A Google search search shows propane freezes at -306 degrees F, I just wanted to point that out for those thinking it might freeze is a winter storm.
Okay so we are located 1200 or so miles straight north of Dallas Tx, and 210 miles north of Fargo ND. The type of cold, the temps and windchill Texas Oklahoma and Kansas just endured we have every winter. A lot of times its super cold -30 -40 for a few days then warms up say 0 or warmer. We have the infrastructure, technology and experience to handle. We do not shut down in super cold or we would need to shut down all the time in winter. Waterlines off wells 6 to 8 feet below grade, septic fields covered with straw to catch snow etc. Houses with tri pane windows and R40 to 60 in attic and R20 walls minimum. It helps well in the summer heat. All vehicles must have block heaters, synthetic oils and battery blankets help a lot too. I have personally experienced -44 with -52 windchill. And for as cold as it gets its sweltering hot and humid here too, vut its short lived and 90 with a 102 humidex is not uncommon. A crazy place to live, yet Winnipeg Area has over 800000 souls...lol
Simple things like letting the water run could have saved alot folks alot of grief ! Its sad in this instant information age , when there was plenty of warning , that folks were not informed
Here's a vintage pic of the infamous March 4th 1966 Snow storm in Winnipeg Canada. Wind speeds up to 80 mph. Pic is my family home, 59 Ford is on topic..
Remembering the 8 years I lived in Central Texas 0 to 20 degrees in That area is going to be more miserable than 20 to 30 below up north. I saw a thing on line a couple of days ago and forgot about it but digging the dome tent out of storage and setting it up in a room in the house and covering it with blankets can keep who ever you have inside it a lot warmer. We have in the past run my wife's Cpap off the 400 watt inverter that we normally use on our sailboat. It will run several nights off the boat battery but I'd think you could get a couple of nights out of a regular car battery with an inverter hooked to it. I remember that the first two houses we lived in in Texas had those old ceramic bodied gas heaters that hooked to gas outlets that came though the floor or wall and you often put them away in the summer and dug them out in the fall. open flame and no exhaust but the two houses we had them in were a bit drafty too. I have no idea if they are even legal anymore. Stay safe.
The critical propane temperature is the vapor point temperature, liquid propane in the tank does you no good if the gas pressure is Zero PSI. From a Google search: "What temperature is too cold for propane? At -44 degrees F or lower, propane stays as a liquid, there is little vapor and propane appliances won't function properly. Therefore, for appliances to work correctly, a propane tank must usually be kept in an area with a temperature greater than -44 degrees F."
Wood burner. Canned goods. A backup water supply. Lot's. Imagine no electricality when it's 100+ degrees this summer. Water rations. Food rations.
It didn’t get that cold here in the PNW but I have a Canadian friend who sent me photos of a snow train being dug out of about 20’ of snow ( deep that is, really tall) temperatures were in the neighborhood of -50 at times. Cold that is, not fit for man or beast. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Not true, it was all over the news and so many people knew that and were doing it, they lost so much water the pressure dropped badly. Fire fighters didn't have enough pressure to fight fires and buildings burned completely in Houston and San Antonio. Letting the water run helps for a day or maybe two but with the extended cold temperatures they had, it won't work. The other problem is when pressure the dropped below 15 lbs, contaminated water infiltrated the system so now they have to boil it for drinking. https://patch.com/texas/across-tx/s...texas-officials-say-state-s-water-supply-risk
When the pressure drops below 15 pounds they can't be sure what it is in every section of pipe and there may be certain areas where the pressure may be less than the ground water below grade so it may have a siphoning effect to pull it in. Houston also uses pumps instead of water towers and that contributes to the problem. “Houston’s water system is different than other systems in that we don’t use mostly water towers to provide pressure to the system, we use ground storage tanks and pumps,” Reed said. “Dripping can put stress on these pumps, which can cause systemwide pressure issues.” https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/19/texas-water-power-outages/
You asked why and I explained it to you. Believe it or not. "One Fort Worth resident reported a small “pencil-width” stream of water at their house. A Houston-area woman who lives near the Medical Center got water back for about an hour yesterday after, but said it was brown and undrinkable. A resident in San Antonio said their water froze even after running their taps." Like they say, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make 'em drink".
