2020-21 Winter weather; bring it on

[hookem2010 2510]

⁹

[Deej 76080]

1 hour ago, Somnio said:

5 fucking degrees in Austin?!?

 

 

I might have to change out of my shorts. 

[Biff Tannen 44917]

Y’all are freaking me out. I just had $4k worth of water damage in my laundry room and I really don’t want to go through anything like that again. 

[SquishMitten 10368]

3 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

Y’all are freaking me out. I just had $4k worth of water damage in my laundry room and I really don’t want to go through anything like that again. 

Don't worry about going through that again. If a pipe breaks in your house, it'll be way more than $4k worth of damage. Totally different experience

[GhostOfTomJoad 9096]

Mrs GOTJ wants me to put saw horses on our sidewalk to deter people from walking beneath our low hanging live oak limbs. She's fearful that we could be liable if someone were injured by a falling branch.

But by putting them out am I blocking the sidewalk (not that you couldn't easily walk around them) would I be liable if someone walked into the street & was somehow injured as a result?

[YChang 3365]

When will you Chinese learn to celebrate our American holidays?

Sarcasm?

[burntorangebongos 10641]

35 minutes ago, Red Five said:

I can't stress this enough... everyone needs to get to the liquor store in the next two days. Don't be caught off guard with what's coming. This is very important. Do not fuck around and find out.

My plan is to stop at Total Wine to stock up and Home Depot for outdoor faucet insulators on my way home. 

[SimonBolivar 10648]

KWTX now showing Waco not getting above freezing until Wednesday or Thursday. If it made Thursday that would mean a full week of below freezing temperature. I doubt that has happened in our recorded history here.

 

https://www.kwtx.com/weather/

[Trey3216 15298]

1 minute ago, SimonBolivar said:

KWTX now showing Waco not getting above freezing until Wednesday or Thursday. If it made Thursday that would mean a full week of below freezing temperature. I doubt that has happened in our recorded history here.

 

https://www.kwtx.com/weather/

Weather channel still trying to say it’s gonna get to 35 today.   I don’t see how considering it’s 28 and this cloud cover ain’t going anywhere.   Just like it was supposed to get to 38 yesterday and never got above 30.   

[ztejas 42744]

17 minutes ago, YChang said:

Sarcasm?

Yes.

[Skipper 5952]

7 minutes ago, Trey3216 said:

Weather channel still trying to say it’s gonna get to 35 today.   I don’t see how considering it’s 28 and this cloud cover ain’t going anywhere.   Just like it was supposed to get to 38 yesterday and never got above 30.   

Yeah, I don't know what weather channel, weather.com are thinking.  McCauley and even TV meterologists in Dallas has said we likely won't get above freezing until late next week for a couple of days now.  They were right yesterday (despite those other web based forecasts saying upper 30's) and it still shows high of 38 in Dallas today.  Not a chance.

Edited February 12, 2021 by Skipper

[Axle Hongsnort 201]

any prep needed for houses on septic? i’m new in my house and have always been on sewer.

[MoJames 8230]

 

Pretty nice over here in Colorado.

[crimsonlonghorn 2299]

1 hour ago, atomheartbevo said:

I asked if maintenance guy charged by the hour, he said “yep”.  I told him his HOA would be shelling out the bucks for repairs next week, and he should figure out his water cutoff now.  

You should have asked to get your cut of the grift or you're going to raise hell with the HOA about their incompetent maintenance guy. 

[hornian 5153]

@C-Man about to busy with all the busted pipes in his neck of the woods.

I hope I don't have to add to the insanity with my house in Austin. Doing me best to keep it from happening here. 

[hornian 5153]

21 minutes ago, Axle Hongsnort said:

any prep needed for houses on septic? i’m new in my house and have always been on sewer.

I lived on septic for past 5 years, never did anything specific for that. It should mostly all be far enough underground not to freeze. 

[Anastasis 23191]

3 hours ago, Chet Steadman said:

Over 18 hours now without power in NW Hills.  

Glad I bought nearly $100 worth of meat yesterday morning. 

jesus. 

