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Massive Pile Up In Fort Worth

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IronWing said:
I've been waiting for the solar age dawning since the 70s. The cost has never worked out. Even solar water heating which should be a slam dunk in Arizona is defeated by incredibly hard water which would trash the system in a couple years.
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See Bill Maher (apology for the crappy video). You're trying to push the next big initiative but you make it so complicated that it contributes drastically to the overall cost and adoption.

 
s0me0nesmind1 said:
See Bill Maher (apology for the crappy video). You're trying to push the next big initiative but you make it so complicated that it contributes drastically to the overall cost and adoption.

Click to expand...

I was 3.5 months from order to on switch via Tesla. About a month of that was waiting for Austin Energy to do their stuff (inspect, install meters, etc). Probably would have been quicker with an independent shop but I was also getting Powerwalls which I knew had a looong wait. It wasn't that complicated.
 
IronWing said:
I've been waiting for the solar age dawning since the 70s. The cost has never worked out. Even solar water heating which should be a slam dunk in Arizona is defeated by incredibly hard water which would trash the system in a couple years.
Click to expand...

The trick is having the property for it. It makes sense if you have enough area that gets sun and can put an array that is big enough to produce more than what you need. I would go solar in a heart beat if I had more property. For here a ground mount makes more sense since I need to have easier access to it for taking snow off.

I have 400w on my shed but because it's on the roof it's very hard to get to them and they start to get caked with ice/hard packed snow if I don't stay on top of it every day. I have a 20 foot pole with brush but if the snow is too hard the brush just glides on top. I plan to tilt them at a steeper angle and I hope that will help though as it would be nice to use them as a backup power source. 400w will at very least keep a few things going. (realistically I'd get maybe 100w at most in winter)

The thing with solar is you only need to pay for it once, so if you actually can go off grid it makes lot of sense. Lot of places don't allow it though so you'd still be stuck having to pay for hydro even if you don't use it. It's the delivery fees where they get you.
 
K1052 said:
I was 3.5 months from order to on switch via Tesla. About a month of that was waiting for Austin Energy to do their stuff (inspect, install meters, etc). Probably would have been quicker with an independent shop but I was also getting Powerwalls which I knew had a looong wait. It wasn't that complicated.
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.... Were talking California here broceritops, not idealistic states that people are flocking to like Texas silly buns 😉
 
Red Squirrel said:
The trick is having the property for it. It makes sense if you have enough area that gets sun and can put an array that is big enough to produce more than what you need. I would go solar in a heart beat if I had more property. For here a ground mount makes more sense since I need to have easier access to it for taking snow off.

I have 400w on my shed but because it's on the roof it's very hard to get to them and they start to get caked with ice/hard packed snow if I don't stay on top of it every day. I have a 20 foot pole with brush but if the snow is too hard the brush just glides on top. I plan to tilt them at a steeper angle and I hope that will help though as it would be nice to use them as a backup power source. 400w will at very least keep a few things going. (realistically I'd get maybe 100w at most in winter)

The thing with solar is you only need to pay for it once, so if you actually can go off grid it makes lot of sense. Lot of places don't allow it though so you'd still be stuck having to pay for hydro even if you don't use it. It's the delivery fees where they get you.
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Funny but some places Kentucky is well suited for off-griders.
 
Apparently now safe drinking water is a problem in multiple towns in texas. I feel bad for these people. Unlike the Texas congresspeople who voted against Sandy relief for us here in the Northeast, I hope my representatives try to help out people really hit by this in Texas.

www.texastribune.org

Texans warned to boil and conserve water as power outages persist

After enduring multiple days of freezing temperatures and Texans dripping faucets to prevent frozen pipes from bursting, cities across the state warned Wednesday that water levels are dangerously low, and it may be unsafe to drink.
www.texastribune.org www.texastribune.org
 
MrSquished said:
Apparently now safe drinking water is a problem in multiple towns in texas

www.texastribune.org

Texans warned to boil and conserve water as power outages persist

After enduring multiple days of freezing temperatures and Texans dripping faucets to prevent frozen pipes from bursting, cities across the state warned Wednesday that water levels are dangerously low, and it may be unsafe to drink.
www.texastribune.org www.texastribune.org
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If water plants go offline because of pipe freezing or electrical outages the water can possibly get contaminated.

