How About This Weather We've Been Having?

Labor Day tax day memorial day and now Valentine’s Day

We should all be worried about what day it is in Houston

 

There are always these posts anytime a certain geographic area deals with weather conditions typically not found in that area.

Snow/sub freezing temps in the gulf states: ZOMG, IN ALASKA, WE LIVED IN -50 F WEATHER FOR WEEKS AT A TIME.
I am sure the people in PHX will say the same when Canada gets 120F for 2 months.

Point is, if we had to deal with this all the time, we would be better prepared. We wouldn't build so many damn bridges. We would have winter tires and chains. And of course people would learn to drive in these conditions. Until that happens, this is how we will deal with it.

So fk off. lol.

 

Here's what I know so far.
Typically in a good install for a sprinkler system, there's a separate line going from the main water line with an "isolation valve" before it gets to the backflow valve.

The point is to be able to turn off the water to the sprinkler system without turning off water to the house. The location of the valve depends on who installed it. Videos on Youtube from the northern states have them in the basement. The ones here, are near the backflow preventer in the ground or sometimes near the water meter.

The contraception above ground, backflow preventer, has two valves also. Turning off the first one turns off the water going into the backflow preventer but, the issue is it will have water stuck in the ball valve which can freeze and burst. If this happens, and you don't have an isolation valve, you have to go turn off the main water line.

So the process is:
1. turn off isolation valve to the sprinkler system
2. 45 deg turns on all the valves on the backflow preventer (including the ones you have to do with a screwdriver). Obviously, you can only do 45 deg on the first inlet valve if you have an isolation valve. Otherwise, you have to turn it fully off and hope your wrapping will help.
3. cover/wrap the pipes/backflow preventer

Just doing step 3 doesn't cut it. At the end of the day, when you have 4-5 days of freezing temps, no amount of wrapping is going to keep it warm.

 

I think this would require a very hard freeze. It's essentially a spigot coming out of the ground at that point but attached to further piping you have emptied.

So you never found the isolation valve? The pic you posted had a valve box, I almost never see those on the vacuum breakers.

 

Fingers crossed. I did end up wrapping/covering the whole setup. So hopefully that helps.

I looked near my backflow preventer in the ground and near the water meter, didn't see one. I am assuming I don't have one.

 

Min °F	Date	Min °C
31	March 05, 2019	-1
19	January 17, 2018	-7
23	January 07, 2017	-5
32	December 19, 2016	0
30	January 08, 2015	-1
25	January 07, 2014	-4
31	January 17, 2013	-1
31	January 13, 2012	-1
23	February 02, 2011	-5
21	January 09, 2010	-6
27	December 05, 2009	-3
32	December 10, 2008 +	0
29	February 16, 2007	-2
30	February 12, 2006	-1
34	December 08, 2005 +	1
28	December 26, 2004	-2
28	January 18, 2003	-2
25	February 27, 2002	-4
29	January 20, 2001 +	-2
30	December 30, 2000	-1
29	January 05, 1999	-2
29	December 26, 1998	-2
30	January 11, 1997	-1
23	January 08, 1996	-5
31	December 10, 1995	-1
27	February 02, 1994	-3
30	November 27, 1993	-1
29	November 27, 1992	-2
34	November 24, 1991 +	1
–	1990	–
9	December 23, 1989	-13

 

These are good times for zerohedge articles

https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/en...tating-outages-cold-weather-tests-limits-grid

Energy Trader: We've Officially Hit The "Holy S*it Levels"

Update (1715ET): As the day has progressed, amid deteriorating weather forecasts and no let up in demand (despite ERCOT's urgings), one Houston energy trade sums the situation up as eloquently and succinctly as ever:

"we've officially hit the 'Holy ****ing **** Levels' here..."

As he shows in the tables below, the Day Ahead clear for energy has basically gone offer-less...

$7,413 for North Hub (the most liquid hub).

Ancillary Services, specifically Responsive Reserves which ercot issued an operational notice stating they needed more offers, does not have the same $9,000 cap level. It cleared a comical eleventy gabillion; actually a cheap $11,950.....PER MEGAWATT.

Do the simple math on that.

If you are a retailer, obligated to, lets just say, 25MW, and did not hedge (meaning you left it to get filled by ERCOT at market clearing price), you just incurred a $7.1M cost on an around the clock basis for a single day.

If I was a betting man, I'd say folks are going to go out of business and we'll see more consolidation in this market, prior to a massive overhaul of market structure.

How long before Washington steps in with a probe of the power markets? A bailout for grid operators and perhaps some relief for actual residents who - we are desperately sad to say - may just freeze to death amid this 'perfect storm' of freezing temps and no supply of power to provide heat.

* * *

Wholesale power for delivery Sunday was trading at anywhere from $3,000 to $7,000 a megawatt-hour in some places, triple the records set in some places Saturday and a staggering 2,672% increase from Friday at Texas’s West hub. Average spot power prices were just shy of $1,000 per megawatt hour during peak hours Sunday morning, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

As one Houston energy trader so eloquently explained, Texas electricity customers are about to get "lubelessly pounded" as prices explode:

Sunday day ahead cleared 4765 for the peak and 2297 for the offpeak. HANDS DOWN BY FAR HIGHEST CLEAR ON RECORD.

And yep, all those folks on griddy were paying 9$ per KWh earlier today and continue to get lubelessly pounded

“Spot prices are expected to hit $9,000 on both Monday and Tuesday,” said Brian Lavertu, a trader for Active Power Investments.

“Power is going to be wild through Tuesday.”

 

Can I walk a German shepherd at 12 degrees? Not the one with bad hips.

 

Is it Saturday yet?

 

This snap is gonna put a ton of electric providers out of business and make fortunes for and destroy many traders. Crazy stuff

stay warm out there folks!

 

As long as you have a mask on, head covering and gloves (at least for the leash hand), I think you’ll be fine.

 

It is raining, likely freezing rain in Montgomery County so better stay home, or you will get stranded if you get out.

 

Weather service I get predicts 3-6 inches of snow, more in isolated spots.

 

My wife who works at TMC decided to go into her office today to stay overnight so she wouldn't have to drive in tomorrow.

She's on the emergency ride out team, but the hospital never declared an emergency, just told all of their employees that they're expected to show up at work like normal tomorrow morning and if you don't think you can make it, you should come in Sunday and stay overnight. They're also asked to bring in multiple overnight stuff in case they can't go home safely on Monday.

I think that's pretty BS since rather than declaring an emergency and compensate the ride out team appropriately with extra PTO, the hospital is putting all of the onus on the employee to either give up tons of their personal time to come in early with no compensation or risk driving in terrible weather.

It seems like it's all to save the hospital money rather than doing what's the safe and fair thing for the employees.

 

Yep. My wife works at Methodist in Willowbrook (we live in central Houston) and she had to drive out there this afternoon and is sleeping on a blowup mattress in her office the next two nights.

 

My work finally caved and put a bunch of us in a hotel next to the office...there was gonna be a massive call in tomorrow.

 

between this and covid I wonder how many people will be driving tomorrow.

 

All those missed appointments for vaccines. If you need one, go get it at the hospital, but call ahead first. And brave enough to drive to go get it.