Cold spell/ Power Outages

PullMyFinger

Active Member
Messages
107
Watching the news about people feezing to death, dying from CO poisoning, no food to eat etc, etc.
I read a post by Forkwest where he showed how to can meat (Death in a Bottle). How many of you have extra propane for your camper/ trailer or a buddy heater or two for heat. How about some food saved up ?
It is stupid not to. I read where China was given control over some of our electric grids. Hackers hacking in to water supply system.
Some people think noting will ever happen but they will be the ones that die or cry the most when tough times hit.
Everyone laughed or bitc--- about the toilet paper fiasco last year. If food was not delivered due to a big storm then the stores would run out in a couple days.
 
Most People Don't Realize The Amount of Goods it takes to Spin this World for one day!
That is sadly true Elk. And they don't realize how it feels to go hungry for a day or two.
I ran out of food on a long hiking trip years ago. I had left my food bag up in a tree to keep bears out. After walking halfway out I realized it. I spent a night without food and most of the next day to get to my vehicle. It sure wasn't any fun.
 
Lots of people left California for Texas, and they get to Texas and the power is out because the bird choppers froze up and the solar panels were covered in ice and snow. Wait until everyone plugs in their car.

I live on the California coast so no worry about freezing to death. Pray our farmers and ranchers don't give up, but I could forage here if I had to. I might have to shoot some animals with my lead bullets......gasp!
 
Solar panels snowed over, wind turbines iced up, low gas flow from millions of furnaces running all at once. Can't produce power.

And some fools think "renewables" are the only way to go.
 
Lol. I grew up where 3 weeks without a plow or delivery to the local grocery store wasn't uncommon. I won't run out of food as an adult with a little change in my pocket. Regardless of what happens around me.
 
I listen to KTRH(Michael Berry) in the mornings. Its been pretty entertaining, but sad.

We've always got food on hand.

But when the earthquake hit this spring, I ran outside and filled the toyhaulers water tank. That was a wake up on not having enough water
 
At least the Cave Man knew how to could keep his family warm at night ! We have become stupid and dependent. My Cave Man tv keeps my family warm at night!
 
I've still got half a dozen rolls of chit tickets from before covid. Who only keeps 5 minutes worth of arse wipe on hand?
 
I read where China was given control over some of our electric grids.
Provide more details. I'd like to see what circumstances existed that control of our power grid "was given" to another country.
Lots of people left California for Texas, and they get to Texas and the power is out because the bird choppers froze up and the solar panels were covered in ice and snow.
Texas has the only isolated power grid in the entire country. They removed themselves from regulation under Federal Energy Regulatory Commission a decade ago thinking they were being smart. Texas then failed to build their grid to federal standards and they're now paying for it.

As a certain US Senator from Texas tweeted today in response to his earlier now-proven-to-be-idiotic tweets criticizing California's energy grid, "I got no defense."
 
Provide more details. I'd like to see what circumstances existed that control of our power grid "was given" to another country.

Texas has the only isolated power grid in the entire country. They removed themselves from regulation under Federal Energy Regulatory Commission a decade ago thinking they were being smart. Texas then failed to build their grid to federal standards and they're now paying for it.

As a certain US Senator from Texas tweeted today in response to his earlier now-proven-to-be-idiotic tweets criticizing California's energy grid, "I got no defense."
Well, not yet...

 
At some point I might have to improvise. I was never in the Army but I've seen all the Rambo movies.

And Biden is dangerous to our Country.
 
47AA8B5E-8ADA-4B62-BDC6-1B07CF502207.png
 
Well, not yet...

Threat to National Security? How is that not a "High Crime and Misdemeanor"?

The office of the POTUS is for one purpose. The security and safety of the US and it's borders.

Liberal policies are the single biggest threat to the USA AND the rest of the world...
 
Well, not yet...

So.... if we're hacked, then they could take over the power grid. Got it.

Kind of like.... if somebody drives a truck into a building, then it could injure people.

That's a far cry from saying something already happened.
 
Well they now realize they need to add heat to their coal and nuclear plants. I don't know how they're going to make the wind blow, the sun shine, or turn an ice storm, which compromised near 20% of their power. We are regulated and on the fed grid here in Colorado. We too were told to limit our power usage between 4 and 10pm Sunday night because wind and solar wasn't producing. They also claimed a natural gas supply shortage. Haven't we recently discovered an abundance of natural gas? They're welcome to spin it anyway they want. What can't be denied is this little, normal for here, cold snap has exposed holes in the new way of thinking.
 
Last edited:
Having just went through 2 weeks of below zero temps and -40 wind chills I am fairly certain now that we would be just fine. We never were told to reduce our power usage.

The wife and I could live off of the food we have for at least a couple of months. Might be some interesting meals towards the end but we could do it. Both of us grew up on ranches far from town so always being stocked was beat into our heads.