So yeah now we not only have electrical grid problems, water problems are cropping up. To top it off residential gas providers issued alerts today they may have to turn off gas supplies as they are running low on gas.
 
Wreckem said:
If water plants go offline because of pipe freezing or electrical outages the water can possibly get contaminated.

So yeah now we not only have electrical grid problems, water problems are cropping up. To top it off residential gas providers issued alerts today they may have to turn off gas supplies as they are running low on gas.
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It's breathtaking how quickly mama nature can absolutely shred humanity's idea of civility. A few degrees colder than usual, a few miles off-course for an otherwise normal storm, and entire swathes of civilization descend into something around immediate post-apocalyptic.
 
[DHT]Osiris said:
It's breathtaking how quickly mama nature can absolutely shred humanity's idea of civility. A few degrees colder than usual, a few miles off-course for an otherwise normal storm, and entire swathes of civilization descend into something around immediate post-apocalyptic.
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And hell breaks loose as every Texan yells...


"HURRY UP AND BUY ALL THE FUCKING MEAT AND BACON AT THE GROCERY STORE!!"



I learned to roll my eyes to disaster shit - but I completely forgot to buy eggs last week, so I stopped by to just grab some. All the meat was empty. All the bacon was gone. Most of the water bottles were gone.

I've learned to just keep non-perishable items at home 24/7 in large supply regardless of emergency just so I can always have the ability to roll my eyes to this shit.
 
s0me0nesmind1 said:
And hell breaks loose as every Texan yells...


"HURRY UP AND BUY ALL THE FUCKING MEAT AND BACON AT THE GROCERY STORE!!"



I learned to roll my eyes to disaster shit - but I completely forgot to buy eggs last week, so I stopped by to just grab some. All the meat was empty. All the bacon was gone. Most of the water bottles were gone.

I've learned to just keep non-perishable items at home 24/7 in large supply regardless of emergency just so I can always have the ability to roll my eyes to this shit.
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Same, and I'm smart enough to know that if I have a long-term need for emergency supplies, having them probably won't matter anymore. If I was smarter I'd just keep a bigger stockpile of 30-30 rounds.
 
[DHT]Osiris said:
Same, and I'm smart enough to know that if I have a long-term need for emergency supplies, having them probably won't matter anymore. If I was smarter I'd just keep a bigger stockpile of 30-30 rounds.
Click to expand...

I do all the time. If I get down to 1-2 Costco packs of TP or Water, that means buy another 3 - during normal times of course, not when people are freaking out.

Allows me to just laugh at the idiocracy instead of being forced to partake.

Food of all things, I always keep ~2-3 emergency frozen meals. But even still, I don't mind surviving off beef jerky, aged cheeses and salami that I have around. Worst comes to it, fuck it, I'll bust out some canned soup or something.


This of all things though has taught me to stop the dependence on government though. I'll finally bite the bullet and buy a generator after all of this dies down. Which means I'll also have to do the self-prep of filling up gas-cans before everyone goes ape-shit as well.
 
We just had to help the lady next door turn off her water. Tankless water heater in the wall froze up then blew out after it got warm enough. Serious mess.

Glad I've had every other faucet alternating dripping the hot or cold line. There have to be thousands of pipe bursts all over the city. Fire department won't come for it because they have real problems and the water dept is just a hold line. The city is telling people to stop dripping because of the water supply but it is all the breaks which are causing the problem.
 
K1052 said:
We just had to help the lady next door turn off her water. Tankless water heater in the wall froze up then blew out after it got warm enough. Serious mess.

