Honestly, it's nice to have, but I wouldn't pay to have one installed. My mom lives in the sticks and was thinking about getting one, and I told her the same. Go get a Honda 6500 inverter for 1/4 the cost and have an electrician set you up so you can run some needed things when you have to. The money you save will also pay for a lot of nights in a hotel if it's an extended time.
Rolling blackouts in Texas
173,684 Views |
1588 Replies |
Last: 3 yr ago by Whitetail
Well, we plan on this being our retirement home. And we occasionally get power outages here throughout the year, unrelated to hurricanes.aTm2004 said:
Honestly, it's nice to have, but I wouldn't pay to have one installed. My mom lives in the sticks and was thinking about getting one, and I told her the same. Go get a Honda 6500 inverter for 1/4 the cost and have an electrician set you up so you can run some needed things when you have to. The money you save will also pay for a lot of nights in a hotel if it's an extended time.
I figure amortizing that cost over 30 years could make it worth it...
That is what I run my pump at
Ag with kids said:Well, we plan on this being our retirement home. And we occasionally get power outages here throughout the year, unrelated to hurricanes.aTm2004 said:
Honestly, it's nice to have, but I wouldn't pay to have one installed. My mom lives in the sticks and was thinking about getting one, and I told her the same. Go get a Honda 6500 inverter for 1/4 the cost and have an electrician set you up so you can run some needed things when you have to. The money you save will also pay for a lot of nights in a hotel if it's an extended time.
I figure amortizing that cost over 30 years could make it worth it...
The nicest part of a whole home generator is paying for convenience during terrible weather. No lugging anything out and running a bunch of extension cords through windows. I would definitely say they're worth it. Especially if that's going to be your retirement home.
1) The blower motor is still 220VV8Aggie said:
I don't get it. I've lived in over 20 homes and they all had gas heaters. Am I missing something? I mean everyone's AC runs off electricity so even if half of us gave electric furnaces how are we going to put a dent in the grid?
2) During A/C season you're trying to keep the house 10, 15, 20, maybe 35 degrees cooler. With temps in the 20s and lower you're looking at 40-50 degree differences in maintained temps.
3) Commercial buildings, though vacant are still being heated.
4) Industrial users will use more power in the cold than they do in the hotter months
5) Wind farms are largely offline/frozen
6) Solar aint doing squat.
7) How many coal plants were shuttered by Obama's EPA?
etc
Edit to add... Most everything available should be online. Maintenance season is in the spring and fall.
One approach is to use ground water for the heat source. Then return the cooled water.AG81xx said:
Heat Pump - again only electricity to run compressor and blowers - very efficient (transferring heat from outside) but can't keep up with requirement when below 20 degrees.
Another is to bury long lines containing a coolant (not necessarily water) about 6' underground. Supposedly, you heat up the ground around the lines in the summer and cool the ground in the winter.
Fixed it for you...Yesterday said:nortex97 said:
With the greeny crap now ascendant I am seriously looking at options this year for a backup generator for the house. A pain to maintain a full size one for years just in case but I think it is inevitable at this point that our power grid is going to become a lot less reliable moving forward.
Get one to power the fridge and a window unit. Don't need to power the whole house. But I agree. We can't rely on wind and solaryet.ever
“It was miraculous. It was almost no trick at all, he saw, to turn vice into virtue and slander into truth, impotence into abstinence, arrogance into humility, plunder into philanthropy, thievery into honor, blasphemy into wisdom, brutality into patriotism, and sadism into justice. Anybody could do it; it required no brains at all. It merely required no character.”
Joseph Heller, Catch 22
Joseph Heller, Catch 22
Instead of AC, I like evaporative coolers.V8Aggie said:
I don't get it. I've lived in over 20 homes and they all had gas heaters. Am I missing something? I mean everyone's AC runs off electricity so even if half of us gave electric furnaces how are we going to put a dent in the grid?
Of course, it helps if you live in a dry climate. Those would be pretty miserable for residential purposes in Houston.
They are used in some cases in air conditioners in very large buildings. They do that by using a desiccant to absorb the moisture from the air and then gas flame to heat the desiccant to get rid of the moisture.
XXXVII said:
Yep, ERCOT shows in their daily forecast that load will exceed generation around 6 pm or sooner today. The load demand looks to be increasing faster than predicted.
Why does the available capacity decrease after 4pm? I assume power plants run 24/7. Is that attributable to solar generation that ERCOT oversees or something else?
Good question, I would like to know also.Spaceship said:XXXVII said:
Yep, ERCOT shows in their daily forecast that load will exceed generation around 6 pm or sooner today. The load demand looks to be increasing faster than predicted.
Why does the available capacity decrease after 4pm? I assume power plants run 24/7. Is that attributable to solar generation that ERCOT oversees or something else?
