February 21, 20214 yr Georgetown sounds like a clusterfuck right now. A bunch of folks without power, that has nothing to do with the rolling blackouts. And more people are talking about the water. Still can't confirm tower - have friends near there, waiting to hear back.Saw reports that an overflow valve broke, and the flow has been stopped. Millions of gallons and possible flooding is quite the exaggeration.
February 21, 20214 yr How many of y'all are going to get off the grid? I have a neighbor that has solar with Tesla walls or whatever they are called. His place lost power for 3 days but between solar and batteries he kept power on. However, his heat was limited to electric space heaters. My dad, who survived Harvey when the eye sat on his ranch for a crazy amount of time. Between power generators, propane and well water he was able to endure the hurricane aftermath in relative comfort. Having kept in contact with him during the freeze he did pretty well again by not being dependent on the grid. I have a well, so did fine with water, have propane but am on the grid for electricity. Fortunately I didn't lose power. Now I am strongly considering solar with batteries.
February 21, 20214 yr 19 minutes ago, F250 said: How many of y'all are going to get off the grid? I have a neighbor that has solar with Tesla walls or whatever they are called. His place lost power for 3 days but between solar and batteries he kept power on. However, his heat was limited to electric space heaters. My dad, who survived Harvey when the eye sat on his ranch for a crazy amount of time. Between power generators, propane and well water he was able to endure the hurricane aftermath in relative comfort. Having kept in contact with him during the freeze he did pretty well again by not being dependent on the grid. I have a well, so did fine with water, have propane but am on the grid for electricity. Fortunately I didn't lose power. Now I am strongly considering solar with batteries. I have Tesla solar with 2 powerwalls. 6.12 kW PV system with 27kWh of storage. With some minimal conservation, I could go off grid for probably a week. With serious conservation and running only essentials, I could probably go off grid indefinitely. When the sun is shining, I could probably even get 30-40 miles of range on the model 3 each day in addition to running the house. Not to mention that the latest federal spending extended the 26% tax credit for solar and solar generation storage through the end of 2022.
February 21, 20214 yr Maybe Texas govt’s olive branch will be a state tax incentive to folks who buy solar and/or generators to take less pressure off the grid? My neighbor put some Tesla panels and one power wall in and said she got 33% federal tax credit on it, and I don’t think her house is more than 2 years old.
February 21, 20214 yr Weather Update: Really? Not that much after the shitcircus this week. Just a heads up to say that within these warmer, mostly sunny days, two cool fronts will be sweeping in. But the worst should still be above freezing in the area tonight. Tonight will be cooler than last night (a balmy 50° here at the Bee Cave Complex), temps will actually get to about 38° or so in the outer parts, a few degrees more in the city, then tomorrow a little warmer overnight for the cooler parts, again a bit more in the city. You don't have to wrap anything; if anyone freezes, it'll be well to the NW of Austin (maybe Mason or San Angelo, etc.) but any freeze in TX will be light and not needing prep. Days will be warm all week... and after Tuesday, nights back in the 40's at the coolest. No sweat.
February 21, 20214 yr It's amazing how "warm" the 50 degree temps have felt after living in an icebox for a week.
February 21, 20214 yr 1 hour ago, Hate said: It's amazing how "warm" the 50 degree temps have felt after living in an icebox for a week. I'm ready to break out the shorts and sandals.
February 21, 20214 yr 13 hours ago, Hate said: You forgot C....you can use your bidet instead of wiping your ass like a savage. 12 hours ago, rage-a-holic said: exactly...the worst part of this whole clusterfuck has been having to wipe/smear shit around with tree products like a goddamn animal Holy shit, how much coconut water have you all been storing? All the stores near us have been out for days, and it's not exactly easy to get large deliveries of coconut water when things are normal as it is. If I can just get one or two more cases, I can fill up the tank for the bidet, and get the pump running.
February 21, 20214 yr I wouldn't call it a hobby of mine, but I'll take big limbs from around the neighborhood during the city's large brush pickup and bringing it home for future firewood.This habit of grabbing some good logs over the past year served me well this past week.There is a ton of downed branches out there right now if you feel like prepping for next fall.
February 21, 20214 yr 14 minutes ago, smoky said: I wouldn't call it a hobby of mine, but I'll take big limbs from around the neighborhood during the city's large brush pickup and bringing it home for future firewood. This habit of grabbing some good logs over the past year served me well this past week. There is a ton of downed branches out there right now if you feel like prepping for next fall. We've seen a shitload of fallen trees/etc. hauled to the curb in our neighborhood, and if we had a fireplace, I'd be bringing that stuff home and splitting it for firewood.
