A few posts back I was mentioning heating options for when the power goes out and the thermometer has the bottom drop out of it. Apparently thats a real thing in Upper Mexico Texas right now. The Texicans, not quite accustomed to that sort of climate, are managing as best they can but it seems many werent quite prepared for that particular level of cold. Some you-are-there reporting from one of our blog commenters can be found at his blog.It’s an interesting read and definitely makes me think that, for my needs, I’ve gone in the right direction with heating options. For me, kerosene heaters to heat the basement (pipes) and main room of the house, and a Buddy heater for spot warming where needed. Although I have a small Honda generator, my anticipated use of it is basically just communications, lighting, internet, and security cameras. (And all of those are on battery backups that can run for a good length of time.)
I suspect that many people in the Texas scenario were ready for Texas-cold weather but never really anticipated actual-cold weather. And I think that’s a pretty understandable thing…I doubt there are folks in Hawaii with kerosene heaters, Yak Trax, and parkas tucked away in the garages. Its just one of those scenarios that seemed legitimately unlikely.
But, as a survivalist it is always informative to read other peoples accounts of what happened, what worked, and what didn’t.
Oh, and I should mention, in the blog linked in the opening paragraph there is also recounting of how some local businesses were ‘cash only’ and not taking plastic. Another reason to have an envelope of $20’s stashed away in the safe.
Anyway, its good reading and if anyone else has some links to some ‘I was there’ AAR blog posts or whatnot, please share.
All my siblings and Mom are in Texas (about 100 miles East of Dallas). So far, they all have power due to obscure rules for electric coops. (My brother said there is a segment of the coop that provides power to a trauma hospital. If you are on that segment, you aren’t subject to rolling blackouts).
Both he and my mother lost water even though faucets were left running. They think the pumps themselves froze up – my mom’s pump is 100 yards away from her house in a small brick enclosure. It probably was insulated enough for normal Texas winters, but not for this one. Probably won’t know the true source of failure until it thaws and you see where the pipes are leaking. Fortunately Mom has been through a few things and had bottled water for drinking and filled containers to use for flushing toilets and washing dishes.
Here in Central Texas, my family and I are hunkered down for the duration. Keeping water running so pipes don’t freeze and electricity still going. Kerosene heater is coming in handy. Only one pipe bust in the detached be garage, so valved off the garage and fix on a warmer day. A side note to those of you with wet fuel, buy pound of anhydrous sodium sulfate and dump in the gas or diesel that’s wet ( in a container that isn’t your fuel tank). Shake it around the cloudy fuel should become clear.
It’s pretty hard to beat a good old-fashioned wood burning stove when it comes to heat output. The fuel can be found anywhere–seasoned hardwood is preferable, but in a real emergency you can bust up your dining room chairs for heat. It’s also useful for cooking and boiling water.
Many don’t really prepare in parts of Texas, except for wrapping their exposed pipes, and maybe, a small generator. Some have whole home generators, since the hurricanes can leave huge areas without power for weeks. Sub-freezing temperatures for days, with freezing precipitation, is just not common, and lasts for maybe one day.
Me? I have a well insulated small home, protected water pipes, a well house with heat, and a generator that can provide enough electricity for a space heater, or a small one-room window unit. If necessary, I can run the water well for short periods of time, and keep the refrigerator cold. I can cook on a propane grill, and my Keurig can supply hot water for beverages.
We have similar weather about every 20 years, and severe cold about twice each century. Even if this is a severe winter outbreak, by next week, we’ll have highs in the 60’s and lows in the 40’s.
With modernization, the old methods of heating are long gone, and even a simple wood stove could provide plenty of heat for most people. I have a feeling wood stoves will be in demand, and people will have a different view of getting ready for winter.
living in the same lattitude of Texas, where we are either warm, hellishly hot, or in the 30’s only a handful of times per year, a small woodburning stove in the house is cheap insurance for when the grid is down. A cut up pallet, oak preferably, will heat the main area for most of the night. Also propane as a back up.
CZ has me interested into checking out kerosene.
Here’s the best resource I know of about kerosene heaters.
http://www.milesstair.com/Pictures/B.html
Steelheart
It has been interesting as a first responder here in North Texas. Have not lost power during event to date at my home, but I think it’s because I live close to an ER. If they turn my neighborhood off, then the ER would lose power also. At least that’s my theory. It also appears our experiment with green energy has been a big failure with only 10 percent coming from renewable sources in Texas.