[RPM 26073]

23 minutes ago, Axle Hongsnort said:

any prep needed for houses on septic? i’m new in my house and have always been on sewer.

I could give you a lot of Surly shit but to be honest the answer is nope. Its buried deep enough to take the cold.

[Texas St. Armadillos 1368]

Since it was raised on the last page.  Here is some info from my pool guy if anyone needs it:

 

"The next couple of days are forecasting a hard freeze in our area. To protect your pool equipment the most important preventive measure is to run the pool pumps continuously while temperatures are near and below freezing. This includes all pumps: Main, Cleaner and Water Features.

Pools with electronic control boards typically have freeze protection built in and will come on automatically as the temperature approaches freezing. Some manual timers have a freeze protection feature (a black knob below the timers to select a temperature). Regardless of your system, we recommend you verify your pumps are running to avoid any freeze damage to your equipment.

Pools with hot tubs and automatic valves will alternate the valves to keep water moving in both sets of pipes. If you have manual valves that you turn when using the hot tub, I would partially turn them, ~45 degrees, to keep water flowing in both sets of pipes.

In addition to running your pumps, you may also cover your pipes. Care should be taken to not cover the motors, heaters or any electronic components that could pose a fire hazard.

It is not recommended to run the heater as it will have little effect."

[Js1 82355]

1 hour ago, GhostOfTomJoad said:

Mrs GOTJ wants me to put saw horses on our sidewalk to deter people from walking beneath our low hanging live oak limbs. She's fearful that we could be liable if someone were injured by a falling branch.
 

If only Greg Abbott had seen the saw horses. 

[Anastasis 23191]

@Brisketexan and others mentioned heat tape.  Do I need to be running up to HD to make that happen?  Y'all just wrapping the outdoor faucets with the tape? Makes a lot of sense.  I have frost proof faucets but having that heat radiate up into the pipes in the wall seems like it woudl be good as they all have long runs against exterior walls. 

[Trey3216 15298]

4 minutes ago, Js1 said:

If only Greg Abbott had seen the saw horses. 

Edited February 12, 2021 by Trey3216

[Anastasis 23191]

Just watched some video on HD's website that flashed "not for exterior pipes".  Is that just one of those "don't sue us if you electrocute yourself" things?

[Brisketexan 103143]

1 minute ago, Anastasis said:

@Brisketexan and others mentioned heat tape.  Do I need to be running up to HD to make that happen?  Y'all just wrapping the outdoor faucets with the tape? Makes a lot of sense.  I have frost proof faucets but having that heat radiate up into the pipes in the wall seems like it woudl be good as they all have long runs against exterior walls. 

If there's any left.  I did a test run with it on one of my faucets last night.  I came outside, and checked, and the tape was warm, so it was triggering on and warming the pipe.  The challenge is the length of the tape.  Smallest length I could find was 12 feet, and as you aren't supposed to wrap it over itself, and my faucets don't stick out that far ("I was in the pool!"), so I was only able to get about 4 wraps around it.  Then, I have the rest of the tap just hanging out, stretched out on the ground, heating nothing.  But good luck - when I was at HD at lunch yesterday, there was a cluster of us all doing the same thing.

Now, if you have a length of pipe -- like a well pipe -- you can secure it along the 12 foot length of the pipe, and it will do the job (they even had 24 foot lengths).  Use electrical tape to secure it at various spots, and it will conduct heat into the pipe.  My half brother in ND did that when he was out of college and living in a shitty mobile home - crawled underneath, and rigged up heat tape on all the pipes, and it made it through a ND winter.

I think my plan is going to be to heat tape the three faucets the best I can, then maybe even leave a coil or two of the tap laying loosely on top, cover the whole rig with one of my little soft-sided coolers (the ones I use to cart some extra beers to the tailgate and whatnot), and then leave the remainder of the tape sticking out, just warming the ground.  And, I can touch that tape at times to make sure it's heating, so that might be helpful.

[Brisketexan 103143]

4 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

Just watched some video on HD's website that flashed "not for exterior pipes".  Is that just one of those "don't sue us if you electrocute yourself" things?