February 21, 20214 yr 7 hours ago, Hate said: It's amazing how "warm" the 50 degree temps have felt after living in an icebox for a week. I had my convertible top down today - 36 hours after it was 20°.
February 21, 20214 yr 6 hours ago, atomheartbevo said: I'm ready to break out the shorts and sandals. I sat out in the driveway in shorts and a t-shirt drinking beer this afternoon. It was fanfuckingtastic.
February 22, 20214 yr 20 hours ago, atomheartbevo said: Georgetown sounds like a clusterfuck right now. A bunch of folks without power, that has nothing to do with the rolling blackouts. And more people are talking about the water. Still can't confirm tower - have friends near there, waiting to hear back. Oncor was doing maintenance on a line not associated with Georgetown and killed a very substantial LCRA transmission line that knocked out 3 Georgetown substations which affected about 2/3 of the city. All Georgetown systems were operating as normal, they just lost their feed from the LCRA. As soon as the LCRA line was repaired, the Georgetown system was fine. Outage ended up being about 3 hours. The city was also working around the clock to replenish all of the water storage tanks, including the one that overflowed. It was almost full when the power went out and the power outage affected the overflow sensor which led to the running water reported at 29/DB Wood.
February 22, 20214 yr 2 hours ago, Message Board User said: I drank the water through the boil notice. I know. Kind of badass. Edited February 22, 20214 yr by Telegraph_it
February 22, 20214 yr No hot water but the bidet is fully operational. Boil the water or you’ll get tapeworms
February 22, 20214 yr 16 minutes ago, MNLonghornFUKM said: Boil the water or you’ll get tapeworms The tapeworms could get MIA.
February 22, 20214 yr Tons to think about if I am ever lucky enough to build my own home. Would definitely love to have one of those Japanese TOTO toilets. It self cleans and deodorizes. Has heated seat and remote. Bidet. Super badass—pun intended. Those gutter things that keep debris out. Solar stuff. Smart heating/air conditioning. Rain barrel stuff. Pex pipes. I’d rather build the home right even with the costs. Try to be as self sufficient and not as reliant on the grid. as a silver lining to any of this it was wonderful to see so many people help others. Divided politically as our country is...just seeing all my neighbors conserving water and electricity to start from people helping others in so many ways. It is heartwarming.
February 22, 20214 yr 1 hour ago, Telegraph_it said: I drank the water through the boil notice. I know. Kind of badass. I grew up in the RGV drinking treated water from the Rio Grande and I’m 49. Boil notices? Never pay attention to them.
February 22, 20214 yr 20 hours ago, phdhorn said: Weather Update: Really? Not that much after the shitcircus this week. Just a heads up to say that within these warmer, mostly sunny days, two cool fronts will be sweeping in. But the worst should still be above freezing in the area tonight. Tonight will be cooler than last night (a balmy 50° here at the Bee Cave Complex), temps will actually get to about 38° or so in the outer parts, a few degrees more in the city, then tomorrow a little warmer overnight for the cooler parts, again a bit more in the city. You don't have to wrap anything; if anyone freezes, it'll be well to the NW of Austin (maybe Mason or San Angelo, etc.) but any freeze in TX will be light and not needing prep. Days will be warm all week... and after Tuesday, nights back in the 40's at the coolest. No sweat.
February 22, 20214 yr Oncor was doing maintenance on a line not associated with Georgetown and killed a very substantial LCRA transmission line that knocked out 3 Georgetown substations which affected about 2/3 of the city. All Georgetown systems were operating as normal, they just lost their feed from the LCRA. As soon as the LCRA line was repaired, the Georgetown system was fine. Outage ended up being about 3 hours. The city was also working around the clock to replenish all of the water storage tanks, including the one that overflowed. It was almost full when the power went out and the power outage affected the overflow sensor which led to the running water reported at 29/DB Wood.I just wanted to say that the guy who designed the overflow switch to fail in a non-tripped position on a loss of power is a fucking idiot. You always design for your safeties to fail in the safest/most protective manner possible. A loss of power to the overflow should have isolated the tank from anything else being added just like a true overflow condition would. Not allow the fucking idiots in the control room to continue to pour the water to it oblivious as usual with their feet up on the fucking desk.
