Thread: OT, somewhat. Who else is currently under rolling blackouts?

Nothing to worry about the grubberment will provide unicorns for transportation, cornucopias for food and enough bathrooms for every possible gender, legal sex change for people over the age of six and wind-up Tv and computers.
We will let China do all the manufacturing and work so we will be free 100% of our time to smoke pot and play with our cell phone, computers and TV.

Originally Posted by standardparts

I'm sure Ted Cruz will come up with some snappy reason for what is really a jackass move. Surprised Biden did not head to Texas to see what he could help with.

I'm definitely not a Biden lover, but:

President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Approves Texas Emergency Declaration | The White House

White House Says Biden Offered Texas Governor More Federal Disaster Relief

Biden authorizes supplies for Texas amid power outages, approves new disaster declarations | TheHill

Homeland security adviser and deputy national security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall told reporters Thursday afternoon that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has supplied 60 generators to support critical sites like hospitals and water facilities, 729,000 liters of water, more than 10,000 wool blankets, 50,000 cotton blankets and 225,000 meals.

Officials are also preparing for the possibility of further requests by Texas and getting ready to supply diesel fuel to power facilities, she said.

Originally Posted by standardparts

"The president said he had planned on traveling to Texas in the middle of next week, but cautioned that “I don’t want to be a burden.” LMAO Will guarantee you that Biden will NOT meet face to face with front line emergency service workers unless it's scripted and is less than 15 minutes and without "Dr. Jill" acting as care giver. Watch the whole unedited Milwaukee town hall.

Joe is mentally challenged.

Sounds like that is more apt description of you

After 4 years of a man who can neither speak or spell the English language your recitation of right wing clap trap is amusing

Good for Joe for doing that but down the pike when we have a few windless cloudy days in a row and the whole country goes dark there won't be enough hand wind-up power devices to go around.

I got a late night series of text messages from a property manager in Tx last night, it seems my tenant when she lost power just went home to mommy and daddy's house. That house is setup so the water in the pipes can be drained in 15 minutes, she did not call property manager or even shut the water off, how many people here can guess what happened? Damage is extensive, I'm pretty sure whole house is going to need new plumbing, I don't see any way it can be done with tenant still living there, guess she can get in line with a 100 million other renters trying to find a place with working water and power.

Property manager tried the "its been a horrible week" line on me, for F's sake it froze for a few days, from December thru January it never got above freezing where I am, I'm finding sympathy hard. I hate renters, I swear they are just slightly more intelligent than the turkeys that drown in the rain

Originally Posted by TeachMePlease

I'll believe in climate change when Texas freezes over.

Where you live the heat runs rarely and it is more about A/C after 10 in the morning year long.
Other is that a 1 foot sea rise not that big deal other than the once every 30 year storm surge.
I love outside your home base but also addicted to snow. I do not do the migration and pray for good winter here.
Late fall and then late spring outside the traffic.
Have to add mid summer.
Bob

Originally Posted by gustafson

There was a severe cold spell in the Southwest in 2011, and frigid weather in 1983, 1989, 2003, 2006, 2008 and 2010. A study by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the North American Electric Reliability Corp. of the 2011 event, which also led to widespread blackouts for much the same reasons, found that “the massive amount of generator failures that were experienced raises the question whether it would have been helpful to increase reserve levels going into the event. This action would have brought more units online earlier, might have prevented some of the freezing problems the generators experienced, and could have exposed operational problems in time to implement corrections before the units were needed to meet customer demand.”


bobblehead politics: history what history? we will make the same mistakes over and over, and this time, blame it on liberals

Right. You like to pile on when it is Southerners . Anyway of all of those this one hits the history books. None of the others were so destructive. Of one thing I am certain is that if a cold front came through and froze your yap then it would be celebrated widely.

Think about it what is the world coming to?

Rush Limbaugh dies and hell “Texas” freezes over.

Got to find it ironic that just a little cold weather can cause that much mess
In Texas.
If cnn is to be believed the whole state was reduced to third world conditions.
Probably an not exactly the case

Every one know it doesn’t ever get cold in Texas. Not it just doesn’t usually snow that kind
Of snow you know a light dusting for say Wisconsin.