Almost certainly.  It's usually used on crawl-space pipes etc. in uninsulated spaces in really cold climates.  But the way I see it....if I cover it all so it doesn't get wet, I'm doing what I need to be doing.  It doesn't get scalding hot - it just radiates warmth.  And two of the three faucets I'm covering are under a patio cover anyway, so little exposure to moisture.

[Gale Snoats 242]

7 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

@Brisketexan and others mentioned heat tape.  Do I need to be running up to HD to make that happen?  Y'all just wrapping the outdoor faucets with the tape? Makes a lot of sense.  I have frost proof faucets but having that heat radiate up into the pipes in the wall seems like it woudl be good as they all have long runs against exterior walls. 

Related question -- what exactly is heat tape?  Can someone provide a link to HD or somewhere that shows a specific product?  i see something called Frost King Pipe Wrap Insulation Tape...that what we're talking about here?  

[Anastasis 23191]

2 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

But good luck - when I was at HD at lunch yesterday, there was a cluster of us all doing the same thing.

I saw some yesterday morning when I made my supply run.  Online shows that they dont have any available for pickup, so might be sold out or just not listing it online. IIRC, it was long like 30ft. 

[Pato del Muerto 51914]

25 minutes ago, hornian said:

I lived on septic for past 5 years, never did anything specific for that. It should mostly all be far enough underground not to freeze. 

About 12 years ago I lived at a property on septic in Pearland, and we had a real cold spell and the line froze. But running hot water down the sink melted the blockage after a few minutes. 

[Brisketexan 103143]

7 minutes ago, Gale Snoats said:

Related question -- what exactly is heat tape?  Can someone provide a link to HD or somewhere that shows a specific product?  i see something called Frost King Pipe Wrap Insulation Tape...that what we're talking about here?  

It looks like this (this is a 30 foot section):

 

 

The black circle is the thermostat, so that needs to either be touching the pipe or exposed to the air.  And yeah, there's all kinds of warnings about making sure it's on a GFCI outlet, etc.  I am going to make sure to seal all plugs with electric tape to keep them dry, but I'm going with it.  I think I'll rig it to where the thermostat is outside of my insulated sleeve (so it reacts to the cold air), and then wrap the tape around the faucet several times.  Then, I'll run the excess length out of the insulated sleeve and along the porch, under cover so it doesn't get wet (but it's fully sealed, so I don't think moisture will do anything to it).

I'll work on my rig tonight, and take a pic.

[C-Man 26535]

50 minutes ago, hornian said:

@C-Man about to busy with all the busted pipes in his neck of the woods.

I hope I don't have to add to the insanity with my house in Austin. Doing me best to keep it from happening here. 

Let's hope not! They're forecasting temps as low as 1 or 0 up here in Dallas for Monday/Tuesday. Holy fuck, this is insane!

[Chet Steadman 940]

Just passed the 24 hour mark without power.  

Good work Austin Energy. 

[C-Man 26535]

BTW, in case anybody's interested (most of this common sense type shit):

https://www.chubb.com/us-en/claims/winter-storm-personal-preparedness-planning.html

[Chet Steadman 940]

Just passed the 24 hour mark without power.  

Good work Austin Energy. 

[Kringelbert Fishtybuns 942]

5 minutes ago, Chet Steadman said:

Just passed the 24 hour mark without power.  

Good work Austin Energy. 

Yeah.  This is crossing over the nuisance threshold.  The kids don’t have school and we have a power station to run my laptop/hot spot, so I have been able to work today.  The house is still 64 F thanks to the fire place and the stovetop, but the brand new tankless gas water heater doesn’t work without without electricity.  My kids will need to bathe by tomorrow, because I will be arrested if I send them outside.

[Post Oak 20068]

Advice Needed-

Just went to check my exterior north facing faucet and it's frozen. Should I try to warm it up or just leave it wrapped?