February 22, 20214 yr 21 hours ago, Hate said: It's amazing how "warm" the 50 degree temps have felt after living in an icebox for a week. Now you guys know why we run around in t shirts once it hits 40.
February 22, 20214 yr 26 minutes ago, EE2B said: I just wanted to say that the guy who designed the overflow switch to fail in a non-tripped position on a loss of power is a fucking idiot. You always design for your safeties to fail in the safest/most protective manner possible. A loss of power to the overflow should have isolated the tank from anything else being added just like a true overflow condition would. Not allow the fucking idiots in the control room to continue to pour the water to it oblivious as usual with their feet up on the fucking desk. While I agree with all of that, I do not have any means to make it happen. I was simply reporting what I read.
February 22, 20214 yr While I agree with all of that, I do not have any means to make it happen. I was simply reporting what I read.Yea, I know. As a process control engineer, stupidity in controls drives me crazy. My rant was in no way aimed at you.
February 22, 20214 yr He likes the snow He sniffs your hair, too. Edited February 22, 20214 yr by clapclapclap Link, since for some reason it cuts off the pic when posted directly here: https://twitter.com/FacesPics/status/1363887122550243333
February 22, 20214 yr 16 hours ago, Telegraph_it said: I drank the water through the boil notice. I know. Kind of badass Edited February 22, 20214 yr by washparkhorn
February 22, 20214 yr 5 hours ago, Al_4_ISU said: Now you guys know why we run around in t shirts once it hits 40. thick blooded motherfuckers
February 22, 20214 yr 1 hour ago, dcar00 said: thick blooded motherfuckers It's all a matter of perspective. We're hitting around 40 today and tomorrow and it feels tropical. 40 degrees for a high in October and I'd be bundled up like it was January.
February 22, 20214 yr 1 hour ago, Al_4_ISU said: It's all a matter of perspective. We're hitting around 40 today and tomorrow and it feels tropical. 40 degrees for a high in October and I'd be bundled up like it was January. From my perspective cold weather fucking sucks. I once made the mistake of doing a 7 day ski trip in Brekenridge thinking more would be better. Wrong!!! Like Vegas, anything more than 3 days is a beating. Fuck cold weather. Did two weeks in Omaha during February once for work, I am pretty sure if I lived up north I would develop a bad drinking habit.
February 22, 20214 yr 3 minutes ago, F250 said: From my perspective cold weather fucking sucks. I once made the mistake of doing a 7 day ski trip in Brekenridge thinking more would be better. Wrong!!! Like Vegas, anything more than 3 days is a beating. Fuck cold weather. Did two weeks in Omaha during February once for work, I am pretty sure if I lived up north I would develop a bad drinking habit. Breck isn't even that cold. Edited February 22, 20214 yr by Al_4_ISU
February 22, 20214 yr 14 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said: Breck isn't even that cold. so true. that is vacation cold. last week sucked especially if you were out of power for 100 and water for 48. It made it ten times worse. Cold sucks but I can handle the cold if I'm not concerned about my house exploding like a water balloon, have power, or having to lug buckets of water everywhere to flush toilets. The car thing sucks because my cars are outside all the time. No wonder "choppin wood" is a phrase used to describe keep working. I imagine back in the day if you weren't doing anything as a kid, dad would say "get your ass to choppin some wood" no matter what time of year it was.
February 22, 20214 yr 20 hours ago, Telegraph_it said: I drank the water through the boil notice. I know. Kind of badass. YoU ArE GoiNg To DiE!
February 23, 20214 yr The Statesman says Travis County is investigating 80 possible weather-related deaths. Damn.
February 23, 20214 yr Some of ya'll have water? That must be cool and I can't wait to once again join the early 20th century someday. Hell at this point I'd take it at work OR at home. This driving down to the truck stop to take a piss is a beating.
February 23, 20214 yr 5 minutes ago, SimonBolivar said: Some of ya'll have water? That must be cool and I can't wait to once again join the early 20th century someday. Hell at this point I'd take it at work OR at home. This driving down to the truck stop to take a piss is a beating. WTF. did you have a pipe bust? why no water? that sounds terrible. need anything? I mean besides water.
February 23, 20214 yr I was just watching footage of the Mars Rover on final approach and thinking..."Wow, there's more water on Mars right now than in North Austin."
