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Prep for the next big freeze.

10,607 Views | 70 Replies | Last: 3 yr ago by Hehateme1
Apache
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7:38p, 2/16/21
AG
Quote:
100% this. If you lived through it once, you can live through it again. Why spend thousands when you can just got get a hotel room? Why do anything different when it all worked out the first time?

If it's not an electrical outage, it's a flood. If it's not a flood, it's a tree ripping off the roof. If it's not a tree in the roof, it's a frozen water main.

Sometimes we forget men are folly and we can never be prepared for this life.
100% No.
Sure I can live through tough times again, but why not learn from mistakes & make it easier on myself & family? No one is talking about spending thousands. If I had spent a couple of hundred on snow chains & tossed them in my tool box, it would have been a heck of lot easier getting home on Sunday.

You can't be 100% prepared for everything, but as the old saying goes: "If you fail to prepare, be prepared to fail".
I'd rather have stuff like fire extinguishers, extra food, a generator etc, & not need it than the other way around.
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AgLA06
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In reply to water turkey • 7:39p, 2/16/21
AG
water turkey said:
"Don't think I want to pony up for the whole home generator. But I do plan on buying a 9,000 watt gas generator and have an electrician wire it to my breaker box. Should be big enough to run one AC in summer. Or pool pump in winter if this happens next decade!"

Buddy did this. Not sure the wattage. Spent about $2,000 all in including the wiring.

It will run everything in the house, including 2 furnaces, except the pool pump.

Seems like a pretty cheap investment. I plan to do the same.


I did this. Dual fuel 12k watt portable (with NG conversion kit). NG flex line from the house to the garage, $500 electrical with relay / kill switch in breaker box with 50amp connection.

About $3.5k all in for whole home power. And I can always take it with me if I bug out.

To the guy who said he found a Generac for $3K. I saw those advertised as well. Actual quotes installed were $9k-$11k for Houston (prices higher in the big city) with a 20 week lead time.
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jtp01
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7:40p, 2/16/21
AG
Since we are under construction on our home we have solidified the need for an automatic emergency generator. We are spray foaming 2x6 walls and the entire roof as well. Fortunately when I built my shop, I had the pressure tank and VFD and all valves installed in the bathroom with a small electric wall heater. Everything between the house and shop is about 4' deep single run of 1-1/4" pex.

In the little farmhouse that we are living in while we build, we have plans to replace all of the siding and the contractor suggested he could spray foam from the exterior. I will better close up the crawl space under it.

I will be installing an old style wood stove and or a propane only heater. At some point we will likely put an emergency generator on this farmhouse since it will be office space for me, my wife and the farm. Since we both work off farm jobs from home it will be nice to be able to leave the office and go home.
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texAZtea
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In reply to CaptnCarl • 7:41p, 2/16/21
AG
CaptnCarl said:
If you lived through it once, you can live through it again. Why spend thousands when you can just got get a hotel room?


In laws said that to me while I was stacking wood next to their door. Today they're thankful I didn't stop because their neighborhood roads were too dicey to get to their hotel room.
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rootube
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8:00p, 2/16/21
AG
As someone who just had power restored after almost two days the best advice is have ground coffee ready the rest will be easy.
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CaptnCarl
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In reply to Apache • 8:10p, 2/16/21
AG
Literally the post below yours was talking about spending thousands. Did you read any of the other posts or the one I agreed with?

The post I 100% agreed with started by saying it's good to prepare your best.
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CaptnCarl
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In reply to texAZtea • 8:15p, 2/16/21
AG
Glad it worked out. I'm sure they are glad you didn't stop stacking.

We thankfully had plenty of firewood as well. Definitely going to stay stocked up on wood in the future, and hope I don't forget the next time this storm happens in 40 years.
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jpb1999
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In reply to Bassmaster • 8:23p, 2/16/21
AG
What fuel and how long does it run what you need it to? What do you run on it? Just heater and fridge/freezers?
_________________________________________

Spane Bohem


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Stat Monitor Repairman
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In reply to texAZtea • 8:26p, 2/16/21
texAZtea said:
CaptnCarl said:
If you lived through it once, you can live through it again. Why spend thousands when you can just got get a hotel room?


In laws said that to me while I was stacking wood next to their door. Today they're thankful I didn't stop because their neighborhood roads were too dicey to get to their hotel room.
Typical in-law bs though.

Don't miss one bit.
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Apache
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8:37p, 2/16/21
AG
Quote:
Literally the post below yours was talking about spending thousands.

For a generator that will run the entire house. Plenty of folks here have been without power for multiple days for reasons other than a 30 year cold snap. Pay for a hotel in the city for 4-5 days & live out of a suitcase & that generator seems like a good investment.