Yes and again your water supply infrastructure is not designed for any sustained cold. We have severe cold here, so we no choice but to have tech to aĺlow water in cold. All towns here have water towers pretty normal fixture. Down in southern Texas this type of weather is so rare its not part of building codes. With regard to major snow, we have the equipment to deal with it quickly and efficiently. Winnipeg spends millions each year in a snow cleari g budget alone.
"Water towers" are a world wide thing. "Gravity" is pressure .. kinda' like Newton's apple goes "bonk". Pretty hard to maintain pressures .. when every home around said water towers, have their faucets trickling. A great part of Texas is farther south than the part of Mexico, everyone vacations in. Maps help. In any event, people live north, south, east, & west. I'm positive schlongs are measured differently in each. Most don't care to measure, though. Take care.
Day 2 of the warmup here in North Texas. It was well above freezing this morning at 5 am when I woke up. I was so very lucky to not have lost power even for 5 minutes, and no water problems for me. Friends and relatives not so lucky. Hopefully the worst is behind us!....at least THIS time. I'm going to be looking into some emergency supplies and a generator before we get caught in the blindspot again. Prayers to all that are still suffering!
How was I supposed to trickle the ice maker line? That’s the pipe that broke in my attic. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Or you have to have some way to heat your tank to keep the pressure up. Another thought which I suspect had some relevance to the Texas situation. Back in the cold snap in January 1977 there was a shortage of natural gas around me because the gas was stored underground and the moisture was getting into it. When they started drawing on the supplies the moisture condensed in the well heads and restricted the ability to get the gas out. They had not planned on things getting so cold they would have to heat the pipes at the well heads to prevent freezing.
Letting water run, brings “ warm” water up from the ground , where pipes are buried. That is the factor determining how long it will work and how large of a stream is necessary. Some people think it’s the movement of the water, itself that keeps water from freezing, but it is actually the warm water from buried pipes. How deep these pipes are buried becomes a factor. In Huston, they probably bury their pipes about a foot! Here in Muskogee we bury ours two feet, as you get father North the depth increase to five feet+, to keep the pipes from freezing. How much water to flow and how long it will be effective is relative, to depth, temperature and length of the cold spell. Usually pipes don’t freeze the full length, they will freeze at an exposed spot, blocking flow. Find that spot, heat and you will have flow. Also in some conditions you can let the hot water stream and it will heat the area around that pipe, possibly keeping the cold water pipe from freezing. All things you learn if you live in an area that has below freezing temperatures in the Winter. Bones
December 22, 1989 I was traveling from my home in California to my parents in Indianapolis for Christmas. Landed in St. Louis and it was -12 and had to make a connection to Indy there. The plane we were boarding was cold soaking all night when we boarded about 9 am. They still had not loaded catering supplies and the wide doors for that were open in the cabin, insuring we were no warmer than the great outdoors. The passengers kept their coats on after seating but the poor cabin crew didn't have any warm clothes and were wrapping themselves up in those useless little courtesy blankets trying to avoid frostbite while they readied the plane for takeoff. Finally they got the cabin doors closed and we took off. You would have thought that with all those people and the heaters it would warm up quickly but the attendants were already turning blue as we taxied. I was wondering if this was such a good idea because I was thinking about how the cold would be affecting the function of the systems on the 727 we were on. We took off and about halfway between St. Louis and Indianapolis people were actually able to start taking off their hats and gloves. I don't remember seeing the flight attendants and I suspect they were huddled up in the back of the plane trying to get themselves thawed out with the heat from the coffee maker. Finally the words we were waiting for! 'We are on final approach for Indianapolis, please prepare the cabin for landing!' and then 'Current Indianapolis temperature is -23 below.' I think at that point I decided, "Yes this trip was not necessary!".
It’s really easy to criticize those facing dire straights, my heart goes out to those down there, we have extreme weather here but do every year, we build and plan for it. There is no way to deal with something unexpected like this. Sad people are dying, hope it gets better soon. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Dan, that’s what gets people! The unexpected ! I would venture a guess, no one could predict that. I saw that a lot of insulation fell out of your house and the attic in houses in your area are normally vented. Houses further North have vents that can be closed for Winter. Here in Oklahoma we see the both . What gets me is people living in mobile homes with no skirting and then are surprised that something freezes! That’s the type of things that get me! I guess I was lucky I grew up on a ranch....we had to learn! Dan, do you have any connections to the USS Enterprise CV6? Bones
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