Edited February 12, 2021 by Post Oak

[jofus 2265]

PSA regarding frost proof sillcocks:

My house has frost proof sillcocks, but i didn't know anything about them.  In order for them to work properly, you need to remove the hose so the water can drain out.

Before i learned that I had given up on removing my hose (calcified and stripped end).  So i took so branch loppers and cut the hose off. The hose and sillcock both had ice in them.  After about 15 minuets of holding a hairdryer to the spout, with valve open, water came gushing out.  proceeded to cover it with a 3m thermal sock and foam cover.

Edited February 12, 2021 by jofus

[Brisketexan 103143]

8 minutes ago, Post Oak said:

Advice Needed-

Just went to check my exterior north facing faucet and it's frozen. Should I try to warm it up or just leave it wrapped?

I'd warm it up ASAP.  It's probably only lightly frozen, which won't crack your pipes.  Get it warmed up and flowing, then wrap it like hell and hope for the best?  

Shit, I dunno.  This one is gonna be a bad one.  I'm just afraid that no matter all of our best efforts, sustained single digit temps will be more than our infrastructure can handle.

[Kringelbert Fishtybuns 942]

11 minutes ago, Post Oak said:

Advice Needed-

Just went to check my exterior north facing faucet and it's frozen. Should I try to warm it up or just leave it wrapped?

A couple of mine were partially frozen.  I took my blow torch to them to get them going.  I wrapped them up and will probably periodically warm them up.  It’s all I can do for now until I get my damn power back.

[Orange&White 5497]

I live in the Lakewood portion of 78750. Our power was out from 11:28 PM until 1:15 today.

This seems like an opportune moment to remind people that the Austin City Council still absconds $110 a year from Austin Energy to pay for General Fund items like Economic Development incentives (for companies to move to the absolute hottest city in the nation for companies to move to) and to fund things like Festivals and other pet Projects of their choosing.

Maybe that $110M a year would help my neighborhood NOT lose fucking power every time a drop of rain falls, or heaven forbid it gets cold. During the snow a few weeks ago we were out for 9 hours.

I don't think it can be overstated how much every member of the Austin City Council can go fuck their own faces.

 

Edit for truthfulness: It is "only" $110M per year.

Edited February 12, 2021 by Orange&White

[Parliament 13979]

Do they sell trouble lights of the incandescent type anymore? Or a straight up heat lamp? That'd work well on your faucets.

[C-Man 26535]

22 minutes ago, Post Oak said:

Advice Needed-

Just went to check my exterior north facing faucet and it's frozen. Should I try to warm it up or just leave it wrapped?

I went out to check mine -- been wrapped since last night -- to top off the pool with water before the big freeze hits late Saturday night and it appears it's frozen already. My FIL suggested warming it with a hair dryer. That or I could use the Benzomatic torch!

[C-Man 26535]

10 minutes ago, Orange&White said:

I live in the Lakewood portion of 78750. Our power was out from 11:28 PM until 1:15 today.

This seems like an opportune moment to remind people that the Austin City Council still absconds $200M a year from Austin Energy to pay for General Fund items like Economic Development incentives (for companies to move to the absolute hottest city in the nation for companies to move to) and to fund things like Festivals and other pet Projects of their choosing.

Maybe that $200M a year would help my neighborhood NOT lose fucking power every time a drop of rain falls, or heaven forbid it gets cold. During the snow a few weeks ago we were out for 9 hours.

I don't think it can be overstated how much every member of the Austin City Council can go fuck their own faces.

 

 

Don't worry -- FitLump is on the case!

[Guest Lobo]

17 minutes ago, Post Oak said:

Advice Needed-

Just went to check my exterior north facing faucet and it's frozen. Should I try to warm it up or just leave it wrapped?

If you can get at the other side of it from inside your house, put a space heater on that part of the wall for an hour or so.  It helps a lot, obviously watch it so you don't start your drywall on fire.  But it's much more efficient to warm it from the inside than the outside (and safer).  Remember the actual exterior faucet fixture itself isn't really the issue, it's what can happen an inch back up in there (that's what she said).  Warm from the inside if you can.  If these temps are sustained as possibly predicted, I'm gonna tarp off any exterior venting up in the attic as well where my pipes are insulated, but with just builder-grade shit...I need heavy duty but instead I'll rotate a space heater around up there.  And for safety, I'll have to sit with it and freeze my ass off for an hour before bed and an hour at dawn.  I need some brandy and a thermos.  

