The "Whatever" Thread

We get below freezing a day or 2 in a row but it's been many days now, I woke up to -1 and North TX can go for years without a dusting or normal snowfall but we do get it.
The worst part right now is the extended low temps and power outages, most houses heat with electric and others with gas.
Houses are not built for cold cold weather like Northern states, especially plumbing, thinner copper and with our frost line they are not buried deep.
 
Wow - that is a lot of snow greatscoot greatscoot -
We got a dusting here and it is below freezing - will be all day in the upper 20s which is pretty cold for this area - I guess Memphis got it pretty good but that is quite a bit north and west of us.

Stay warm and safe

best
mqqn
 
we woke up to more snow, no where close to your IL snow, temp is a little warmer 21, should be back over freezing Friday afternoon and it gets warmer each day after that, my old bones can't wait :D
I feel for those people without power, frozen and busted pipes, I've been keeping my fingers crossed
 
I don't envy those getting snowfall measured in feet instead of inches. Snow and ice is in the forecast here over the next 48 hours, totals are not expected to reach 1 ft. It should be enough to make my son happy and hopefully not make my back sore.
 
I'm with Simplejack! I like it chilly, like 0 degrees and snowy. I have been forced to travel last week and this week. I was in Alabama last week where it hit 70 every day. This week I am a couple hours from San Francisco in the central valley where it has been hitting 60 every day. I have been missing all the cool snow storms in Chicago area.
 
Mr. Bill said:
I'm with Simplejack! I like it chilly, like 0 degrees and snowy. I have been forced to travel last week and this week. I was in Alabama last week where it hit 70 every day. This week I am a couple hours from San Francisco in the central valley where it has been hitting 60 every day. I have been missing all the cool snow storms in Chicago area.
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Feel free to come by any time and help me shovel.
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Today will be the first day since Saturday afternoon that Austin will see temps above freezing. We kept our faucets trickling, and only lost power a couple of times. Never had any pipes freeze or burst. Now Austin Water is telling us we may be without water for a few days... We are stocked up and ready if that’s the case.
 
f1addict said:
Today will be the first day since Saturday afternoon that Austin will see temps above freezing. We kept our faucets trickling, and only lost power a couple of times. Never had any pipes freeze or burst. Now Austin Water is telling us we may be without water for a few days... We are stocked up and ready if that’s the case.
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Hope you guys are doing OK, that really sucks what's happening down there.
 
greatscoot said:
Hope you guys are doing OK, that really sucks what's happening down there.
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Thanks! We’re hanging in there. We were much more fortunate than others. We took in a friend and her daughter for three days while they were without power. After she was without power for about 24 hours, she calls me and asks if I will “walk her through how to build a fire.” She said she couldn’t get it started. I told her it was too cold outside to fool with that, why did she need a fire outside anyway? To warm up food for her and her daughter.

I told her to get a quick bag packed, that I was on the way to pick them up. Also helped out friends that didn’t have 4WD get supplies to them as well.

When my wife and I built our home 12 years ago, we choose a small neighborhood with less than 100 homes. Since that time, things around us have grown quite a bit, including two senior care / nursing home facilities and a fire station within a 1 mile radius of us. Come to find out, the energy company isn’t very keen on cutting power to them (catastrophic events of course can’t be helped).

We have been planning on buying a generator for emergency purposes, but keep putting it off. We’ve now moved it up the list, and want to get one by this summer. We didn’t need it this time, but you never know what the future holds. We stay stocked with propane, charcoal, firewood, etc. but no way to power refrigerators and a deep freeze in the garage.
 
Nothing compared to what y'all are going through, but we were without power late last year for 3-4 days. I did a lot of looking into generators and transfer switches. I have been very happy with our selection. Other neighbors have copied us. Let me know if you want details, but I ended up with a smaller than originally planned inverter style generator with a high quality transfer switch. My thought was that you want high reliability and ease of use. That was priority.
 
I don't want to fill up this thread....I could go on for longer than I have below.... I did a lot of spreadsheets, googling, calling, cost comparison, etc.

In general, rather than going for a whole house generator (even though I had an automatic transfer switch installed when we built our house), I decided on a 3000 watt gas powered inverter generator. Very quiet, excellent fuel efficiency (shocking really). It plugs into a 6 breaker transfer switch that is tied into our house wiring. So, I can power 6 predetermined 120 volt circuits. In my house - that's a lot - refrigerator, freezer, plenty of outlets and lights, a tankless water heater, and most importantly - tvs! Power outages can get very boring!

I went with well know brands with the thought that when I wanted it to work, I REALLY wanted it to work. Price followed of course. I did the install and ended up around $3000. Expect more to have an electrician do the transfer switch install. The install is very easy though if you are at all comfortable with house wiring. The quality transfer switches are built with ease of installation in mind.

All of this was based on 2 main things:
- I do not require heat or AC in the event of a power outage, so I don't need a 240 VAC generator. (I have a wood stove for the winter and windows for the summer). If you expect extremes that can't be solved with a low wattage space heater at most, this is not for you.
- Power outages will still be a "roughing it" approach. The comfort of knowing I have enough gas on hand to go for a week or more during an outage is offset by not being able to power my house like I normally can. The whole house generators are amazing, and really not all that expensive. Ease of use is amazing. But there is an inherent downside - until their technology and reliability catches up, their fuel economy is prohibitive in my opinion of you are not able to rely on natural gas. I have a large buried propane tank. Even with it, a whole house generator will suck it dry in a few days..... A propane delivery is much more difficult than a gas station run.

Well, that went way longer than planned. Sorry...
 
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That’s awesome information, thanks for the write up! I was expecting that you went with a whole house generator, which I don’t think I need at this current house, so I appreciate your insight. I have a couple of questions, I’ll send you an email this morning. Thanks again!
 
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