NADman 591 Posted February 19 20 hours ago, CECAA850 said: Its the equivalent of you enduring a hurricane. That's right. No prep here for hurricanes or 'Quakes. We get tornado's once in while. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Thaddeus Smith 4548 Posted February 21 Took me a couple days to isolate all the leaks and patch them, but we've got running water now. we lucked out, and the damage was nearly non-existent compared to many up here. i just need my repairs to last about 18 months and then i don't care. 4 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Seadog 1262 Posted February 21 It's Sunday afternoon, sunny and 73F here now. 5 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CECAA850 29383 Posted February 22 15 hours ago, Seadog said: It's Sunday afternoon, sunny and 73F here now. How is your pool piping? Boil ban lifted here. We're pretty much back to normal with no future freeze in sight. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DizRotus 9256 Posted February 22 40 minutes ago, CECAA850 said: Boil ban lifted here. We're pretty much back to normal with no future freeze in sight. Great news. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Seadog 1262 Posted February 22 50 minutes ago, CECAA850 said: How is your pool piping? Boil ban lifted here. We're pretty much back to normal with no future freeze in sight. Good to hear your water is safe to drink. To my astonishment, my pool equipment survived. My neighbors on both sides were not so fortunate (photos below). When the power went off and the temp was 2F, I placed a Mr. Heater propane camping heater under the tarp covering my equipment, and then placed a 60 lb steel plate in front of the heater to absorb an reradiate the heat. When the plate was hot, I reduced the heater to just running the pilot flame. I really didn't think that would be enough considering the duration of the low temp, but I got lucky. Neighbor's equipment: 3 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CECAA850 29383 Posted February 22 Awesome on your end. Those pictures were about what I thought mine would look like if I wasn't able to run the pump. That'll be a pricey repair. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Seadog 1262 Posted February 25 I haven't seen an electric bill yet, but I received this somewhat reassuring email notice from my electricity provider: As Texas recovers from the recent winter weather emergency, here’s how you can count on us. Insulating your Rate You may have heard about sky-high variable rates in the news, but rest assured that as a TXU Energy customer, you won’t see any near-term impact to your rate due to this winter weather event. Whether you’re on a fixed or variable pricing plan, our customers are always insulated from extreme variable wholesale power price swings like the recent ones. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CECAA850 29383 Posted February 25 Great news @Seadog Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Seadog 1262 Posted February 25 28 minutes ago, CECAA850 said: Great news @Seadog Yes it is. My wife gets the credit because she has kept us on TXU instead of switching to one of the "cut-rate" providers linked to the wholesale price of natural gas. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dwilawyer 4197 Posted February 26 On 2/22/2021 at 8:39 AM, Seadog said: When the power went off and the temp was 2F, I placed a Mr. Heater propane camping heater under the tarp covering my equipment, and then placed a 60 lb steel plate in front of the heater to absorb an reradiate the heat. That's a great tip for in the future. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CECAA850 29383 Posted March 2 During the cold snap I ran my central heat a lot more than I did the previous month (naturally). It's a natural gas fired heat system. My generator ran a bunch as well which is also powered by natural gas. I received my gas bill yesterday and compared it to the previous months bill. Both were for 34 days. The daily average temperature this month compared to the previous month was 14 degrees colder. That wasn't really a surprise considering the crazy cold snap we had. Obviously I ran the heater a lot more. Combine that with the fact that the generator ran so much I was prepared for a sizeable jump in the bill. It went up $14.00. I was pretty surprised. @dwilawyer thought this might be of interest to you as you're considering getting one. 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dwilawyer 4197 Posted March 2 1 hour ago, CECAA850 said: During the cold snap I ran my central heat a lot more than I did the previous month (naturally). It's a natural gas fired heat system. My generator ran a bunch as well which is also powered by natural gas. I received my gas bill yesterday and compared it to the previous months bill. Both were for 34 days. The daily average temperature this month compared to the previous month was 14 degrees colder. That wasn't really a surprise considering the crazy cold snap we had. Obviously I ran the heater a lot more. Combine that with the fact that the generator ran so much I was prepared for a sizeable jump in the bill. It went up $14.00. I was pretty surprised. @dwilawyer thought this might be of interest to you as you're considering getting one. Yep it's on the list, going to have my Uncle figure out the appropriate size (Aggie EE, he ran the coal mine and railroad for Texas Utilities at Martin Lake), get in ordered and installed at the end of summer. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jeeper 38 Posted March 2 Glad to hear things are getting back to normal, good luck. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CECAA850 29383 Posted March 2 43 minutes ago, dwilawyer said: Yep it's on the list, going to have my Uncle figure out the appropriate size (Aggie EE, he ran the coal mine and railroad for Texas Utilities at Martin Lake), get in ordered and installed at the end of summer. The largest residential ones are 22kw If you want to run your whole house then that's what you want. To go bigger it'll be a commercial water cooled unit and the price jumps up like crazy. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites