning they are talking about rolling power outages due to the demand for natural gas because of the cold. Homes heated with natural gas, like mine, and power companies using natural gas to generate electricity for the grid.

I'm in west Houston.