Preparing for the Freeze

Very cold temperatures get scary. I'm in California. When I owned that house and it would get below freezing, I'd drip the faucet in the second bathroom tub. It was the furthest out faucet and on an outside wall. Never had any trouble. I don't do anything in an apartment. I figure someone is always running some water.
 

seadoug said:
I know many of you in other states have been going through freezing weather and heavy snow for a few days now. The Iowa Caucus is on the news because it is the coldest weather they have seen in years.

We are going into below-freezing weather here in Dallas starting tonight and lasting until Wednesday. The last time we went through this, lives were lost because the power grid was not sufficient. Our governor now assures us it will be okay. (No comment.)

Anyway, we covered many of our plants with sheets today, wrapped our outdoor faucets and opened our cabinets and let the faucets drip. What are you experiencing, and what have you done to prepare?
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What's so crazy is that we seem to be faring better here than some southern states. Northeast N.J. is supposed to only receive 2 - 4 inches of snow starting tomorrow evening. The worst day temperature wise will be the 20th when the real feel high will only reach 13 degrees.
Right now I feel very sorry for N.J. residents and those in other states who have lost power due to severe flooding. There are those who were flooded twice in two weeks! Some can't afford to extend their hotel stays that were initially paid for by the Red Cross. Well...stay toasty warm my friend.
 
We thought we were prepared, but our well water died last night when the temp was about 5 F. It got -9 here last night. Went to town in the freezing car ( that started - yea ) and bought 20 gallons of water. We will fill plastic jugs from a friends for washing and flushing the toilet. This will happen until it thaws which could be months.
 
Buckeye said:
-50 C = -58 F. The lines cross at -40, they don't merge.

Currently 54F (12 C) outside here in Central Florida. Inside it's 75F
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You’re right. At -40 they are the same but at -50 it’s -58. I remember a couple of times in Ontario, the temperature dropped down to -40 and I heard on the radio that Celsius and Fahrenheit are the same / matched just at that temperature. Thanks for correcting me.
I found a chart that shows.

IMG_3627.jpeg
 
Paco Dennis said:
We thought we were prepared, but our well water died last night when the temp was about 5 F. It got -9 here last night. Went to town in the freezing car ( that started - yea ) and bought 20 gallons of water. We will fill plastic jugs from a friends for washing and flushing the toilet. This will happen until it thaws which could be months.
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We do a similar thing here, PD, when required. There are five households on our water system. We're served by a gravity-feed water supply, which works fine unless & until some freeze-up occurs up by the distribution-tank point. But when temp forecasts indicate seriously cold temps here, we store about 30 gallons of water in containers inside the house.
 
It was 17 and overcast today and I still went to the gym in long sweats and a hoodie. I'm having muscle aches and stiffness so I keep stretching and working out to keep them at bay. The wind was light so it was actually tolerable.

We are supposed to receive a "Wintery Mix" tomorrow and fortunately my partner's store is closed for MLK Day so we will be cocooning at home. I bought a couple of Piadas for lunch. I'll just watch TV on the couch with my heating pad.

piada.jpeg
 
Paco Dennis said:
We thought we were prepared, but our well water died last night when the temp was about 5 F. It got -9 here last night. Went to town in the freezing car ( that started - yea ) and bought 20 gallons of water. We will fill plastic jugs from a friends for washing and flushing the toilet. This will happen until it thaws which could be months.
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When our well pump died (the part down in the well) it was in summer at least. I still worry about it happening again.

What saved us was the hand pump we had installed for Y2K because of the animals & still have it. That's one purchase I'd gladly do over again.

I hope you can get it repaired sooner than you think.
 
Paco Dennis said:
We thought we were prepared, but our well water died last night when the temp was about 5 F. It got -9 here last night. Went to town in the freezing car ( that started - yea ) and bought 20 gallons of water. We will fill plastic jugs from a friends for washing and flushing the toilet. This will happen until it thaws which could be months.
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I'm so sorry you are going through this, especially in frigid temperatures.
 
Stocked up on extra feed for the critters & us this past week. We have the wood stove going since last night & so far so good here. Temp now is 5*F & the winds went down a little so the WC is -9. At 8 AM Monday, the temp will be 2*F & the high for the next two days will be around 11*F. There's no snow in the forecast.

Hope everyone stays safe & warm out there.
 
Received an Email last hour from Center Point Energy requesting conservation of energy 6:00AM -to- 10:00AM tomorrow. And so it begins. . . again. Supposedly this was fixed from the last time. Apparently not.

Texas has received a surge in population recently. Speculating here, perhaps the influx of new residents is offsetting any gains made to upgrading the energy grid. And, oh yeah, ERCOT (Texas energy management system) puts in its usual jab at wind chargers by blaming (among other factors) "unseasonably low wind." Like that's the root of the problem.

