Windshield washer solution in your cars may not have antifreeze in it

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Originally posted by snoris:

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Originally posted by NavyGuy:
Pretty damn cold here in North Texas. Official Temp right now is 6 degrees, but my outside thermometer is showing 12. It's hanging on an outside wall under our pergola so there's a bit of protection there. I guess we've got about 4" of this white stuff on the ground. The cold water feed to our washer appears to be at least somewhat frozen, as the wash shut down saying it couldn't fill. The state as rolling black outs. Daughter number 1, who lives about 3 miles from us lost power at 8 am, and daughter number 2, who lives 80 miles north just now lost power. We still have juice.

Oh well, we'll get through this. Nothing like when we lived in the Chicago area. Only difference is houses there are built to hand extreme cold, whereas houses here in Texas are engineered for heat.

Where in the Chicago area did you live, and when? I was in Winfield (next to Wheaton) in the sixties. And yes, I was there for THAT blizzard.

The last stopping point before getting transferred to NJ was Wheaton. Not to far from Roosevelt Rd. on the west side. Prior to that was Villa Park, Elmhurst, and most of my childhood in Matteson, 25 miles south of downtown Chicago. (the sticks as my sister called Matteson)

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Windshield washer solution in your cars may not have antifreeze in it

I hope everyone has decent antifreeze in their car's radiator.

We lost power at 2am till 6am, then it was up 22 minutes. Didn't come back on till 10:30. Been up and down several times today. Currently up for the longest stretch 2+ hours.

Friday I grabbed the foam spigot covers out of the garage and put them on. Then figured that might not be enough to I dug up some old tube sock and bunched them up over the faucets and put the foam covers over them. Will it help? Wait and see, I guess. They kept my feet warm before the elastic died.

Odd thing is that once I got up and was moving around the house I didn't feel that cold even though it was 60 inside. I would have thought that being without a source of heat for that many hours in these temps the house would be a lot colder. Maybe the radiant barrier is helping with the cold too.

Round two is coming Tuesday night. Good luck everybody.

-TVz

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Originally posted by MikeinNC:
Power went out around 0100....my house was built in 2018 and we have regular spigots not frost proof. My exterior spigots are frozen. I had my sprinkle riser wrapped and. Trouble light under it, but it’s frozen now. My MBR bathroom toilet is frozen as that line is against a exterior wall....these “rolling blackouts” suck

Way down south of you, but got my share of snow and enforced rolling blackouts. First was early this morning, and I just got power back after a three-hour outage. Now I've no water at all, as the heat lamp at the well obviously wasn't running and the ambient temperatures have been too cold for too long to allow thawing before the temps drop even lower tonight.

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my house was built in 2018

i guess the build was not a very good one.

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Originally posted by old rugged cross:

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my house was built in 2018

i guess the build was not a very good one.

Yeah, it wasn’t built with a once in lifetime event in mind

How is power going out in Texas. Don't they use natural gas for power and have vast quantities of it.

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Friday I grabbed the foam spigot covers out of the garage and put them on. Then figured that might not be enough to I dug up some old tube sock and bunched them up over the faucets and put the foam covers over them. Will it help? Wait and see, I guess. They kept my feet warm before the elastic died.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^+
Should be ok if you got a tight seal. You dont want moisture to get in. Before these styrofoam covers I would get old clothes and wrap tightly. The put a glad bag over it and secure with a rubber band. No trouble ever.

I have two exterior faucets that exit out of the brick. One of two is packed with ice. Don’t know what to do. I couldn’t move the foam cover over it. Ice has formed all around it and below it. No water on the interior of the house that I can tell on the interior wall from it. I could go pour hot water on it. That’s about the only thing. Any suggestions?

Can't you leave the outside faucets running a little like a coffee maker drip to keep water flowing in them and keep them from freezing (in an emergency situation?)

I don’t know who is responsible between ERCOT/ONCOR but after 24 hours with no electricity I suspect rolling blackouts are not the solution.

Looks like possible rolling blackouts over many states. Family in Houston sent pix of snow on Galveston Beach. I'm in Gainesville Florida..just rain and 70's yesterday...mid 60's today. I don't miss St. Louis where I grew up.

Well, woke up to this:



It's currently 34 degrees warmer in Anchorage, Alaska than it is here. Our temperatures are the same as Utqiagvik, Alaska (the furthest northern city in the US, and 9th furthest northern city in the world).

Some places around are reporting as low as -20, but I don't know how accurate their thermometers are when it gets that low.

Lots of neighbors reporting the water to their house has frozen. Mine's good, so far.

We had about 8 inches of snow yesterday. Supposed to get another 4-8 this afternoon through tomorrow.

But at least it's going to warm up to 20ish today.

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Originally posted by jimmy123x:
Can't you leave the outside faucets running a little like a coffee maker drip to keep water flowing in them and keep them from freezing (in an emergency situation?)

In theory, yes. In practice, that doesn't always work. Especially when it gets really ridiculously cold.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by RogueJSK:
Well, woke up to this:


..............................
Minus 14.
Damn global warming.

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I have two exterior faucets that exit out of the brick. One of two is packed with ice. Don’t know what to do. I couldn’t move the foam cover over it. Ice has formed all around it and below it. No water on the interior of the house that I can tell on the interior wall from it. I could go pour hot water on it. That’s about the only thing. Any suggestions?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
No to the hot water. Just know where the main shut off is before you do anything. Water comes out fast from a burst pipe. NO to a welding torch as well. Nice gentle heat. Hair dryer works well.

I do feel for you guys down south.

I think it was the 4th morning now that we've had temps in the -20's without the windchill.

My Arlo cameras haven't been working for the last week+...

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Originally posted by Greymann:

Minus 14.
Damn global warming.

Silly plebe. Record lows are caused by global warming, don't you know...

Slept cozy last night but woke up 55 degrees in the house and someone had turned off the kitchen faucet last night....yup it's frozen.

Overall we are ok, cooking on the camp stove, need to convert it to take 20lb tanks.

Found a good sledding hill so going sledding this afternoon...probably won't have a chance to do that for several years to come.

Figure we will be without power until this weekend....no matter what Oncor says.

If anyone in the dfw area needs a hand please drop me an email.

Woke up to 10* outside this morning.
Still no power at home.
In-laws had a pipe break on their sprinkler system, but were able to isolate it & get just that turned off.
30 hours with no power at home.
News on the radio this morning said there was 2 confirmed deaths in Houston, carbon monoxide poisoning. Family was in their car to warm up, in the garage.