Glad I've had every other faucet alternating dripping the hot or cold line. There have to be thousands of pipe bursts all over the city. Fire department won't come for it because they have real problems and the water dept is just a hold line. The city is telling people to stop dripping because of the water supply but it is all the breaks which are causing the problem.
Click to expand...

Wow - just a pipe or the water heater itself or what?

Yeah I'm glad we had power to keep our house mostly heated. The worst I might have is a sprinkler line that MIGHT have busted (not sure - will inspect in a week once everything melts).

Regardless, dripping is part of what helped my lines not freeze - Anyone who says not to drip is a piece of shit of saying "Your repairs aren't as important as X"
 
s0me0nesmind1 said:
Wow - just a pipe or the water heater itself or what?

Yeah I'm glad we had power to keep our house mostly heated. The worst I might have is a sprinkler line that MIGHT have busted (not sure - will inspect in a week once everything melts).

Regardless, dripping is part of what helped my lines not freeze - Anyone who says not to drip is a piece of shit of saying "Your repairs aren't as important as X"
Click to expand...

Looked like the break was internal to the tankless heater itself, water was pouring out of the housing and right in to the wall coming out inside and out. Getting the shut off valve to close was a little challenging since it was in a 8 inch hole flooded with ice cold water/mud/pebbles and probably never used since the house was built. Their house and ours were built by the same person and are basically siblings in design and construction even though ours is bigger and has a different layout. My husband thought I might be going overboard patrolling the house for problems most of the night once the heat came back like I'm a German U boat captain listening for depth charges. Not so much now.
 
We are seeing a ton of broken fire sprinkler lines. Who would have thought an uninsulated steel pipe full of water in an unconditioned space could freeze?
 
K1052 said:
Looked like the break was internal to the tankless heater itself, water was pouring out of the housing and right in to the wall coming out inside and out. Getting the shut off valve to close was a little challenging since it was in a 8 inch hole flooded with ice cold water/mud/pebbles and probably never used since the house was built. Their house and ours were built by the same person and are basically siblings in design and construction even though ours is bigger and has a different layout. My husband thought I might be going overboard patrolling the house for problems most of the night once the heat came back like I'm a German U boat captain listening for depth charges. Not so much now.
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Glad I went with a tank water heater replacement (had a long discussion on what to replace in the Home & Garden section). Fucking tankless makes it complicated and expensive.

But yeah, I've done the same thing of doing circles around my house to see if anything is screwed up constantly thinking "there must be something!"
 
local said:
We are seeing a ton of broken fire sprinkler lines. Who would have thought an uninsulated steel pipe full of water in an unconditioned space could freeze?
Click to expand...

Pashaw never gonna get cold enough for that so why bother?
 
K1052 said:
We just had to help the lady next door turn off her water. Tankless water heater in the wall froze up then blew out after it got warm enough. Serious mess.

Glad I've had every other faucet alternating dripping the hot or cold line. There have to be thousands of pipe bursts all over the city. Fire department won't come for it because they have real problems and the water dept is just a hold line. The city is telling people to stop dripping because of the water supply but it is all the breaks which are causing the problem.
Click to expand...
So glad I spent the four hours yesterday getting the lines to my tankless dethawed.
 
s0me0nesmind1 said:
Wow - just a pipe or the water heater itself or what?

Yeah I'm glad we had power to keep our house mostly heated. The worst I might have is a sprinkler line that MIGHT have busted (not sure - will inspect in a week once everything melts).

Regardless, dripping is part of what helped my lines not freeze - Anyone who says not to drip is a piece of shit of saying "Your repairs aren't as important as X"
Click to expand...

I Yolo’ed on my sprinkler system as 3/4s of it is already broken due to pool excavation. Hoping the remaining 1/4 isn’t damaged but if it is I’ll just have to to tack it on the the irrigation rebuild with the pool.
 
Friend that lives in Austin has a boil water advisory now. Can't boil water with an electric stove with no power. She hasn't had power for 2.5 days straight. Her friend's mom was out of town when the storm hit, came home to ""My mom came home to a busted pipe, ceiling caved in the living room & a waterfall "
 
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