February 23, 20214 yr 3 minutes ago, Post Oak said: WTF. did you have a pipe bust? why no water? that sounds terrible. need anything? I mean besides water. Yep busted pipes at home and at work (both were dripping, but both buildings lost power for days). We're staying with family until the apartment complex can get water turned back on (they keep saying it's days away) so we can bathe and what not there. It's worse at work where we had a huge burst and now 4 dehumidifiers and 16 fans going non stop to give you a constant noise pollution headache on top of being forced to drive to pee/wash hands/etc.
February 23, 20214 yr 29 minutes ago, SimonBolivar said: Yep busted pipes at home and at work (both were dripping, but both buildings lost power for days). We're staying with family until the apartment complex can get water turned back on (they keep saying it's days away) so we can bathe and what not there. It's worse at work where we had a huge burst and now 4 dehumidifiers and 16 fans going non stop to give you a constant noise pollution headache on top of being forced to drive to pee/wash hands/etc. that sounds terrible.
February 23, 20214 yr 54 minutes ago, SimonBolivar said: Some of ya'll have water? That must be cool and I can't wait to once again join the early 20th century someday. Hell at this point I'd take it at work OR at home. This driving down to the truck stop to take a piss is a beating. don't you have a yard?
February 23, 20214 yr 8 minutes ago, dcar00 said: don't you have a yard? Not at work I don't, but we aren't using ALL of our parking lot right now... Edited February 23, 20214 yr by SimonBolivar
February 23, 20214 yr This is downright criminal. Got home last night and took the baby with me to the mailbox. Had to swat 2 mosquitoes away from her in that 100 foot roundtrip walk. How the fuck did those bastards not get kilt?
February 23, 20214 yr Hey, whoopee, yesterday (2/22) annual average last freeze day. A little later in the calendar on the outskirts (generally mid-March). Anyway, no freezing night or day expected for the next 10 days. One day at a time, bitches.
February 23, 20214 yr 9 minutes ago, phdhorn said: Hey, whoopee, yesterday (2/22) annual average last freeze day. A little later in the calendar on the outskirts (generally mid-March). Anyway, no freezing night or day expected for the next 10 days. One day at a time, bitches. What's this rain shit I see forecast for like the next straight week?
February 23, 20214 yr 39 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said: What's this rain shit I see forecast for like the next straight week? 1) Not all that much - the lazy, drizzly kind of day, maybe a shower/two where you are over 2 days, but not much. 2) Not freezing That's really all I care about. Might be good to wash the mud/dirt off of some things.
February 23, 20214 yr From my perspective cold weather fucking sucks. I once made the mistake of doing a 7 day ski trip in Brekenridge thinking more would be better. Wrong!!! Like Vegas, anything more than 3 days is a beating. Fuck cold weather. Did two weeks in Omaha during February once for work, I am pretty sure if I lived up north I would develop a bad drinking habit.It’s the worst. can’t count on anything to run smooth. Garage doors, Diesel vehicles, gas pumps, watermain breaks...anything. And it always breaks on the coldest days.Fortunately the foreseeable future doesn’t forecast any arctic blasts for us. Outside of snow events it looks like we’re in the home stretch once February expires. Besides last week event ...this winters been pretty chill. I have grass showing in my yard. That may change today but whatever. Can’t wait for summer
February 23, 20214 yr 22 minutes ago, MNLonghornFUKM said: It’s the worst. can’t count on anything to run smooth. Garage doors, Diesel vehicles, gas pumps, watermain breaks...anything. And it always breaks on the coldest days. Fortunately the foreseeable future doesn’t forecast any arctic blasts for us. Outside of snow events it looks like we’re in the home stretch once February expires. Besides last week event ...this winters been pretty chill. I have grass showing in my yard. That may change today but whatever. Can’t wait for summer Hey you-- that summer talk belongs in the hell-scape fire-dome thread. Maybe a week ago, I thought I read someone who said it looked like we were going to get another polar blast a couple weeks from now. Was that just a feverish dream brought on by sleeping in a freezing house for 3 nights?
February 23, 20214 yr 13 minutes ago, utee94 said: Hey you-- that summer talk belongs in the hell-scape fire-dome thread. Maybe a week ago, I thought I read someone who said it looked like we were going to get another polar blast a couple weeks from now. Was that just a feverish dream brought on by sleeping in a freezing house for 3 nights? I wouldn't be surprised if we did to be honest. Once a major polar blast hits like it did last week, another one will hit a bit later on. May not be as major, but it's definitely a possibility.
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