The main thing I felt was wrong with your post was this comment:
Quote:
...we can never be prepared for this life
Don't quite understand why you say that when you also agree it's good to prepare your best...
anyway, it'll probably be 100 in 90 days and this snow will be a distant memory.

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AggieAuditor
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In reply to Apache • 8:41p, 2/16/21
AG
Apache said:
Quote:
Literally the post below yours was talking about spending thousands.

For a generator that will run the entire house. Plenty of folks here have been without power for multiple days for reasons other than a 30 year cold snap. Pay for a hotel in the city for 4-5 days & live out of a suitcase & that generator seems like a good investment.

The main thing I felt was wrong with your post was this comment:
Quote:
...we can never be prepared for this life
Don't quite understand why you say that when you also agree it's good to prepare your best...
anyway, it'll probably be 100 in 90 days and this snow will be a distant memory.



No power/ac when it's 100 scares the hell out of me.
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RGV AG
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8:43p, 2/16/21
AG
Move back to Central America.
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texAZtea
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In reply to CaptnCarl • 8:56p, 2/16/21
AG
Sorry I kicked your dog. I get the point you're trying to make but you're operating under normalcy bias.

Things will always be like they have been. I survived the last cold front/ natural disaster/ dangerous thing no problem so I can survive the next in exactly the same way.
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mts6175
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In reply to CaptnCarl • 8:58p, 2/16/21
AG
CaptnCarl said:
Snow Monkey Ambassador said:
I'm a big proponent of being prepared for things like this, but one thing I think everyone forgets in the heat of the moment is that this is a "once-a-decade" (or longer) kind of deal. Overreacting in the heat of the event is likely to be expensive and inefficient. That's not to say that some people couldn't be better prepared going forward, but like I told my wife last night - spending a ton of money to save a little bit of rare, time-limited suffering isn't always the best approach.


100% this. If you lived through it once, you can live through it again. Why spend thousands when you can just got get a hotel room? Why do anything different when it all worked out the first time?

If it's not an electrical outage, it's a flood. If it's not a flood, it's a tree ripping off the roof. If it's not a tree in the roof, it's a frozen water main.

Sometimes we forget men are folly and we can never be prepared for this life.
Just curious if you've tried to book a hotel yesterday or today........

(Nearly impossible FYI)
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SharkinAg
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In reply to AGGIE WH08P • 9:09p, 2/16/21
AG
AGGIE WH08P said:
Don't think I want to pony up for the whole home generator. But I do plan on buying a 9,000 watt gas generator and have an electrician wire it to my breaker box. Should be big enough to run one AC in summer. Or pool pump in winter if this happens next decade!


This is what I have but it's a 10000 generac. Currently has my house sitting at 75 and we are watching the Lakers (gf is from socal). It holds 10 gallons and if I fill it around ten it will be running at 8 in the morning easily. Ran it heavy last year during Hannah. Love it
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CaptnCarl
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In reply to texAZtea • 9:12p, 2/16/21
AG
That's quite opposite of what I said. I said you plan expecting an electrical outage, and you get a flood. Meaning you can't plan for this natural phenomenon to be exactly like the next one. After losing power for weeks during Hurricane Ike, people spent thousands on generators. During Harvey, many those generators were flooded.

Let me reiterate, I am all for planning and being prepared. I think people fixate on being prepared for the worst instead of being prepared for the likely.
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TxAg20
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9:36p, 2/16/21
rootube
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In reply to AggieAuditor • 11:22p, 2/16/21
AG
Former Puryear Playboys don't need AC in the summer!
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coastalaggie
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1:09a, 2/17/21
AG
Better insulation for the water well pump house
Fair Winds and Following Seas
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AggieMPH2005
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In reply to AgLA06 • 5:26a, 2/17/21
The Generac I was talking about is the biggest portable they make, with a 16 gallon tank,17KW not a whole house stand by unit. Which as you said is at a whole other price point.
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KALALL
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8:10a, 2/17/21
AG
I already bought a pto generator for the house. I figure the lead time for it will be a lot shorter than a standby generator.
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Stat Monitor Repairman
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In reply to CaptnCarl • 9:55a, 2/17/21
CaptnCarl said:
That's quite opposite of what I said. I said you plan expecting an electrical outage, and you get a flood. Meaning you can't plan for this natural phenomenon to be exactly like the next one. After losing power for weeks during Hurricane Ike, people spent thousands on generators. During Harvey, many those generators were flooded.