Among the latter, under pretence of governing they have divided their nations into two classes, wolves and sheep.”
Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Edward Carrington, January 16, 1787
Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Edward Carrington, January 16, 1787
Currently sitting at 65 with it being 29 outside, I'm pretty well screwed tomorrow. I don't think the heater has shut off in 2 or 3 days.Fenrir said:
A lot of older homes are going to struggle to stay 62-64 by tomorrow.
It's time to start abandoning rooms.
Thanks for the reply and I don't know the answer, except that our air conditioner is designed to run almost continuously with variable load compressors. Used to have system with just light load and heavy load amp draws.XXXVII said:richardag said:Those same fans run when using air conditioners.XXXVII said:Cassius said:XXXVII said:Cassius said:V8Aggie said:
I don't get it. I've lived in over 20 homes and they all had gas heaters. Am I missing something? I mean everyone's AC runs off electricity so even if half of us gave electric furnaces how are we going to put a dent in the grid?
Good point. Except for one house, it's always a gas furnace. I did have a heat pump in one house which was electric and a joke. Not getting this increase in demand.
I'm not sure my gas furnace will run without electricity. It needs electricity to run the thermostat and relay boards.
Yeah, but that doesn't explain a huge surge. It takes very little electricity to turn on the furnace.
The fans that move the hot air through your ducts do consume a good amount of power.
The question is do they run more often during extreme cold?
Among the latter, under pretence of governing they have divided their nations into two classes, wolves and sheep.”
Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Edward Carrington, January 16, 1787
Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Edward Carrington, January 16, 1787
We just went above 0 F in the last few minutes. Our forecast high is 9 F.p_bubel said:Currently sitting at 65 with it being 29 outside, I'm pretty well screwed tomorrow. I don't think the heater has shut off in 2 or 3 days.Fenrir said:
A lot of older homes are going to struggle to stay 62-64 by tomorrow.
It's time to start abandoning rooms.
Thanks for the reply. I was just assuming homes heated with natural gas would use less electricity in extreme winter conditions than that same home would use in extreme heat in the summer.Fenrir said:
Heat pumps can move somewhere between 1.5 to 3 times the amount of thermal energy as they consume. Electric resistance heaters are ~100% efficient so they produce the same amount of thermal energy that they consume. Heat pumps are far more efficient at moving heat, problem is they are all going to be frozen in this weather so heating will rely on gas or electric resistance heaters.
Something like 60-70% of homes in Texas are electric heat. Those homes are about to be running their electric heaters non-stop because the temperature difference would be like having 120-130 degree summers and they're combatting it with less efficient equipment.
Among the latter, under pretence of governing they have divided their nations into two classes, wolves and sheep.”
Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Edward Carrington, January 16, 1787
Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Edward Carrington, January 16, 1787
TAMU1990 said:I know mine's been running nonstop since Friday.Burrus86 said:
A lot of pool pumps running right now, too. Trying to keep pool plumbing from freezing, too.
Drain the filter and pump. What I did yesterday after it has ran for 4 days straight and will run until next Friday.
If the surface water in the pool freezes could that damage the pool, also is it possible water left in underground lines could freeze?Yesterday said:TAMU1990 said:I know mine's been running nonstop since Friday.Burrus86 said:
A lot of pool pumps running right now, too. Trying to keep pool plumbing from freezing, too.
Drain the filter and pump. What I did yesterday after it has ran for 4 days straight and will run until next Friday.
Among the latter, under pretence of governing they have divided their nations into two classes, wolves and sheep.”
Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Edward Carrington, January 16, 1787
Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Edward Carrington, January 16, 1787
XXXVII said:
Yep, ERCOT shows in their daily forecast that load will exceed generation around 6 pm or sooner today. The load demand looks to be increasing faster than predicted.
Is this available to public? Got a link?
http://www.ercot.com/frorge said:XXXVII said:
Yep, ERCOT shows in their daily forecast that load will exceed generation around 6 pm or sooner today. The load demand looks to be increasing faster than predicted.
Is this available to public? Got a link?
Bottom left on their homepage
Wow. Well now I feel like a lazy idiot. Thanks
Careful now... I can resemble that comment as well!frorge said:
Wow. Well now I feel like a lazy idiot. Thanks
I can recall living in Minnesota as a child. Some new homes back then (1950's) were "All Electric" owners had very large electric bills keeping those houses livable in winters.
Personally recall one ice & snow storm where we lost all power.
My late father walked the 1 mile plus (down & back) to the local hardware store. He bought the last "air-tight" stove they had in stock and carried it back home.
Took the metal decorative plate out of the chimney flue hole and hooked it up to chimney. We heated the downstairs of our home for the 3-5 days until the "REA" got out to repair all of the down power lines.
Personally recall one ice & snow storm where we lost all power.