Truly is a strange world

Originally Posted by gustafson

Sounds like that is more apt description of you

After 4 years of a man who can neither speak or spell the English language your recitation of right wing clap trap is amusing

LOL C'mon Gus...Joe spent something like 45 years practicing. He had eight years playing second banana to Obama. Joe should be able to perform flawlessly.

He can't of course due to diminished mental capacity. Dem Libs had a chance to bring some real talent forward to lead this country. They did not and people like you are in denial regarding Biden's mental challenges.

And for God's sake why do you libs always default to what-about Trump? Why not offer up some compelling facts that Biden's intellectual capability is superior to those he ran against in the primary?

Originally Posted by standardparts

LOL C'mon Gus...Joe spent something like 45 years practicing. He had eight years playing second banana to Obama. Joe should be able to perform flawlessly.

He can't of course due to diminished mental capacity. Dem Libs had a chance to bring some real talent forward to lead this country. They did not and people like you are in denial regarding Biden's mental challenges.

And for God's sake why do you libs always default to what-about Trump? Why not offer up some compelling facts that Biden's intellectual capability is superior to those he ran against in the primary?

But what about Hillary?

Originally Posted by dalmatiangirl61

I got a late night series of text messages from a property manager in Tx last night, it seems my tenant when she lost power just went home to mommy and daddy's house. That house is setup so the water in the pipes can be drained in 15 minutes, she did not call property manager or even shut the water off, how many people here can guess what happened? Damage is extensive, I'm pretty sure whole house is going to need new plumbing, I don't see any way it can be done with tenant still living there, guess she can get in line with a 100 million other renters trying to find a place with working water and power.

Property manager tried the "its been a horrible week" line on me, for F's sake it froze for a few days, from December thru January it never got above freezing where I am, I'm finding sympathy hard. I hate renters, I swear they are just slightly more intelligent than the turkeys that drown in the rain

Sorry to hear that, but I would not expect a young female renter to know how to protect a house's plumbing in the case of a power failure in the freezing cold. I know plenty of middle aged male home owners that would not know how to do it. She probably just panicked like a lot of people do. Maybe you can turn it into a positive and get a check from the insurance company and DIY a lot of the work and pocket some money. Pretty sure PEX is legal in Texas and can save labor and material costs. Hopefully not much water damage. I am in the midst of a re-plumb myself, all the way from the well through the house. Copper pipes ate up by acidic well water. I am just doing a little at a time, cutting out the old copper and replacing with PEX and tying back into the remaining copper with stab in fittings.

Originally Posted by 72bwhite

Rush Limbaugh dies and hell “Texas” freezes over.
...

On the plus side, Rush won't need a lighter for his trademark cigar where he is now.....

Originally Posted by jim rozen

On the plus side, Rush won't need a lighter for his trademark cigar where he is now.....

Now you know that is bad don’t you Jim? As we type he has probably stopped the line at the pearly gates with his long arguments to get in. Suppose he does wouldn’t you like him to think fondly of all of the support and attention you gave him? Right now I am sure everyone up there is concerned about Texas now a days. The grid works just fine up there I bet.

One good thing about natural gas home heating is that very/most often it is still functional when the electricity goes out...Yes, one needs the kind of kitchen stove that will start with a match.
At least one can keep the pipes from freezing.

In blackouts with gas heat I can power the furnace blower/ignition and refrigerator with a very small, quiet generator. That's all I would normally need for a few days. Otherwise a bit larger one with 240v out and a suicide plug backfeed thru drier outlet, with main breaker off, and that gets me pretty much everything going

Originally Posted by tomjelly

In blackouts with gas heat I can power the furnace blower/ignition and refrigerator with a very small, quiet generator. That's all I would normally need for a few days. Otherwise a bit larger one with 240v out and a suicide plug backfeed thru drier outlet, with main breaker off, and that gets me pretty much everything going

Far, far, simpler and safer to slide back a floormat, center of a stairwell hallway, fire up the Old Skewl "gravity convection" gas FLOOR furnace. The type we all HAD to use ... before we got electricity. Upper floor bedrooms were comfy enough.

Mechanical controls. "Pilot" light. Lit with a common kitchen match on a wire rod.

No need even of a battery.

All You Need to Know About Floor Furnace

Servel gas refrigerators from the early 1900's until present day.

Thermo-siphon hot water, or steam auto-condensing returned needed neither of pumps nor electcity, EITHER. BTDTGGTS, coal, oil, and nat gas. Wood and solar can work, too.

