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That is nice. I got a foot of snow incoming and a quarter inch of ice on my driveway, and no one has any ice melt. I may take my roofing torch to it tomorrow. Fortunately, I still have this lease 4 runner that has every 4x4 goodie in the world and will drive itself up a hill on solid ice with no griping. I mean, no kidding, 4 low, locking rear diff, crawl control, atrac (some sort of brake powered limited slip), and terrain select. I just steer.
The world is gonna end in 12 years if we don’t do something right now! My theory is that the planet will not be able to take any more weight due too over population therefore the planet earth will suddenly fall from the galaxy. So my plan is to build more space stations to ease the weight on the earth. We can start non stop shuttle service from DC to Space. Could this be why Donald Trump created the Space Force?
It'll be low of around 0 °F here early next week. Compared to other places, that's only an annoyance. But here, at a latitude more southerly than San Diego, it's 50-year cold, only 8 degrees shy of the 140 year record.
I left the cover on my DD early this week before I realized it was raining. Now it's glued to the car and won't come off until late next week when the temperature gets back toward normal.
Our trees won't bounce back as well as my car will. Lots of branches are broken from the weight of ice.
I hear ya Gary. That ice is playing Hell with my 60' magnolia tree, damn.
Speaking of cold weather, my wife says it's way too cold to walk the dogs in the morning. This is the same woman who doesn't go into the swimming pool until the water temperature is above 88ºF.
Apparently this temperature thing is all relative. She likes summer when it's 82ºF indoors.
I know our Winter's seem awful but your Summer's are equally as bad to me. I have too many Ginger Genes to take that much heat. Plenty of Canadian's on normal years do live there in the Winter, those are sweet temps. My relatives came here and spent whole Winter's in Arctic, I talking -60 PLUS windchill. Bet you don't what that is😁.
The world is gonna end in 12 years if we don’t do something right now! My theory is that the planet will not be able to take any more weight due too over population therefore the planet earth will suddenly fall from the galaxy. So my plan is to build more space stations to ease the weight on the earth. We can start non stop shuttle service from DC to Space. Could this be why Donald Trump created the Space Force?
They just remastered one of my favorite video games from back when, the original Command and Conquer, made in 95. The "good" guys, the Global Defense Initiative, had an orbiting satellite ion cannon, that was the superweapon for the one side (the other side had a nuke). Makes you think. A space laser that could fry anything would be a deterrent.
Speaking of cold weather, my wife says it's way too cold to walk the dogs in the morning. This is the same woman who doesn't go into the swimming pool until the water temperature is above 88ºF.
Apparently this temperature thing is all relative. She likes summer when it's 82ºF indoors.
Texas has its own, self-contained power grid. Those outages are rolling blackouts, mostly across north Texas. The power plants can't keep up with the demand for electric heat.
My family sent pictures from South Louisiana this morning. There’s a couple inches of snow everywhere but the real danger is 1/2” or so of ice underneath it. The streets and driveways are covered by a solid sheet of ice. Last report was some ice was melting in the sun, but it’s supposed to be 10 degrees tonight (!!!!) so all that will add to the ice layer. And there’s another cold front passing through. It’s gonna be one big ice cube.
Texas has its own, self-contained power grid. Those outages are rolling blackouts, mostly across north Texas. The power plants can't keep up with the demand for electric heat.
That's what happens when dirtbags destroy coal-fired base-load power plants, while having nothing viable to replace them with. The ONLY reason it hasn't happened here is because the utilities were able to buy power from neighboring sources; and we just happened to get lucky that "our" crisises happened at times that our neighbors had excess to sell. If they had been short, too...we'd have gone cold.
Add a giant heaping helping of electric cars to this, and the future disaster gets even bigger.
Last edited by Schurkey; Feb 15, 2021 at 02:31 PM.