My late father walked the 1 mile plus (down & back) to the local hardware store. He bought the last "air-tight" stove they had in stock and carried it back home.
Took the metal decorative plate out of the chimney flue hole and hooked it up to chimney. We heated the downstairs of our home for the 3-5 days until the "REA" got out to repair all of the down power lines.
richardag said:If the surface water in the pool freezes could that damage the pool, also is it possible water left in underground lines could freeze?Yesterday said:TAMU1990 said:I know mine's been running nonstop since Friday.Burrus86 said:
A lot of pool pumps running right now, too. Trying to keep pool plumbing from freezing, too.
Drain the filter and pump. What I did yesterday after it has ran for 4 days straight and will run until next Friday.
Not a pool freeze expert but I imagine as long as ice can expand then it won't damage the surface of the pool. Pipes shouldn't freeze underground.
Apartments are almost always electric even if you have a gas furnace the fan is electric so a rolling blackout will impact some homes that have gas heatingV8Aggie said:
I don't get it. I've lived in over 20 homes and they all had gas heaters. Am I missing something? I mean everyone's AC runs off electricity so even if half of us gave electric furnaces how are we going to put a dent in the grid?
When I lived in Las Cruces, everyone had swamp coolers. They're really great in the dry desert air.eric76 said:Instead of AC, I like evaporative coolers.V8Aggie said:
I don't get it. I've lived in over 20 homes and they all had gas heaters. Am I missing something? I mean everyone's AC runs off electricity so even if half of us gave electric furnaces how are we going to put a dent in the grid?
Of course, it helps if you live in a dry climate. Those would be pretty miserable for residential purposes in Houston.
They are used in some cases in air conditioners in very large buildings. They do that by using a desiccant to absorb the moisture from the air and then gas flame to heat the desiccant to get rid of the moisture.
But, you get just a tiny bit of humidity and you are ****ing miserable...
They're basically a non-starter for anyone in Texas east of a line from Wichita Falls, to Abilene, to Del Rio...
When we lived in Alabama no new homes and no retro installation was allowed within the city. Were a breeding ground for misquotes.Ag with kids said:When I lived in Las Cruces, everyone had swamp coolers. They're really great in the dry desert air.eric76 said:Instead of AC, I like evaporative coolers.V8Aggie said:
I don't get it. I've lived in over 20 homes and they all had gas heaters. Am I missing something? I mean everyone's AC runs off electricity so even if half of us gave electric furnaces how are we going to put a dent in the grid?
Of course, it helps if you live in a dry climate. Those would be pretty miserable for residential purposes in Houston.
They are used in some cases in air conditioners in very large buildings. They do that by using a desiccant to absorb the moisture from the air and then gas flame to heat the desiccant to get rid of the moisture.
But, you get just a tiny bit of humidity and you are ****ing miserable...
They're basically a non-starter for anyone in Texas east of a line from Wichita Falls, to Abilene, to Del Rio...
Among the latter, under pretence of governing they have divided their nations into two classes, wolves and sheep.”
Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Edward Carrington, January 16, 1787
Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Edward Carrington, January 16, 1787
You can download ERCOT app and it will tell you demand and power prices
Avg prices run $21-$23 a MW per hour usually... yesterday was like $1700 and $400 the two days before. Serious money being made right now by generators who haven't sold completely forward. However, ten years ago prices were $70-$80 but now with all the wind / solar on the grid plants struggle to even break even these days and turn some
Profit at $20 MW prices. 5k MW have been closed in the last few years in coal plants etc, and there are some that will be closed in the coming 3-5 years but I'm glad now the liberals get to see they need us. Just remember there are people out there right now working 24/7 to keep these nasty dirty coal burners from freezing up and pumping power.
Avg prices run $21-$23 a MW per hour usually... yesterday was like $1700 and $400 the two days before. Serious money being made right now by generators who haven't sold completely forward. However, ten years ago prices were $70-$80 but now with all the wind / solar on the grid plants struggle to even break even these days and turn some
Profit at $20 MW prices. 5k MW have been closed in the last few years in coal plants etc, and there are some that will be closed in the coming 3-5 years but I'm glad now the liberals get to see they need us. Just remember there are people out there right now working 24/7 to keep these nasty dirty coal burners from freezing up and pumping power.
Looks like Vistra and NRG have some major plant outages going on in the middle of winter / let's see if they can get them back on-line.
The same two companies that had major outages in August of 2019 when the summer prices went to infinity.
The same two companies that had major outages in August of 2019 when the summer prices went to infinity.
Out on the farm when I was a kid, we usually just used a fan, but some years we would use a swamp cooler in the living room window. I never did understand why we would use one for a year and then not the next year.Ag with kids said:When I lived in Las Cruces, everyone had swamp coolers. They're really great in the dry desert air.eric76 said:Instead of AC, I like evaporative coolers.V8Aggie said:
I don't get it. I've lived in over 20 homes and they all had gas heaters. Am I missing something? I mean everyone's AC runs off electricity so even if half of us gave electric furnaces how are we going to put a dent in the grid?