I could run the furnaces on a generator if I need to.

Nemont
 
And don't forget Bill Gates is funding a project called solar dimming. Gonna spray calcium chloride in the atmosphere.
I saw in on the news yesterday.
 
Well they now realize they need to add heat to their coal and nuclear plants. I don't know how they're going to make the wind blow, the sun shine, or turn an ice storm, which compromised near 20% of their power. We are regulated and on the fed grid here in Colorado. We too were told to limit our power usage between 4 and 10pm Sunday night because wind and solar wasn't producing. They also claimed a natural gas supply shortage. Haven't we recently discovered an abundance of natural gas? They're welcome to spin it anyway they want. What can't be denied is this little, normal for here, cold snap has exposed holes in the new way of thinking.
The coal powered Rawhide Generating Station in Northern Colorado February 15, 2021, in -10F weather.


 
Well they now realize they need to add heat to their coal and nuclear plants. I don't know how they're going to make the wind blow, the sun shine, or turn an ice storm, which compromised near 20% of their power. We are regulated and on the fed grid here in Colorado. We too were told to limit our power usage between 4 and 10pm Sunday night because wind and solar wasn't producing. They also claimed a natural gas supply shortage. Haven't we recently discovered an abundance of natural gas? They're welcome to spin it anyway they want. What can't be denied is this little, normal for here, cold snap has exposed holes in the new way of thinking.
There is no natural gas shortage. The shortage comes from millions of furnaces being used at the same time when they normally aren't that reduces the feed to large scale natural gas generation. The issue with natural gas is the pipeline capacity. Stepping up flow rate through compression without increasing line size will cause the lines the freeze up.

Not a smart idea to adopt a "just-in-time" model for grid stability...
 
Provide more details. I'd like to see what circumstances existed that control of our power grid "was given" to another country.

Texas has the only isolated power grid in the entire country. They removed themselves from regulation under Federal Energy Regulatory Commission a decade ago thinking they were being smart. Texas then failed to build their grid to federal standards and they're now paying for it.

As a certain US Senator from Texas tweeted today in response to his earlier now-proven-to-be-idiotic tweets criticizing California's energy grid, "I got no defense."


So California and their yearly rolling blackouts because it ........summer, is how a government regulated power grid should work?


It is ok to point out a once in a century winter storm pounded Texas.

Starting today a TON of folks in Texas are going to get a quick education on how superior petroleum based pipes are vs copper.

That's not coppers fault, its not because there isn't enough federal government oversight. Its because warm weather states dont build their infrastructure for single digit temps. Pipes arent below the frost level. Generators and turbines arent winterized. They also didnt have snow removal equipment, salt, and De icers at tge airport.

What this does expose is that YET AGAIN, government involvement at the Federal level is a FAILURE. Tax credits and regulations relaxing made Wind artificially cheaper to build. Despite it not being as reliable or cheap as the fossil alternatives.

However. Man makes plans, God laughs
 
Being in the O&G industry, this power outage in Texas affects me in multiple ways. First off, I have no power in my home here in Fredericksburg. No big deal, we adjust and push on. As far as our production field, most of our wells are classified as Gas wells due to their high gas-oil ratio. The gas we try to sell goes via pipeline to a gas plant of our marketer. This week, Ercot brilliantly added most of the gas plants in west Texas to the brown out grid and shut down power to those folks. At temps at or below zero, these facilities froze up immediately. Most still don’t have power restored and haven’t since Monday. Had they not shut off power, good chance all those facilities would still be sending fuel to market and be able to offset all the frozen windmills. Natural Gas spot rates at the hubs are astronomical right now due to the shortage. Ercot failed and the state of Texas failed in not closely overseeing those folks disastrous plan. We received notice this morning they “hope” to start getting these plants back online by this weekend.
 
The wife and I got tired of the power failures in our area. PGE will shut the power grid off in the foothills if high winds come up to prevent a forest fire.
Over a year ago we had a 22 thousand kilowatt Generac generator installed. Comes on automatic when we have a power failure and shuts off automatic when the power comes back on.
Runs on propane and we have a separate 250 ga. tank that will run it 6-7 days at 24 hours a day. Or if I choose I can run it on manual during the day and shut it off during sleeping hours at night. That extends the use of it to almost 2 weeks if needed before propane runs out.
It runs the house, shop and well with power to spare. five year warranty if something fails. Maybe we should buy stock in Generac as they are going to be selling a lot of their units in Texas.
RELH
 
Now Texas knows what Californian's have had to deal with on the green power problem. If we continue down this road everyone else in the country will enjoy the lack of a dependable power grid.
 
Last edited:
Well I guess that's what happens when they have all of their un regulated privatized power grids. All in the name of Circumventing safety regulations and mitigation procedures for the profit of very few individuals. Not all regulations are bad.