Saw a news report of long lines of people waiting to get into grocery stores that have mostly empty shelves, long lines of cars at fast food joints.
What’s wrong with that picture?
Quote: “I doubt there are folks in Hawaii with kerosene heaters, Yak Trax, and parkas tucked away in the garages”. True, although we had a wood fireplace in our house growing up in Honolulu. Only one on the block. Dad also had a generator that he used for construction work, which we used a couple of times when power went out, as well as the fireplace.
One youtuber reported that they did well, until a 4 hour Rolling blackout shut down the furnace while he wasnt home to start up the old EU20. That was enough for a water pipe to freeze and cause damage to one room
I’m in Central Texas out in the country (40 miles west of Waco) and we’ve handled thing pretty well so far. Have not lost power but do have a backup generator for some essentials. County water is down to a trickle. I have a wood fireplace, propane stove/oven and plenty of stored water (although my bulk containers/rain collection are all frozen). Plenty of wood for a normal Texas winter, so I’ve got a lot of work to replenish what we’ve used. Propane burner to heat water and melt frozen water containers for horses. Wrapped chicken coop with plastic, added lots of bedding and put up a heat lamp. They made it through the -2 temps. Did a lot of prep work on spigots and pipes leading up to this. So far things seem ok. Love having a freezer full of food for times just like this.
I’m kinda…..old. Back in the day, my grandparents did not heat their whole house. Only one room- kitchen/dining/sitting room. They had a Dearborn heater but would use it sparingly. They dressed warm and had lots of quilts and blankets on the bed. It is just how it was done back then. We lost power for a couple hours. We dressed warm and paid it no mind. We have enough kerosene but I just did not think it necessary. I have a water shut off just outside the door below ground. Open the valve, go in the house and open all facets to back drain until empty. When we need to use water, I crack open the facets and step out and turn the valve restoring water. Repeat when finished. Not really a big deal. I talked to my little brother this morning. He reported gas stations in the Dallas area out of fuel. Also the stores are picked over bad. News reporting Darwin lurking around. Family tried to use charcoal in their grill to heat the house with standard results. Several houses burned down due to fireplaces and candles and one kerosene lamp. Interesting report on Townhall, said Texas powers that be copied the Cali system of power– went green. Wrong move.
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2021/02/17/one-thread-explains-how-texas-adoption-of-ca-model-for-energy-led-to-disaster-af-n2584852?
Just noticed the first post about living 100 miles east of Dallas, that area is on the Eastern grid, not the Texas interconnect. They are go there. In West Texas the only wood to burn is old rail road ties. They split them into thirds when pulled. Stinks to high heaven outside and burns hotter than hell. Just have to mind that chimney fire problem.
Railroad ties are treated with creosote, same as power poles. Stuff is like a half a tick less toxic than Agent Orange. Family of seven died here one winter burning it indoors.
Raised near Dallas this sort of weather is not heard of. Now I’m just north of Houston and this crap is not supposed to happen. There was even snow on Galveston Beach. A few years ago because the power was crap and it seemed like anytime a fly would piss, the power would go out so I got a couple of generators. They have paid for themselves since and even more so this week. My wife dializes at home so power is crucial. My learning curve this week was to make sure I had plenty of gas, time to pull maintenance, and don’t leave them outside unless they are being used. Yea, the gas line froze and wouldn’t start so the backup came out when those damn rolling blackouts came around again. The “R” in ERCOT stands for Reliability. I think they need to remove that from their name.
It would have helped a lot if the utilities saw the reports of that storm over a week ago and started winterizing their machinery. Gas lines are off because of pumps and generators didn’t have winter weight oil in them.
Crap, when I was running the Gas Dep. in Port Aransas we did everything we could to get ready for cold weather.
NOW the producers are wanting higher rats for the shortages they caused.
I wrote an email to the TX Utilities Commission commenting on their rate request.
They are probably running short staffed due to wuflu, and planned maintenance efforts. Almost everyone is. One week notice is really not that much in terms of worker hours given the huge list of things to do.