Weather people saying the coldest in 100 years. Living in the south after living in NY for 40 years. Most southern people can not take the cold. The heat went out in the office in Pensacola. Everyone but me was wearing winter clothes. I was in short sleeves. Even Gen. Lee's army in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania had to invade in summer.
The main reason is because many people use extra space heaters and other items that takes up more energy than normal. Texas has it own separate electric grid, not attached to any outside the state.
Surprised none of you southern boys, did not call me out. Texas has been caught with its pants down. Deep freezes have happen before in Texas. Not often, but do happen. Windmills in the northern states. Have freeze control unit so they can work in cold weather. In their wisdom, Texas do not. I am sure that will change after this. Texas self-contained power grid was to keep it from going down with the rest of the nation. ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) will have a lot of explaining to do. Maybe they should not going it alone on the power grid. Natural gas is in short supply also. Which blows my mind. Texas is full of Natural gas, maybe stop shipping it overseas.
We can thank dirtball politicians being bribed by "Big Oil" for allowing the export of bulk petroleum products.
Every drop of crude oil pumped out of the USA should be refined in the USA and used in the USA. Every cubic foot of natural gas should be captured (not flared) and used in the USA.
I think you might find that "planned outages" of electricity generating power plants is happening. These outages were scheduled at least a couple years ago and follow a pattern. In the summer, are your peak electricity loads due to A/C cooling. "Winter" is when southern states systematically shut down generating facilities for maintenance.
This has nothing to do with politics or exports. Because Texas has its own "grid", they can't purchase energy from outside sources.
.....Just my two cents worth.
True, shut down generating facilities for maintenance. But how do they do not have enough natural gas? Living in Port Isabel, TX, gas companies ran the biggest gas line. That I ever saw, part went under the Rio Grande to Mexico and the rest for the Port of Brownsville, TX. For multiple LPG plants to ship overseas. Cleaning the LPG increasing air pollution. To compress to mind blowing pressures. Super compressed gas tanker ships. I call small atomic bomb. And yes it was going to China, now to Japan and South Korea. People are fighting it in south Texas. LPG is being shipped from all the Texas ports.
Here is just a highway propane tanker in china blowning up.
Not 100% sure if the Texas grid even has electric lines into other states. Every 10 to 20 years it does snow and get real cold. Texas has grown by leaps and bounds. Just **** poor planning.
I know most of you thinks this is bull ****. Coal not the cleanest. Oil will run out one day. Record breaking fires, floods, hurricanes, cold, droughts, heat waves. Oil and coal are nearing the beginning of the end. And if you think oil will get cheaper as alternative energy start playing a bigger role. You are in for a big surprise.
As a big history buff. New energy technologies and storage of energy are being developed to replace. Oil and coal.
True, shut down generating facilities for maintenance. But how do they do not have enough natural gas? .....Its not unusual to have a temporary shortage of fuels during an unexpected, extreme cold snap. We had that happen clear up here in Minnesota during and extremely long and cold period a couple years ago. The US has been exporting LNG for several years, why haven't we had a problem before this cold snap ?
Living in Port Isabel, TX, gas companies ran the biggest gas line. That I ever saw, part went under the Rio Grande to Mexico and the rest for the Port of Brownsville, TX. For multiple LPG plants to ship overseas. Cleaning the LPG increasing air pollution. To compress to mind blowing pressures. Super compressed gas tanker ships. I call small atomic bomb. And yes it was going to China, now to Japan and South Korea. People are fighting it in south Texas. LPG is being shipped from all the Texas ports.
Here is just a highway propane tanker in china blowning up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLGM_2l0zok&has_verified=1&bpctr=161353126 7 ....You can find Youtube video's of refinery explosions in Texas. What is your point ?
Not 100% sure if the Texas grid even has electric lines into other states. Every 10 to 20 years it does snow and get real cold. Texas has grown by leaps and bounds. Just **** poor planning. ....Climatic extremes do cause problems.
