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3 minutes ago, Skipper said:

My only concern with that strategy is you could somehow have frozen water inside the cover that could eventually impact the drip.  Guessing you didn't deal with that at all last time?

No, didn't happen. It wasn't cold enough that it would freeze in the 1-2 seconds it took to leave the cover.

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On 12/20/2022 at 1:07 PM, Hate said:

Well, the last “cold snap” cost me $7k so I’m going to overreact to everything. The thing that will really piss me off is if I lose some of my landscaping again. That alone cost me $1500.

Tip: Weeds don't cost anything.

5 hours ago, Biff Tannen said:

Waiting a couple of more hours to let it get to the high today and then going to cover faucets.  Probably doesn't make a difference, but in my mind it does.

I'm in Austin and it's getting into the 50s tomorrow afternoon (warmer than it is now), so while I have things covered with wash clothes stuffed inside of a foam cover, wrapped in a towel, I'll uncover everything tomorrow morning, let it warm up, and then in the afternoon before the temp drops, will recover everything.

I'll probably even put an extra towel around the foam cover and put a cardboard box up against it/side of the house.  This did the trick in 2021, and this is nothing compared to that.  I'm lucky that my outside faucets happen to back up to cabinets in the house that can be opened - not sure if that was planned by the builders for cold weather or was just cheaper to split off from the inside pipes going to the sinks and put a hole through the wall to put in an outside faucet.  Probably done to be cheaper.

13 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

I'm in Austin and it's getting into the 50s tomorrow afternoon (warmer than it is now), so while I have things covered with wash clothes stuffed inside of a foam cover, wrapped in a towel, I'll uncover everything tomorrow morning, let it warm up, and then in the afternoon before the temp drops, will recover everything.

I'll probably even put an extra towel around the foam cover and put a cardboard box up against it/side of the house.  This did the trick in 2021, and this is nothing compared to that.  I'm lucky that my outside faucets happen to back up to cabinets in the house that can be opened - not sure if that was planned by the builders for cold weather or was just cheaper to split off from the inside pipes going to the sinks and put a hole through the wall to put in an outside faucet.  Probably done to be cheaper.

One of my faucets shares a wall with the chimney, as does the tankless water heater.  I have to think on some level that helps keep them from freezing.  I did fine in Snowpocalypse, but was scared shitless my tankless was going to freeze up.

I am on a family group text and everybody is bitching about the cold weather. I was talking about how it's supposed to get down to 15 degrees or whatever in Austin. One of my nieces lives in Iowa and it's already 15 degrees at her place. My dad lives in Minnesota and it's ten below zero at his house at the moment. Then one of my other nieces dropped the bomb. She and her husband live outside of Galena, Alaska, which is in the Yukon. She just said "quit 'yer bitchin'!" and posted this photo, which she took at her house this morning. That's right. Minus 55 degrees without the wind chill. She said it's unlikely to get above zero for months and that right now there's just a little over three hours of "daylight." I feel kind of bad for complaining.


 

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8 minutes ago, Hornius Emeritus said:

I am on a family group text and everybody is bitching about the cold weather. I was talking about how it's supposed to get down to 15 degrees or whatever in Austin. One of my nieces lives in Iowa and it's already 15 degrees at her place. My dad lives in Minnesota and it's ten below zero at his house at the moment. Then one of my other nieces dropped the bomb. She and her husband live outside of Galena, Alaska, which is in the Yukon. She just said "quit 'yer bitchin'!" and posted this photo, which she took at her house this morning. That's right. Minus 55 degrees without the wind chill. She said it's unlikely to get above zero for months and that right now there's just a little over three hours of "daylight." I feel kind of bad for complaining.


 

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Yep, the struggle is real

But it’s the Winter Solstice today.  We start gaining light tomorrow

Cross post from the non-Texas thread:

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56 minutes ago, Hornius Emeritus said:

I am on a family group text and everybody is bitching about the cold weather. I was talking about how it's supposed to get down to 15 degrees or whatever in Austin. One of my nieces lives in Iowa and it's already 15 degrees at her place. My dad lives in Minnesota and it's ten below zero at his house at the moment. Then one of my other nieces dropped the bomb. She and her husband live outside of Galena, Alaska, which is in the Yukon. She just said "quit 'yer bitchin'!" and posted this photo, which she took at her house this morning. That's right. Minus 55 degrees without the wind chill. She said it's unlikely to get above zero for months and that right now there's just a little over three hours of "daylight." I feel kind of bad for complaining.


 

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That’s on them for living in stupid places.

Buh, buh, buh........ErCOT will save us!  Dan Patrick said so in the woman's dressing room at Kohl's!  

Fuck this. I hate the cold. Absolutely hate it. And I don’t want to go through a burst pipe again. I guess I will be extra cautious and purge and shut off for the next few nights.

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I won't do all that much until/if we lose power.  If we lose power, I'll cut off the water to the house and drain all the pipes. I HATE the cold as well. It's a bunch of bullshit.  I have a tee time tomorrow that I could have play the last half of it with this bullshit Siberian air coming in.  Fuck the cold and fuck you if you like it.

Live in Houston and I’m not worried about tomorrow except slightly for the outside hose bibs. I don’t have much to wrap them except for some towels and plastic.

might just not wrap them but go outside and turn them on every couple hours. At a minimum I will temp cover the bibs with something  (bucket?) to stop the wind. I know wind chill can’t make an object colder than the actual temp but I’ve heard that wind can cause something to freeze faster. 

I did fill up a gas can for my portable generator and topped off my cars tank. I may not be worried but I know who leads our state.

43° when I left work in Roanoke at 6. 21° and 30mph north wind when I got home 45 minutes later.

Front rolling through NE Tarrant County, wind shift was very noticeable.  The last few leaves clinging to my trees are now on my front porch.

  • Author

Last year at this time it was in the 70's on the way to some glorious Christmas time 80 degree temps.  Real winter sucks!

Tip: Weeds don't cost anything.
I'm staring out the window at mine hoping this cold takes care of them.

Denver woke up frigid (-14 to -24 F), but it didn’t feel too bad with the right layers. Our poor dogs though can barely survive the cold trying to go to the bathroom. 

-2 degrees here this morning, -28 "feels like" temp.  Light powdery snow waning until 9:30am or so.

It got down to -15 real temp 2 years ago.  We'll be OK...

That was impressive coming through Dallas.  Just finished walking the dog when it blew in.  Crazy winds.

Snowing here in the bustling metropolitan Wise/Jack/Parker county corridor. 41 degrees at 0500 and it’s currently 20 at 915. Being a larger individual I prefer colder weather, but holy fuck this Eskimo shit can fuck right the fuck off.

16 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

I'm in Austin and it's getting into the 50s tomorrow afternoon (warmer than it is now), so while I have things covered with wash clothes stuffed inside of a foam cover, wrapped in a towel, I'll uncover everything tomorrow morning, let it warm up, and then in the afternoon before the temp drops, will recover everything.

I'll probably even put an extra towel around the foam cover and put a cardboard box up against it/side of the house.  This did the trick in 2021, and this is nothing compared to that.  I'm lucky that my outside faucets happen to back up to cabinets in the house that can be opened - not sure if that was planned by the builders for cold weather or was just cheaper to split off from the inside pipes going to the sinks and put a hole through the wall to put in an outside faucet.  Probably done to be cheaper.

Doubt it’ll get to the 50’s there.   Front just hit waco about 2 hours before they predicted.  Train’s a comin 

6 minutes ago, Trey3216 said:

Doubt it’ll get to the 50’s there.   Front just hit waco about 2 hours before they predicted.  Train’s a comin 

It's in the low to mid 50s in Austin area right now....maps and stuff.

21 hours ago, Nueces River Rat said:

Don't forget about this son of a gun.   That's a $200 bill or more if it becomes a gusher.   

 

This one looks a good bit different than mine.  Mine is a horizontal job with three petcocks pointing up and one on the bottom side.  After turning off the main valve in, turning each one individually didn't do much, but when I opened them all up it gave up maybe a cup of water.

Sun was out for a bit and I was breaking down cardboard boxes for recycling outside in short sleeves.  Was downright balmy.

15 hours ago, Hornius Emeritus said:

I feel kind of bad for complaining.

As you should.

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22 hours ago, Nueces River Rat said:

What I did  in Feb 2021 was just use some old bath towels and wrap with Duct tape    The one pipe that was exposed outside which is faucet attached to main waterline coming from the meter into the house was wrapped with foam.     I didn't drip the faucets outside at all. 

Same here.  Wrapped them in old towels.  No drip.  Made it just fine through the entire week of sub-freezing temps.  I did have power the entire time, and dripped interior faucets on external walls, along with leaving cabinet doors open under fixtures on exterior walls.

 

55 minutes ago, Trey3216 said:

Doubt it’ll get to the 50’s there.   Front just hit waco about 2 hours before they predicted.  Train’s a comin 

It's currently 53 at my house in NW TravCo.  But that should be the high, it'll drop from here on out.

Gonna be 80 degrees a week from now.  Just in time for ERCOT to declare "ULTIMATE RESILIENCY"  

Stay vigilant this weekend everybody, it's gonna suck for a bit.  Then get oddly warm.  Totally normal though.  75 degree shifts are completely sane.  

because reasons.  Lightning in late December.  Heavy, heavy lightning.  Think about it.  

51 minutes ago, Surly Bevo said:

It's in the low to mid 50s in Austin area right now....maps and stuff.

Well excuse the fuck out of me…juggling kids at the grocery store and stuff 

Looking at that wind map, this thing is headed to RGV

Just now, RPM said:

Looking at that wind map, this thing is headed to RGV

That's usually what happens to a massive front heading South from San Antonio.  Unless...oh no.  You don't think?  MS-13 will intercept it?  

Still in the High 50's in Houston. Bout to hit the road for Baton Rouge in an hour or so. Getting out well before the wind arrives and won't really experience any freezing temps until I wake up tomorrow morning

Sprinkler system drained, exterior faucets all covered, pool has a freeze detector that keeps the pumps running as necessary. Wife been wrapping plants all morning. Not much else to do but hope power stays on while we're away.

11 minutes ago, utee94 said:

Same here.  Wrapped them in old towels.  No drip.  Made it just fine through the entire week of sub-freezing temps.  I did have power the entire time, and dripped interior faucets on external walls, along with leaving cabinet doors open under fixtures on exterior walls.

 

It's currently 53 at my house in NW TravCo.  But that should be the high, it'll drop from here on out.

That was more or less my point…ain’t gonna be any warming up.   

That was impressive coming through Dallas.  Just finished walking the dog when it blew in.  Crazy winds.

Yeah we thought we would get the dogs walked before it hit. Made it 8 minutes out and it came in like a wrecking ball. Hauled ass back home. Can’t remember it getting so cold so fast before.

This dude is enjoying his morning deuce with snow for the first time in little elm. God damn the wind is crazy 

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This dude is enjoying his morning deuce with snow for the first time in little elm. God damn the wind is crazy 
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Little Elm?? Give back your raza card, you’re a full blown honkey now.

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