And how many times have the weather liars been RIGHT? That had to play into their decision process.
n
Those of us who grew up in the Texas Panhandle have long laughed at the southeastern two-thirds of the state when it comes top how they handle “real” winter weather. Back in 1980, I was living in Houston and it snowed just barely enough to cover the ground. Total panic ensued. They were closing schools and everything. In the 60’s and 70’s, it had to snow at least eight inches for them to even close the schools in Amarillo and the surrounding area. School buses would run pavement only in the surrounding small towns. They close for less now.
This the “Cold,dark winter” beijing bidet talked about?
It does make one wonder if this is the downslope of global cooling… but we are constantly told that weather isn’t climate, and even cold means warming…
I’m thinking hard about my winter preps of course… doing ok, but there were some surprises. The water in the generator fuel and carb freezing and preventing starting was a bit of a surprise, for example…. having the spigots on my water barrels freeze was another.
Frankly the loss of water is much more annoying to deal with than power, as I can and do make my own as needed. Water has to be moved by hand and I have ‘dirty’ and ‘clean’ water for different purposes.
We’re supposed to get another hard freeze Friday night, so this isn’t over for us yet but the end is approaching.
n
I really feel for these folks, while they were warned well in advance this was coming I don’t think many understood what to do to prepare because they aren’t used to this kind of cold or perhaps didn’t know how it would specifically effect Texas (heck I don’t think anyone did) versus somewhere like northern Michigan. Even the preppers in fairness probably had losing power and water for a week or more due to and during sub-freezing temperatures down there with me preparing for massive earthquakes in Ohio. Sure it could happen but as I try to allocate prepping resources efficiently I have to address the much much more likely first.
Is there any surprise with power outages when people from California & Michigan are making power decisions for Texas?
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/bryan-preston/2021/02/18/texas-ercot-removes-board-members-from-website-as-their-residencies-are-questioned-n1426475
The horror stories will continue and finger pointing and blame will abound for many months after it’s over.
As I often say and repeat over and over, technology is a tool, it is NOT friendly. As many are experiencing now that they are out of power, no mater what state you are in.
Life as you know it is OVER without the relied upon electricity, it runs absolutely EVERYTHING…. And you were led to believe that technology would be the savior, curing all the worlds ills… Bwaaahaaaahaaaa….
Cash is king, always has been, always will be, keep a pocketful. All your credit/debit card, bitcoin and other cyber based currency are now useless, you are broke for all intents and purposes.
No matter where you live, tropical climes as well as frozen 7/8 months a year, water pipes 6 ft deep, sewer minimum 3 ft deep electricity lines, if underground, minimum 3 ft. deep. But why if you live in warm climes? Cause some dumbass eventually will dig into them, probably you…. And then there’s always “global warming”. Hows that working out for you Texicans now eh? Windmills & Solar are good and useful, but then again I go back the the beginning, technology is a tool, it’s not a cure all….
My locale is RGV Texas, way down hard up against the mouth of the Rio Grande, border with Mexico.
No electricity from Monday 2 am until Thursday 4.15 pm. Inside home was high – low 50s. Japanese butane stove cooked meals with no problems. Heat was dealt with wearing insulating clothing layers and sleeping in blanket covered sleeping bags. No issues. No frozen pipe issues (Thank God!).
Gasoline vehicles was a cat herding rodeo. Sat in line three times, one ran out, the 2nd pumps refused to function and 3rd worked like a charm. 40 bux of gasoline filled the truck – I’m happy for now.
Restaurants – slammed for business due to lack of cooking at home. Elected to eat at home – much better.
Boring at night, watched the light from candles, talked until time to knock off.
This weather isn’t that unusual, at least for Houston area – I was there in January 2018 when it was 10 degrees and EVERYTHING was coated in half an inch of ice for 3 days…
My in-laws were complaining how cold it was and what they had to do to stay warm… Their furnace is broken… what they don’t mention is that it broke last spring and they never got around to fixing it. Also, they, like many, have an all-electric house. Other friends I have in Texas were fine since they had propane wall heaters or wood stoves.
My sister and her family just moved down there, only about half unpacked. She grew up in Maine, but lived in Arizona & California the last ten years or so (met her husband in the Marines) so she wasn’t quite prepared for the weather. Place they’re renting isn’t too well insulated, and no generator at the moment. She made sure they had bottled water and warm clothes & blankets all unpacked, and she’s enjoyed giving her husband (who’s an hour and a half away for training) crap because the ‘useless’ boots she’s hauled around for years kept her feet nice and warm. Niece & nephew liked the snow, but are happy they have running water & power back now