Let me reiterate, I am all for planning and being prepared. I think people fixate on being prepared for the worst instead of being prepared for the likely.
You make a good point.
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Mark Fairchild
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10:40a, 2/17/21
AG
At my age, if this is every 91 years, will never see it again.
Gig'em, Ole Army Class of '70
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Bassmaster
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In reply to jpb1999 • 12:49p, 2/17/21
AG
Natural gas. It runs the whole house, 4500 sq. ft. That includes 3 furnaces and pool equipment. Pretty thankful we spent the money at this point. Haven't been uncomfortable at all through this, and have been able to open our house to family and friends to help limit their suffering.
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aftershock
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1:05p, 2/17/21
1. getting the attic insulation reblown.
2. buying several fittings and lengths of copper pipe.
3. I'm gonna start up the generator more often to just run it (bc I'm sore AF right now from trying to get it started yesterday).
3.1. I might do whatever you've gotta do to plug said generator into the panel to run a few circuits
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lazuras_dc
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1:11p, 2/17/21
AG
What's the shelf life on those Coleman propane tanks or bottles of butane?
Parents have a butane stove and it's been clutch. They're going on 3 days no power
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Snow Monkey Ambassador
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In reply to Bassmaster • 1:37p, 2/17/21
AG
Bassmaster said:
Natural gas. It runs the whole house, 4500 sq. ft. That includes 3 furnaces and pool equipment. Pretty thankful we spent the money at this point. Haven't been uncomfortable at all through this, and have been able to open our house to family and friends to help limit their suffering.
Mind sharing what you paid for this system, and when it was installed?
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bam02
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In reply to lazuras_dc • 1:39p, 2/17/21
AG
I'd guess pretty damn long. I am sure I have used some that were at least 3-4 years old at some point.
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chjoak
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1:55p, 2/17/21
AG
Most of what I plan to do are things that we have been planning anyway...

1. Replace windows in house (we were gonna do this pre-covid and then tapped the breaks) for better function, insulation, etc...
2. Replace back door and doggie door
3. Seal off gaps/drafts to the outside
4. Comb attic for pipes that are not properly insulated (have 5-6 neighbors and several friends that had issues with attic pipes bursting).
5. Keep more firewood on hand. I typically have some around for the smoker but not nearly enough to deal with these temps.
6. Stock up on some basic repair items (copper pipe/fittings, torch, etc...) so I can quickly patch myself and/or neighbors who run into issues. Seeing far too many FB posts of people on long waiting lists for plumbers, a few plumbers charging $500 just to show up and both Lowes & Home Depot completely out of everything.
7. Generator. Torn on standby vs portable, but plan to figure something out by this summer. Live in Houston so another freeze like this is not very likely but we have also had several hurricanes & tropical storms since I moved here.
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Bassmaster
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In reply to Snow Monkey Ambassador • 2:05p, 2/17/21
AG
Between 11 and 12k. Paid for in June 2020 installed in August 2020.
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ldg397
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2:35p, 2/17/21
AG
May get a larger propane tank and have it buried. I will also my generator plan when it warms up luckily didn't have to use it this time, or yet I should say!

I think I can run my heater and instant water heater off of extension cords to a portable generator. Both use a plug in as their means of disconnect and easily extended with extension cords. Work on creating a permanent pathway for the cords to be run quickly.

Work on my insulation. I kept about 50% of the water going and wouldn't take much to keep at a 100% with some insulation here and there.
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Ferg
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6:11p, 2/17/21
So if i spend money to insulate the attic after this, should I insulate the floors to keep the house insulated or some type of foam insulation in the attic roof to keep the attic (and water heaters) insulted?
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agz win
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7:11p, 2/17/21
AG
Fix my unused generator. Left old gas in there too long.

For those wanting a Generac, neighbor is worried she's low on propane and delivery trucks aren't coming.
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91AggieLawyer
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In reply to Snow Monkey Ambassador • 7:15p, 2/17/21
AG
Snow Monkey Ambassador said:
I'm a big proponent of being prepared for things like this, but one thing I think everyone forgets in the heat of the moment is that this is a "once-a-decade" (or longer) kind of deal. Overreacting in the heat of the event is likely to be expensive and inefficient. That's not to say that some people couldn't be better prepared going forward, but like I told my wife last night - spending a ton of money to save a little bit of rare, time-limited suffering isn't always the best approach.

You can always talk about things that will be common in disasters in general. This is the first time in my life I've lost power in cold weather but nowhere near the first power loss. Other than heat and pipe issues everything here applies to spring and summer blackouts.
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Sazerac
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7:34p, 2/17/21
AG
I already have a whole house generator. To prepare for next event I need to get some sort of large heat light/lamp to set up on the north walls to keep some plumbing better warmed. It was my only issue this week.


If I was building new the number one thing I would do is build a manifold plumbing system so all branches could be cut on/off independently. Would be able turn off ones more in danger or cut off one line - instead of the whole house- if there were any issues.
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