Serious question...I lived in a high-rise condo in Chicago for a year way back when...it was obviously built for the cold and we had a doozie of a winter that year.  We're all doing what we can to protect 1 & 2 story single-family homes with no basements (I'd say that covers 75% of Surly Texans).  What happens with all the high-rise condo/apartment residents in Texas cities like downtown Austin and Dallas?  Isn't it even colder up there on the 30th floor of whatever tower?  Probably not a lot of piping in the exterior walls, but it's gonna be well below zero at some of those heights.  Are those types of tall buildings protected from the elements that we are about to endure?  Surely they weren't built with sub-zero temps for 72 hours?  I dunno, just wondering I guess.

[crimsonlonghorn 2299]

10 minutes ago, Orange&White said:

I live in the Lakewood portion of 78750. Our power was out from 11:28 PM until 1:15 today.

This seems like an opportune moment to remind people that the Austin City Council still absconds $200M a year from Austin Energy to pay for General Fund items like Economic Development incentives (for companies to move to the absolute hottest city in the nation for companies to move to) and to fund things like Festivals and other pet Projects of their choosing.

Maybe that $200M a year would help my neighborhood NOT lose fucking power every time a drop of rain falls, or heaven forbid it gets cold. During the snow a few weeks ago we were out for 9 hours.

I don't think it can be overstated how much every member of the Austin City Council can go fuck their own faces.

 

 

Don't forget that Austin energy also spends a lot of money on really green really green electricity and other initiatives, money that could be spent on cheaper sources of power and the portion saved could then applied towards infrastructure. 

There is a lot wrong with Austin Energy itself. Don't blame it all on the City Council (although they are the boss, I get it)

[Brisketexan 103143]

2 minutes ago, Parliament said:

Do they sell trouble lights of the incandescent type anymore? Or a straight up heat lamp? That'd work well on your faucets.

We still have a lamp with a 100W incandescent, it gets hot.  We have a plastic greenhouse to freeze protect our plants.  It's pretty small, so we're going to put the lamp out there to heat it up. Also, I have it rigged where the dryer vent blows in there, so before we go to bed, I'll run the dryer for 30 mins to warm it up in there, and then do the same as soon as we get up in the morning.

And it occurs to me....90% of my planning depends on us having electricity.  If we lose that.....I'm going to be heating up things on the stove, and using them to warm pipes (heating some lengths of pipe, that sort of thing, for heat transfer).  F that.  

[LABEVO 928]

HD in central austin was out of stock for faucet covers. I bought pipe covering and made a cover for mine. may also wrap in towels but I think the insulated pipe covers should do it. 

[LABEVO 928]

1 hour ago, C-Man said:

BTW, in case anybody's interested (most of this common sense type shit):

https://www.chubb.com/us-en/claims/winter-storm-personal-preparedness-planning.html

Terrible advice. Has nothing about stocking up on booze and smoking bbq

[Deej 76080]

14 minutes ago, Orange&White said:

I don't think it can be overstated how much every member of the Austin City Council can go fuck their own faces.

Our newest Place 6 member will do that for the right amount of tokens. 

[Brisketexan 103143]

2 minutes ago, LABEVO said:

HD in central austin was out of stock for faucet covers. I bought pipe covering and made a cover for mine. may also wrap in towels but I think the insulated pipe covers should do it. 

Yeah, if you're pinched, grab some pool noodles - you can use those to make layers of insulation.

[hayden_horn 11311]

4 hours ago, Lobo said:

I certainly hope you're not talking about Oaks.  

why?

i was under the impression that coldest of winter or hottest of summer were the times to trim live oaks. 

i was going to trim my front yard broomstick oak on sunday.

i also have a new apple tree in the back yard that i was going to clip off low limbs.