THIS is Texas? 6º F

gfh77665 said:
There are a few isolated examples where deaths have occurred, like one guy who was begged by authorities over and over to come in out of the cold but he refused, then died. A hospitalized family got CO2 poisoning by lighting up a BBQ grill indoors, etc. Except for these Darwin events, the vast majority of Texans will not fall to pieces. We are as resilient as they come. We overcame hurricanes and floods, and will overcome this little cold snap that is quickly going away. Thanks.
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I hope and wish all the best for Texas and hope all of the struggles are mitigated. Natural disasters are not preventable, but it seems maleficent that planners at ercot and other places simply ignored worse-case-scenario planning regarding the cold. It's not Texas' first rodeo (sorry) with extreme weather events and even the cold. A Texas born friend of mine recalled severe issues in 2011...
 
Jackson_Slugger said:
What is "ercot" and their source for this?

Nevermind, just saw what "ercot" is? What does ENRON think of all this? :rolleyes:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/joewal...for-texas-electricity-crisis/?sh=5f5c14ba21b3

Wind isn't 28%, it's 13% at most...
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You seem to be confusing anticipated output with installed capacity despite the fact that I clearly laid out that what I was referencing was installed capacity as well as what the anticipated contribution was supposed to be. In terms of installed capacity, wind is 28%, as clearly outlined in the table, but feel free to haul out a calculator and run those figures yourself if you don't trust what I presented.

Do I need to break this down further?
 
OilReport99 said:
And that's great, isn't it?
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Coldest part of the state is the panhandle … on SPP

6E01D94E-5576-4647-8BEE-D56DB9DD3D96.webp
 
OVERKILL said:
You seem to be confusing anticipated output with installed capacity despite the fact that I clearly laid out that what I was referencing was installed capacity as well as what the anticipated contribution was supposed to be. In terms of installed capacity, wind is 28%, as clearly outlined in the table, but feel free to haul out a calculator and run those figures yourself if you don't trust what I presented.

Do I need to break this down further?
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No, I just think your source is fundamentally dishonest and fundamentally mischaracterizes the issue and actually and somehow you have the arrogance to think I would actually accept your cute meme. I actually asked you where it was sourced from, but hey, post whatever colorful pics you want..


Or maybe the 800 articles on the web that fundamentally contradict what you are attempting to state. Maybe you can "break" some of those down?.

The actual fact is that no one ever said that the reason we have rolling blackouts in Texas is because we do not have enough wind farms, it was politicians doing the 'spinning' by claiming that wind and solar are the reason for all of this. The main issue was the failure to plan and the understandable, but unfortunate, reliance on electric based heat in Texas. Do you need me to break that down for you?
 
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I lost power from 5am Sunday to 11am yesterday (Thursday).....Thankfully, I still have a Dearborn NG heater in every room that are vented through the roof. They're mid-70's relics but they saved my bacon. Was able to take Hot showers, Boil water & Cook as well because of Natural Gas.

Used my Milwaukee, Astro, & Snap-on flashlights for light & my NOCO jump box to charge our phones. The wife is working 16 hour days as see runs a water removal/mold mitigation team for Dalworth.....Lot's of flooded/water damaged homes & businesses in DFW!!!!
 
JimPghPA said:
It would be interesting to know the increase in power use when a heat-pump system goes to resistive heat. Is it twice as much, three times as much? I do not know the multiple but I do know it is a lot more power being required.
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My heat pump consumes about 3.5kW. It's a 4-ton unit. The installed resistive heat is 19.2kW. However:

1)I have disabled half the resistive heat so only 9.6kW is enabled (done by turning off one 50-amp breaker).

2)I have further disabled the resistive heat by passing the "W" wire from the thermostat through a light switch in a handybox.

This way, the only half of the resistive heat comes on, and then only during defrost. If I feel that the heatpump cannot keep up I can turn on the switch to enable resistive heat. So far in 3 years I have never needed to do that.

It is my opinion that there are some misconceptions and myths about heatpumps, the most persistent of which seems to be that below 35F outdoor the compressor should be disabled and only resistive heat used.

The compressor should NEVER be disabled at any outdoor temperature above manufacturer specifications. In the case of my Trane unit that is -6F; the defrost board in the outdoor unit will disable the compressor below -6F.

Also, many thermostats are extremely dumb about enabling resistive heat, turning it on when it really is not needed.
 
I wonder if in general because Texas does not get as cold as northern states, the heat-pumps in general in Texas might be designed to run at higher temperatures and the resistive heating kick in at higher temperatures than northern units?

I realize that in general the outside coil will ice up at the same temperatures regardless of the latitude the unit is located at, though there are sometimes differences in humidity that could change the amount of icing up rates and problems. Still, sometimes there are differences in designs of some types of things regarding the different environments they are used in, so that in general they are the most efficient for where they are used. So there could be some differences.

BTW, 19.2 / 3.5 = 5.4857 so that would be quite an increase in demand if enough units went into the resistive mode. And the average user is not likely to modify there system to reduce the amount of resistive heating it would use if it did kick in.

One of my brothers who also lives in the Pittsburgh PA area has a high end heat-pump system that uses natural gas heating if the temperature were to get too cold for the heat-pump.
 
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I didn't read the entire thread, so forgive me if this was already asked. Don't homes in Texas have valves to shut off and drain the plumbing systems?
 
JustinH said:
Yes of course but the general public is clueless at best.
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I've been following a lot of this on reddit and facebook. What a lot of people are finding is that their house shutoff valve does not work and that's leaving them unable to shut off the water. Certainly, the best option would have been to shut off the main shutoff at the entry point and open all the faucets to avoid freezing. Unfortunately, that valve just doesn't work.

My house had gate valves everywhere. They're very unreliable after they get 10 or more years old from what I've seen. As soon as you touch them they start leaking or they don't work at all. I've had to replace every one of them with ball valves which have proven to be more reliable
 
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