Geothermal doesn't always need pumps, either. But Iceland is a "special case", geologically.

And a high-risk one at that!

Volcanos in Iceland

Originally Posted by TeachMePlease

As an Asian... I gotta wonder what part of the dude being Asian was pertinent to your story?

I don't think he meant anything negative by it. If you ask me I think the Asians as a whole overcame the poor hand they were dealt here by having strong family values, somewhat strict upbringing and sticking together. The two Asian cultures I had the most experience with were Vietnamese and Chinese due to the location of two places I worked. They seemed to have positive culture traits that as a whole many others lack.

Originally Posted by michiganbuck

One good thing about natural gas home heating is that very/most often it is still functional when the electricity goes out...Yes, one needs the kind of kitchen stove that will start with a match.
At least one can keep the pipes from freezing.

My stove has electronic ignition but it's easy enough to use a match and I keep a battery operated spark igniter handy because we've had numerous short outages over the years including one just a while back where a truck snagged a low cable wire and pulled the power and phone lines down with it.

FYI, an old boater's trick for sailboats with no auxiliary power was to use a brand new clay flower pot upside down over one of the alcohol burners as a radiant heater. I've done that more than once on the gas stove when we had heating issues and the service tech couldn't get there for a while. The trick also works with camping stoves.

Texas is taking a lot of criticism now but I wonder if this isn't a preview for much of the country given the age and condition of much of the grid infrastructure. It might be wise to make preparations now. Freezing in your own home is lousy and having to go to a crowded warming center/shelter is not attractive either.

Originally Posted by Dualkit

Sorry to hear that, but I would not expect a young female renter to know how to protect a house's plumbing in the case of a power failure in the freezing cold. I know plenty of middle aged male home owners that would not know how to do it. She probably just panicked like a lot of people do. Maybe you can turn it into a positive and get a check from the insurance company and DIY a lot of the work and pocket some money. Pretty sure PEX is legal in Texas and can save labor and material costs. Hopefully not much water damage. I am in the midst of a re-plumb myself, all the way from the well through the house. Copper pipes ate up by acidic well water. I am just doing a little at a time, cutting out the old copper and replacing with PEX and tying back into the remaining copper with stab in fittings.

There won't be a check, unless I write one for the repairs, I've been on the self-insured policy for past 30 years on that place, looks like it just caught up with me. I bought the place when I was 18, first repair I had to do on it was fix some broken pipes, too broke to call a plumber, thankfully mom and dad had given me a set of those Time Life home repair books. There have been some isolated pipe breaks over the years, I'm afraid this time its going to be every last inch from the meter to water heater.

I'll have to weigh my options when I get repair quotes, long story short it has sentimental value, but I have not slept there in 30 years, just can't do it. Its a tiny house by todays standards, neighborhood is built up with nice new big homes, maybe I should just sell it and let someone build a nice new home on it.

Originally Posted by dalmatiangirl61

There won't be a check, unless I write one for the repairs, I've been on the self-insured policy for past 30 years on that place, looks like it just caught up with me. I bought the place when I was 18, first repair I had to do on it was fix some broken pipes, too broke to call a plumber, thankfully mom and dad had given me a set of those Time Life home repair books. There have been some isolated pipe breaks over the years, I'm afraid this time its going to be every last inch from the meter to water heater.

I'll have to weigh my options when I get repair quotes, long story short it has sentimental value, but I have not slept there in 30 years, just can't do it. Its a tiny house by todays standards, neighborhood is built up with nice new big homes, maybe I should just sell it and let someone build a nice new home on it.

If you use PEX and crimp fittings instead of the stab ins, the biggest cost is going to be labor, materials will not be that much. Of course what you can use will vary on the ease and cost of making access points. The cost of drywall, mud and tape hasn't went sky high, like framing lumber, nor even had a recent 50% cost spike like plumbing supplies. The big question is how much water damage was caused. If you decide to hire a lot of the work out be wary of scammers and unscrupulous contractors that descend on disaster areas.

As a jack of all trades and master of none. I joined this site and liked it for helpful guidance. DIY Home Improvement Information | DoItYourself.com

My issue was living 50 years in a dry climate devoid of humidity and having 10 months of no weather issues, then moving to a wet and humid one and starting a home remodel 25 years after the last one.