271–280 of 1001 posts
The Texas-only grid was definitely part of it, and should be a lesson to people who thought the lesson from Covid is "do more locally." No, having stronger, longer distance connections is what makes you more resilient, at least when there are local problems.
No more than that.
To say this can always be avoided is misleading. When black swan events happen, shit goes bad.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Gas furnaces need power for the circuitry & blower. My experience with fireplaces is that the house winds up net-colder, but you can warm yourself with radiant heat while it burns. Freestanding wood stoves on the other hand are very capable of warming a large space.
> My experience with fireplaces is that the house winds up net-colder Why is that? EDIT: Oh are you saying that the rate of heating provided by the fire is less than the overall rate of heat leaving the entire house?
As a result, the room where the fireplace is will be warmer but the rest the house is typically colder.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you people for real? What did people with children, elderly, and pets do 150 years ago? If your house is 25f, put on a couple sweaters and a coat and have a beer. It’s not the end of the world. As far as the kids go, they’re outside building snowforts. In short, you make do. It astounds me that the typical HN poster can whip up a C++ compiler, pontificate about solutions to every social-ill, purport to speak inte…
> If your house is 25f, put on a couple sweaters and a coat and have a beer. It’s not the end of the world. Houses were designed very differently 150 years ago. Lower roofs, fewer windows, huge thick drapes or tapestries on the walls, animal skins or carpets on the floors. 9 ft windows (double pane or not) on all walls is going to leak out a lot of heat. Most importantly, fireplaces. Houses had fireplaces, and rooms…
Good lord...
The spread of AC in the 1930s resulted in everything in Texas being insulated out the wazoo.
Your typical suburban home in Texas -- with no electricity -- is perfectly habitable without power.
Its an inconvenience, to be sure.
But, all this handwringing over a freak -- and fun -- event is laughable.
Want to fret? Fret about floods, tornadoes, hurricanes... those events leave people without housing altogether.
But, an ice storm and some snow?
Gimme a break.
If you were stranded in the wilderness in 3f temperatures and stumbled upon a typical suburban home without power but well-stocked with blankets, clothes, frozen food, comfy mattresses, bags of charcoal, a grill, flashlights, candles, and a new package of Oreo cookies, you would shout for joy. "We're saved!! Shelter! Thank God!"
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>I don't think any lost heat (most have gas) but at least one person found their gas fireplace they were hoping would heat them up when out of power didn't really work that well. I'm curious how they didn't lose heat. Any furnace built in the last 30 years, even gas, has an electronic control board in order to ensure it doesn't accidentally turn on the gas without a functioning pilot light and/or heating element (whi…
The big issue isn't just the control board-- most forced-air furnaces (at least, of the type used in the southern US) use an electric blower to actually distribute hot air to the rest of the house. End result's the same, though-- no electricity = no heat, regardless of natural gas supply. (But, at least in this case, a relatively small generator can provide enough power to get the furnace up and running and heat the…
is this the wakeup call that texans need to acknowledge that climate change isn't a coastal elite type thing, and that it affects us all and requires investment from all of us? imo texas is in a great spot to capitalize on the shift to green tech. they have strong engineering talent, large investments from the energy sector. car manufacturers are already clamoring to be the next to go fully electric. get your leaders…
Ha. I love how ‘global warming’ transmogrifies into ‘climate change’ to suit the argument. Not everything is as big of a crisis as your Facebook posts make out. A few days without power... big woop. The power goes down longer in most coastal cities every summer during hurricane season. Not to mention the usual outages of a day or two due to tornados and ordinary storms. And the cold? Who cares? Kids are playing in th…
As for "no big deal", I don't know what else to say other than 15 people have already died. When it's below freezing and people are without heat, they will freeze to death. Not to mention people who have medical equipment they need to stay alive that requires electricity.
Many areas see this temperate every year and they're prepared for it. It's not the same thing in Texas.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>I don't think any lost heat (most have gas) but at least one person found their gas fireplace they were hoping would heat them up when out of power didn't really work that well. I'm curious how they didn't lose heat. Any furnace built in the last 30 years, even gas, has an electronic control board in order to ensure it doesn't accidentally turn on the gas without a functioning pilot light and/or heating element (whi…
Gas heaters still require electricity for basic management. I'd imagine heaters have batteries for specifically this case. If they don't, it's frankly a miracle if we don't lose anyone, and someone needs to get prosecuted.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Gas furnaces need power for the circuitry & blower. My experience with fireplaces is that the house winds up net-colder, but you can warm yourself with radiant heat while it burns. Freestanding wood stoves on the other hand are very capable of warming a large space.
A tight wood stove in the hands of an experienced user is a remarkable thing. The amount of heat that can be extracted from a large oak log is nothing short of remarkable. Sadly, most wood stoves are not tight, nor are most users experienced.
For the uninitiated, take a look at the forums at hearth.com.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Gas furnaces need power for the circuitry & blower. My experience with fireplaces is that the house winds up net-colder, but you can warm yourself with radiant heat while it burns. Freestanding wood stoves on the other hand are very capable of warming a large space.
> My experience with fireplaces is that the house winds up net-colder Why is that? EDIT: Oh are you saying that the rate of heating provided by the fire is less than the overall rate of heat leaving the entire house?
How this works out in terms of net heat gained/lost will depend on the fireplace design, but, from what I hear, it's not uncommon for this to be a net-loss type of situation.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Governing is hard. Owning the libs/cons is fun and easy! Anyway seems like this storm is so bad Texas would be in trouble no matter what, but letting utilities under-invest in winterizing and not joining either of the major grid corridors just made a bad situation 100x worse. The good news is this is fixable going forward, and hopefully Texans will demand their politicians address it.
>Anyway seems like this storm is so bad Texas would be in trouble no matter what, but letting utilities under-invest in winterizing and not joining either of the major grid corridors just made a bad situation 100x worse. The weather in Texas is in the single digits. The weather in Minnesota is in the double digit negatives. Texas would not be in trouble "no matter what" if they had bothered to spend the money on wint…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> My experience with fireplaces is that the house winds up net-colder Why is that? EDIT: Oh are you saying that the rate of heating provided by the fire is less than the overall rate of heat leaving the entire house?
No, the issue is that the draw of the heated air up through the flue creates a negative pressure inside the home, which gets made up through all the little nooks and crannies around the house. As a result, the room where the fireplace is will be warmer but the rest the house is typically colder.