Of course, it helps if you live in a dry climate. Those would be pretty miserable for residential purposes in Houston.
They are used in some cases in air conditioners in very large buildings. They do that by using a desiccant to absorb the moisture from the air and then gas flame to heat the desiccant to get rid of the moisture.
But, you get just a tiny bit of humidity and you are ****ing miserable...
They're basically a non-starter for anyone in Texas east of a line from Wichita Falls, to Abilene, to Del Rio...
Even in the middle of the summer without a swamp cooler , the house remains pretty cool until lunch time.
gonemaroon said:
Looks like Vistra and NRG have some major plant outages going on in the middle of winter / let's see if they can get them back on-line.
The same two companies that had major outages in August of 2019 when the summer prices went to infinity.
Where did you find this info....?
There's over 10,000MW of real-time thermal outages in ERCOT right now. There has been about that amount all month. Lake Hubbard, Midlothian, Forney, part of Graham all on outage - compliments of Vistra energy and ERCOT to allow massive outages in the middle of winter.
We need to fire up those D11 dozers and mine that lithium.
I think a lot of older homes were designed for decent airflow with fans...eric76 said:Out on the farm when I was a kid, we usually just used a fan, but some years we would use a swamp cooler in the living room window. I never did understand why we would use one for a year and then not the next year.Ag with kids said:When I lived in Las Cruces, everyone had swamp coolers. They're really great in the dry desert air.eric76 said:Instead of AC, I like evaporative coolers.V8Aggie said:
I don't get it. I've lived in over 20 homes and they all had gas heaters. Am I missing something? I mean everyone's AC runs off electricity so even if half of us gave electric furnaces how are we going to put a dent in the grid?
Of course, it helps if you live in a dry climate. Those would be pretty miserable for residential purposes in Houston.
They are used in some cases in air conditioners in very large buildings. They do that by using a desiccant to absorb the moisture from the air and then gas flame to heat the desiccant to get rid of the moisture.
But, you get just a tiny bit of humidity and you are ****ing miserable...
They're basically a non-starter for anyone in Texas east of a line from Wichita Falls, to Abilene, to Del Rio...
Even in the middle of the summer without a swamp cooler , the house remains pretty cool until lunch time.
Now, they're designed for aesthetics...which generally seems to be the opposite of decent airflow.
gonemaroon said:
There's over 10,000MW of real-time thermal outages in ERCOT right now. There has been about that amount all month. Lake Hubbard, Midlothian, Forney, part of Graham all on outage - compliments of Vistra energy and ERCOT to allow massive outages in the middle of winter.
Are those all natural gas or coal generators?
Are you saying ERCOT let them take long term outages for maintenance or something during the winter?
This is starting to sound like a good idea. Is there any catch-22s to be aware of or is one version much like another? Is there a problem of nomenclature of things called generators or inverters that actually are not--that kind of thing. Any specific word or term should use in searching for them?aTm2004 said:
Honestly, it's nice to have, but I wouldn't pay to have one installed. My mom lives in the sticks and was thinking about getting one, and I told her the same. Go get a Honda 6500 inverter for 1/4 the cost and have an electrician set you up so you can run some needed things when you have to. The money you save will also pay for a lot of nights in a hotel if it's an extended time.
FrioAg 00:
Leftist Democrats "have completely overplayed the Racism accusation. Honestly my first reaction when I hear it today is to assume bad intentions by the accuser, not the accused."
Leftist Democrats "have completely overplayed the Racism accusation. Honestly my first reaction when I hear it today is to assume bad intentions by the accuser, not the accused."
Probably some of both. You have to do maintenance sometime.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_power_stations_in_Texas#Natural_gas
They're on here.
Lake Hubbard and Graham are 921 MW and 630 MW nat gas steam plants
Midlothian and Forney are combined cycle gas turbine plant, 6 gas turbines each, 1734 MW
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_power_stations_in_Texas#Natural_gas
They're on here.
Lake Hubbard and Graham are 921 MW and 630 MW nat gas steam plants
Midlothian and Forney are combined cycle gas turbine plant, 6 gas turbines each, 1734 MW
Featured Stories
See All
21:36
20h ago
2.1k
No. 13 Aggies dispatch East Texas A&M in Friday's home opener, 87-55
by Olin Buchanan
54:36
1d ago
6.0k
47:49
1d ago
2.4k
5 Thoughts: No. 13 Texas A&M 87, East Texas A&M 55
by Luke Evangelist
99:23
1d ago
1.8k
BillyPilgrim
Something I just noticed from the current 2025 commit list…….l
in Billy Liucci's TexAgs Premium
42