"With all of the lifted trucks in texas, you'd figure that everyone there would be used to something three inches and white."
 
Paper straws of course. We have our problems in Texas, but Cali is run worse than most 3rd world countries. I will stay right here.
 
Texas is making the same mistake as California. They're "investing" in green energy and neglecting their grid trying to solve a problem that doesn't even exist. Colorado is right behind us.
 
I have a 25 kw propane fired generator (GM 4 cyl). When I did the math on my runtime with a 500 gl tank I came up with something like 30 days 24/7. That was close to 10 years ago and things get a little fuzzy, but I remember it having enough fuel to run for a surprisingly long time.

Our crushers were run by 750 kw’s.
 
I have a 75kw generac and a 20kw chinese POs....but it works. Both diesel and almost always have a thousand gallons of diesel.....hopefully I'll never have to use them.....
 
Homer, my wife corrected me on the size of the generator before you did. She used to work in a hardware store and does not let me forget it when I make a stupid mistake.
That's ok, guess who takes care of any plumbing problem in the house.
RELH
 
Affirmative on local contractor. All the years my wife worked at the local hardware store gave her inside information on who the good contractors were and the not so good.
The county inspector , who did the final inspection, knew me and told me that he loved inspecting ###### work as he does it right the first time.
RELH
 
A word of advice for anyone looking to buy a big generator. Make sure you have a “factory authorized” repair service available. These things are run by computers that require specialized diagnostic stuff. Sadly, a DIY’r with a can of carb cleaner and a screwdriver cant fix em anymore.

In my case, mine is a long where from anywhere. And the last place the dealer wants to go is to some guys house in the middle of nowhere.
 
No, no Costo involved. The electric contractor I used is a factory dealer for Generac. He has installed many of them in our two county area and repairs them if needed.
RELH
 
Lots of people left California for Texas, and they get to Texas and the power is out because the bird choppers froze up and the solar panels were covered in ice and snow. Wait until everyone plugs in their car.

I live on the California coast so no worry about freezing to death. Pray our farmers and ranchers don't give up, but I could forage here if I had to. I might have to shoot some animals with my lead bullets......gasp!
Speaking of Tesla....


We have plenty of wild horses out here; I won't go hungry.
 
Homer this is the model we had installed. Total cost for generator and installation on concrete pad was just over 7 grand.

RELH
We installed over 50 generac’s last year alone and have about 30 so far to do this year. My company does a lot of generator work and out of all the brands available for residential application generac is the best. We do maint on a few hundred generators and as a contractor we love Cummins. They always have something that needs fixed. The generac’s are great for homeowners as they can handle years and years of neglect and still work.

22kw is the perfect size. My next house I’m going to do a battery bank with an inverter with generac (small 16kw) and solar. Complete install will be about 12 to 15k but If **** goes down my gen will only have to run about 2 hours a day.
 
Now Texas knows what Californian's have had to deal with on the green power problem. If we continue down this road everyone else in the country will enjoy the lack of a dependable power grid.
Talk of the town is that rolling blackouts are an acceptable reality...
 
We installed over 50 generac’s last year alone and have about 30 so far to do this year. My company does a lot of generator work and out of all the brands available for residential application generac is the best. We do maint on a few hundred generators and as a contractor we love Cummins. They always have something that needs fixed. The generac’s are great for homeowners as they can handle years and years of neglect and still work.

22kw is the perfect size. My next house I’m going to do a battery bank with an inverter with generac (small 16kw) and solar. Complete install will be about 12 to 15k but If **** goes down my gen will only have to run about 2 hours a day.
Would like to talk to you sometime about one. I have a few questions.
 
I'd love to hear about the battery bank......I have 22kw of solar at my house that I'd love to have charging batteries instead of the grid......
 
I'd love to hear about the battery bank......I have 22kw of solar at my house that I'd love to have charging batteries instead of the grid......
Your solar panels do not charge batteries? Must be a CA thing. Since we only have the sun 4 or 5 hours a day up here for a big portion we save as much energy generated as possible.
 
I wish I could connect to the grid so I can get rid of my batteries. I hope I make it past next year before I need to drop $8k to replace mine.

Im anti battery but whatcha wanna know?
 
So on Average Blue?

How Long do the Batteries Last?

Is there a BAD Battery Indicator?

I Know with just 2 Batteries In My Truck/Camp Trailer,if One goes Bad & You Don't Notice it,the Bad Battery Works on Destroying the Good Battery!



I wish I could connect to the grid so I can get rid of my batteries. I hope I make it past next year before I need to drop $8k to replace mine.

Im anti battery but whatcha wanna know?
 
This is the scary part. These crazies think this proves that we need the “new green deal”. Morons think we need to build huge batteries for power storage. Do they have any idea how large and environmentally unfriendly these will be!!!