Looking like three days of shutting off the water and draining it from the overhead attic pipes like last time. Might get by with a dripping the water faucets tonight. But county is discouraging that. Says it lowers water pressure and then we'll have to "burn water." Think that was a typo meaning boil water, but who knows these days. And yeah, boil water when I'm urged to conserve energy. Duuh?

Anyway, stay safe guys. These Arctic blasts easily become life-threatening. Between the extreme summer heat and the winter Arctic fronts, beginning to think we're walking a knife edge of survivability here in Texas. Not a lot of confidence in my energy provider(s).
 
ArnoldC said:
Received an Email last hour from Center Point Energy requesting conservation of energy 6:00AM -to- 10:00AM tomorrow. And so it begins. . . again. Supposedly this was fixed from the last time. Apparently not.

Texas has received a surge in population recently. Speculating here, perhaps the influx of new residents is offsetting any gains made to upgrading the energy grid. And, oh yeah, ERCOT (Texas energy management system) puts in its usual jab at wind chargers by blaming (among other factors) "unseasonably low wind." Like that's the root of the problem.

Looking like three days of shutting off the water and draining it from the overhead attic pipes like last time. Might get by with a dripping the water faucets tonight. But county is discouraging that. Says it lowers water pressure and then we'll have to "burn water." Think that was a typo meaning boil water, but who knows these days. And yeah, boil water when I'm urged to conserve energy. Duuh?

Anyway, stay safe guys. These Arctic blasts easily become life-threatening. Between the extreme summer heat and the winter Arctic fronts, beginning to think we're walking a knife edge of survivability here in Texas. Not a lot of confidence in my energy provider(s).
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I hear you. I'm not convinced Texas can keep up with the surge in new residents. I wish you the best. Don't get me started on Ercot.
 
I am late to this discussion and hope everyone has not run off. But, I have a question - how does solar handle this sort of extreme weather? Is anyone solar independent? If the power grid goes down how do you 'sell back' to the system any excess power you produce at that time? Are your financially liable of any kind in such a situation. Everyone says solar is the wave of the future, but I'd like to know how well it handles situations like those this thread has discussed. Thank you.

As for me, I would have no idea how to handle such weather as discussed here because I have never lived anywhere where such conditions like these existed. You've all got great courage to live where you do. Good luck to all of you.
 
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JBR said:
We do a similar thing here, PD, when required. There are five households on our water system. We're served by a gravity-feed water supply, which works fine unless & until some freeze-up occurs up by the distribution-tank point. But when temp forecasts indicate seriously cold temps here, we store about 30 gallons of water in containers inside the house.
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That is very interesting. So you plan on losing your water. That's a trip. I guess your use to living with "pouring" water half your day then. :) Water, we really depend on it...BIG TIME. What are we 90% water, H2O? ( our bodies?) Floods and draughts, wind and rain, yep, that's weather.

Last year was fine and the temp was well below zero for a spell. Maybe the pump quit. Just died. Not even a short. We'll see...eventually.

We have done this for months before. In a few days we will adjust, again. :)
 
Paco Dennis said:
That is very interesting. So you plan on losing your water. That's a trip. I guess your use to living with "pouring" water half your day then. :) Water, we really depend on it...BIG TIME. What are we 90% water, H2O? ( our bodies?) Floods and draughts, wind and rain, yep, that's weather.

Last year was fine and the temp was well below zero for a spell. Maybe the pump quit. Just died. Not even a short. We'll see...eventually.

We have done this for months before. In a few days we will adjust, again. :)
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I hope you have some stored water (?)
 
We have 20 gallons right now. Our cars are working so we will be able to stay in water. We have about 12 5 gallon plastic bottles. I hope to find a somewhere to fill them for free ( a friend probably ). We also need a lot of 1 gallon jugs to pour water easily. So, the collecting begins. :)
 
Back on line again. Took advantage of the 6-10AM conserve energy request to run an in-home base operations exercise (BaseOpsEx).

Took the emergency radio off house power and ran it on batteries continuous four hours. That and our two Dcell lanterns and one AA LED work light. Made a check-off list of emergency supplies and drinking water inventory. So far so good. A useful learning experience.

Emergency radio has AM/FM/Weather and 2meter Ham Bands. Got useful frequencies logged for future emergency use. Been years since I listened in on the Ham Bands. Was a licensed operator back in the 1960s. For you folks out there that may have 2m on your radio, found VHF freq 146.915 full of useful weather chatter. 2meter band normally has only ~20-30mi range. Was picking up chatter from both NY and CA. So is FCC is authorizing repeaters or satellite M-hop these days? Have decided to extend the reception range on my emergency radio by purchasing an optional AM active antenna for it. Houston is frequented with power outages, so may have to rely on outlying radio stations for emergency info.

Anyway, my home-brew BaseOpsEx was a success. Am looking to refine with a follow-up OP if utilities request another power conserve. Sharon is not thrilled with my powering down the internet gateway. But reluctantly agrees it is a good idea to practice emergency procedures. Cheers, mates. Arnold
 

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