I know most of you thinks this is bull ****. Coal not the cleanest. Oil will run out one day. Record breaking fires, floods, hurricanes, cold, droughts, heat waves. Oil and coal are nearing the beginning of the end. And if you think oil will get cheaper as alternative energy start playing a bigger role. You are in for a big surprise. ....When do you think we will run out of oil ? It is said that we have more oil in the Baaken Wells area of Wyoming, South Dakota and North Dakota than there is in the "middle east". There is oil shale in Canada.
Coal fired electricity generating plants are slowly being shut down and replaced with several smaller natural gas units. Coal fired boilers take days to start up and shut down. Natural gas units can be fired up in a matter of hours and the maintenance is far cheaper....but they have limited capacity, so it takes more of them.
As a big history buff. New energy technologies and storage of energy are being developed to replace. Oil and coal.
...."They" have been developing energy technologies for over 50 years. "Passive solar heat", "photo voltaic solar panels" and "wind power" were ideas from the 1970's. Look how far they haven't advanced in 50 years. Coal for heating homes stopped in the 1950's or 1960's in the USA. Heating homes with fuel oil has declined significantly also.
Living in Port Isabel, TX, gas companies ran the biggest gas line. That I ever saw, part went under the Rio Grande to Mexico and the rest for the Port of Brownsville, TX. For multiple LPG plants to ship overseas. Cleaning the LPG increasing air pollution. To compress to mind blowing pressures. Super compressed gas tanker ships. I call small atomic bomb. And yes it was going to China, now to Japan and South Korea. People are fighting it in south Texas. LPG is being shipped from all the Texas ports. Here is just a highway propane tanker in china blowning up.
THIS is what they, the climate experts, say about Texas weather ---
What "actually" happened—and "seems" to be happening more frequently these days—is that the frigid air that usually rests over the Arctic is now swooping South because of warming changes to the jet stream, the air current that circles the Northern Hemisphere, and normally restrains the freezing polar vortex. When that happens, the midwest and the southern United States experience extremely cold weather and demands for energy soar in ways that most electric utilities never anticipated
Living in Port Isabel, TX, gas companies ran the biggest gas line. That I ever saw, part went under the Rio Grande to Mexico and the rest for the Port of Brownsville, TX. For multiple LPG plants to ship overseas. Cleaning the LPG increasing air pollution. To compress to mind blowing pressures. Super compressed gas tanker ships. I call small atomic bomb. And yes it was going to China, now to Japan and South Korea. People are fighting it in south Texas. LPG is being shipped from all the Texas ports. Here is just a highway propane tanker in china blowning up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLGM_2l0zok&has_verified=1&bpctr=161353126 7 ....You can find Youtube video's of refinery explosions in Texas. What is your point ?
Super compressed gas tanker ships. Are huge bombs. Ok, now what ?
Most LPG is being shipped and pipe to other nations. Why is there not enough LPG in Texas??? Texas Governor, says the LPG lines are frozen. But not in the rest of the nation. Just questing that. Did not think LPG froze
Here in Boston Harbor the LNG Tankers arrive about 1 a week and come RIGHT INTO the City to off load. The State police halt traffic on the Mystic River Bridge (RT 1) / (Tobin Bridge) as the tanker passes underneath ... They carry 6.6-million-gallons as a liquid and expand to 600 times the liquid mass when converted to gas ... big boom ?
side note - they built an offshore terminal to offload the gas but have Never Used It ...
here's everything you ever wanted to know about LNG Tankers +-
There’s been an LNG plant just south of my hometown Lake Charles, LA for as long as I can remember. I recall my dad telling me back in the 70s that if it ever blew it would level the city (he was city police command staff). So far no explosion even after all the hurricanes and floods, so apparently their safety protocols work.
It's amazing how little people know of utilities. If you've lost heat, throw the main water shutoff and drain the system. He probably doesn't even have a main water valve.
It's amazing how little people know of utilities. If you've lost heat, throw the main water shutoff and drain the system. He probably doesn't even have a main water valve.