798BB296-1D45-4B4C-96FE-043C4513F6C9.png
 
So on Average Blue?

How Long do the Batteries Last?

Is there a BAD Battery Indicator?

I Know with just 2 Batteries In My Truck/Camp Trailer,if One goes Bad & You Don't Notice it,the Bad Battery Works on Destroying the Good Battery!
Or if you replace one battery of two in a system and one isn't good it will destroy the new one.
 
My next house I’m going to do a battery bank with an inverter with generac (small 16kw) and solar. Complete install will be about 12 to 15k but If **** goes down my gen will only have to run about 2 hours a day.
I'm interested in this too. We're getting ready to build and I was going to do a generator since I'm on propane anyway, but if there's a better way I'd love to hear about it from an expert.

I'm assuming the solar would help to offset normal usage throughout the year?
 
My prediction: Washington Post, July 15, 2021

Heat Returns With A Vengeance
After February's historic cold spell, Texas sees record heat wave, scientists say.
 
I'm interested in this too. We're getting ready to build and I was going to do a generator since I'm on propane anyway, but if there's a better way I'd love to hear about it from an expert.

I'm assuming the solar would help to offset normal usage throughout the year?
Yes. You can do solar w/o batteries. ROI on solar is around 7 years now. I’ll get you guys some links to check out.
 
This is the scary part. These crazies think this proves that we need the “new green deal”. Morons think we need to build huge batteries for power storage. Do they have any idea how large and environmentally unfriendly these will be!!!

View attachment 25364
It doesn't matter what they think. They've just about got this ship sunk. Only saving grace now is we get to sit back, enjoy the ride and maybe get a little chuckle here and there. Problem is, they're too dumb to ever realize they did it. Enjoy the ride...
 
I installed a onan cummins generator at my parents and grandparents. I did the electrical and my dad did the gas line and concrete pads. Every monday they go into exercise mode for 15 minutes. The electrical contractor i use to work for sold me on onan and we installed a lot. Enough to make the generac contractor not able to compete with us. I will be doing my place soon.
 
Your solar panels do not charge batteries? Must be a CA thing. Since we only have the sun 4 or 5 hours a day up here for a big portion we save as much energy generated as possible.


SS you've got more knowledge on the matter than me, but I've always thought if you could incorporate a couple small windmills on the roof with the solar panels and batteries, you could get a small check monthly. Don't believe it would pay for itself but I think it would be more efficient than the big towers and solar fields.
 
The contractor that installed our Generac generator also installs solar systems. In our area of CA. you can go two ways with a solar system. One way is the solar company will install your system and maintain it-own it and you pay a smaller utility bill to them every month that is based on your yearly average electric bill. My son bought a home with that system installed by the previous owner and his utility bill is around $135.00 per month and the solar company banks the money paid by the utility company for the power generated by the solar panels. It is a decent savings as most utility bills during the summer runs about 250-350 dollars due to the use of central air condition.
Other way is to buy outright the solar unit and pay for the installment about 8-11 thousand for the average home and enjoy the utility bill savings and have the solar system pay for itself in about 6-8 years. Our contractor advised going the route of buying it outright as the panels and other equipment have a 25 year warranty to cover any cost if something fails.
This is what he did for his own home and told me why go the first route and let a company reap the money in the long run over you.
My youngest son has a home where he owns the solar system and his electric utility bill for the past several months have been averaging 35 dollars per month due to the energy provided by the solar panels feeding back to the utility company. He was told by the previous owner that his summer utility bill will average around 60-70 dollars per month due to using the air conditioner on hot days and was shown the utility bills for the past year prior to buying the home.
One company tech told the wife and I that you should buy solar if your utility electric bill averages over 200 dollars per month for the entire year. If your utility is 200 or less per month, he said think twice before going solar as you will take a lot longer for the unit to pay for itself.

RELH
 
I have solar at my cabin (9000’) because it would cost a fortune to bring a line in from the grid. So my options were limited.

I opted for a modest solar array to charge 16 x 6 volt batteries backed up by a 25 kw Kohler propane generator. You need a little more at altitude.

The batteries are reported to last “7 years” on average. I’m on year 9 and they are still going strong. It takes 4 to 5 gallons of water or acid to top them off every year. I would rather change the oil in my pickup.

Perhaps this should be it’s own thread.

Homer, is that array connected to the grid or what? Do you have inverters?
 
All this reminded me to go out and start my Honda generator. I like to run it about 30 minutes a month to keep fresh gas in it. It's now about 20 years old and starts on the 2nd pull every time.
 
One Ricochet And that Could Be Serious!

If I Could get ahold of Jef Jr I'd have Him Tape a Used Target on it just to see if Homer is Paying Attention!:D
 

Click-a-Pic ... Details & Bigger Photos
Back
Top Bottom