Or, if you're on city water, drip the faucets. Obviously if you have a well, power loss means your pump doesn't work either.
My one faucet with an exterior wall supply pipe is dripping now. The one toilet with such gets flushed as usual. When I traveled in Dec, I shut the main off, open an upstairs faucet as vent, then opened a basement laundry tub faucet and drained most of the system. When I got back, I drained the water heater too to flush, then energized.
It's amazing how little people know of utilities. If you've lost heat, throw the main water shutoff and drain the system. He probably doesn't even have a main water valve.
Many southern homes are built on a slab with zero provisions for draining utility water.
The owner of the pictured house should have realized he had water pipes in the attic. That part of the piping could easily have been drained if the builder had put in a shutoff valve.
Many times there is only a shutoff valve in a shallow box near the street. It can take a little ingenuity or the proper tool to shut those off.
You Yankees with a basement have a nice arrangement for managing your water system.
It's amazing how little people know of utilities. If you've lost heat, throw the main water shutoff and drain the system. He probably doesn't even have a main water valve.
It amazing how much a mechanical engineer doesn't understand plumbing.
Unless the house is originally set up to gravity drain supply lines this doesn't work. The only way to do it is to blow out every line.... and of course you need power to run a compressor to blow.....and even then there are things like toilet supply lines that can't be easily drained without disconnecting. The same goes for forced hot water heating systems.
The best you can really do it shut off the main supply line and fix all the leaks from the broken pipes later
Last edited by allyolds68; Feb 18, 2021 at 08:13 AM.
Many homes with Fire Sprinklers are frozen. And will be leaking after it warms up a little. Many have sprinkler pipe run in attic that is tented to keep from freezing. But need heated rooms below. What a mess! Houston and surrounding area must be one of the worst places to live. Hurricane Harvey flooding and now this.
Gov. Abbott of Texas calling today on LPG producers to stop shipping out of state. And sell to power plants there. Like I said before, Texas shipped most of the gas to other nations. Leaving not enough for Texas! And he and others are now, giving the false claims wind and solar is the reason why things failed. Not sure why some people just keep eating their manure. https://apnews.com/article/false-cla...c21f9a68afe927
What's amazing is that you think this takes mechanical engineering....
We're talking about freezing pipes here; they don't have to be empty. Throwing a main shutoff and turning on the highest faucet as a vent, and the lowest faucet as a drain, would be enough. My choices would be a remote bathroom sink and an outside hose faucet and the water heater drain. Water would drain directly, and either even back up hill, or start passing air through with some water sitting in the crevices.
If I were really concerned, I'd tape a bicycle pump to a hose and pump up the system, using an assistant to open faucets. That's if I didn't have a generator to attach my compressor to do it faster and easier. I'd antifreeze the toilets and p traps. This is commonly called winterizing.
I plan to add a spur off a T behind a valve with a schrader valve on it when I do my car barn to be able to blow out the whole system for winter.
Speaking of outdoor faucets. I religiously turn off the supply valves for the outdoor city-water hose bibbs, and crack open the faucets. Well water, I yank the outdoor assemblies, and cover the PVC to keep critters out.
So, my -36F son in Great Falls, I said, "Be sure to close the supplies to those outdoor faucets!" Turns out that they have no shutoffs. So maybe they too are Woodford.
What's amazing is that you think this takes mechanical engineering....
We're talking about freezing pipes here; they don't have to be empty.
You’re wrong. All it takes is enough water in a low point in the pipe to expand and freeze. Especially at a restrained point like an elbow. If you ever actually had to do this you’d understand. But you obviously haven’t and you’re talking out your azz .
edit: fixed it....
Last edited by allyolds68; Feb 18, 2021 at 04:30 PM.
You’re wrong. All it takes is enough water in a low point in the pipe to expand and freeze. Especially at a restrained point like an elbow. If you ever actually had to do this you’d understand. But you obviously haven’t and you’re talking out your ***.
