Topic: A Question for Texans

[Bob Wessner]

Happened to see a news item this A.M. whereby they are instituting, or had instituted, rolling blackouts to avoid elec. grid problems. The source being the extreme cold. We usually associate actions like this to extreme high temps and A/C useage. Is elec a major heat source in Texas?

[Gordon]

Apparently it's a combination of the increase in demand with some "unscheduled interruptions" at some power plants.  I'm guessing that's a no-blame way of saying that there were some equipment malfunctions.  

There have also been some interruptions and limitations of natural gas usage.  

We haven't had any loss of power or gas at our house, but most people I talked to at work yesterday were getting hit by the blackouts, some of them for 20 minutes every hour throughout the day.  

Oh, and to answer your original question :  I'm pretty sure natural gas is still the main source of heat here.

[Bob Wessner]

I would have thought gas was a biggie there, so it puzzled me. I know places like Florida and SoCal have limited heat needs and often rely on elect. wall heaters to "knock the chill off" in the morning, but not much need.. usually, beyond that.

[DanielB]

I haven't experienced one at work yet. I wish we would.

[Really?]

I have gas and electric in the new house I am in.  The last one was all electric.  We got hit with the roling blackout yesterday but it lasted over 6 hours.  It got really cold in the house.

The wife was dying for a cup of coffee, she was back an hour later with two cups of coffee.  She drove a long ways before she could find a place with power.

Sure we have gas for heat but the fan is electric.  Oven is gas but the controls are electric.  Ha!

We has some wood left for the fireplace out in the back yard.  So, the wife went to go get some.  Went out the back door but the patio door was iced shut.  So, went to the side gate - iced shut.  So, in order to get wood, we pull some of the screen off of the screen door so my duaghter could go through to get wood and hand it to her mother so they can get at least a little heat.

I had no idea they were doing the rolling blackout.  If we knew, we would of cranked up the heat before the blackout!

[Retro Rocket]

Oh, and to answer your original question :  I'm pretty sure natural gas is still the main source of heat here.

I thought the sun was.....

Mick

[Gordon]

Oh, and to answer your original question :  I'm pretty sure natural gas is still the main source of heat here.

I thought the sun was.....

Mick

Well, the smear campaign against nuclear power in the late 70's and early 80's was so enormously effective here, being that Texas is a big oil-producing state, that we completely swore off all forms of it, including the evil nuclear Sun. 

The giant burning orb that rises and sets over Texas is actually a product of the Bush family.  It's flaming bull#$%* fueled by hot air.  

[Retro Rocket]

Oh, and to answer your original question :  I'm pretty sure natural gas is still the main source of heat here.

I thought the sun was.....

Mick

Well, the smear campaign against nuclear power in the late 70's and early 80's was so enormously effective here, being that Texas is a big oil-producing state, that we completely swore off all forms of it, including the evil nuclear Sun. 

The giant burning orb that rises and sets over Texas is actually a product of the Bush family.  It's flaming bull#$%* fueled by hot air.  

HAHAHA...thats good.....

Mick

[wannabridin]

well since it doesn't get like this that often here, power plants and sub-stations aren't quite built robust enough to handle the temps.  mainly they don't have enough insulation and heating coils around critical pipes in certain establishments.  this led to a lot of broken water pipes onto electrical boxes causing shorts and things, which helped lead to some major plants needing to be shut down.  knowing this happened after the first couple of pipe bursts, the energy companies proceeded to shut down power in waves because the remaining on-line plants couldn't keep up.  the plan was to leave power on in areas just long enough to re-heat your house so the temps wouldn't go down too low.  this of course didn't go according to plan.

also, the pipe bursts happened in some cooling lines, causing the plants to have to go off-line to repair the fixes.  hopefully they will re-build everything and upgrade their pipes to more insulation and heating when it warms up to avoid this in the future!  luckily we didn't have any blackouts around my neighborhood.

[scottly]

They reported rolling black-outs in AZ, also. Lasting for 15 minutes or so, but no problems here. The reports I heard attributed it to problems with coal burning power plants in the north. Might have been more of a gradual transfer of power from the nuke into the "grid"....

[Really?]

well since it doesn't get like this that often here, power plants and sub-stations aren't quite built robust enough to handle the temps.  mainly they don't have enough insulation and heating coils around critical pipes in certain establishments.  this led to a lot of broken water pipes onto electrical boxes causing shorts and things, which helped lead to some major plants needing to be shut down.  knowing this happened after the first couple of pipe bursts, the energy companies proceeded to shut down power in waves because the remaining on-line plants couldn't keep up.  the plan was to leave power on in areas just long enough to re-heat your house so the temps wouldn't go down too low.  this of course didn't go according to plan.

also, the pipe bursts happened in some cooling lines, causing the plants to have to go off-line to repair the fixes.  hopefully they will re-build everything and upgrade their pipes to more insulation and heating when it warms up to avoid this in the future!  luckily we didn't have any blackouts around my neighborhood.

Now watch our electric bills go up so they can fix or upgrade what is needed.  If I need to fix or upgrade something, it comes out of my pocket, no one elses. 

[Stev-o]

My home lost power yesterday only once, for approx 20 min, so no problem.

It was a little crazy driving in Downtown Austin, power was off and on all day. So, the traffic lights weren't working.
Some people still don't know what to do in that situation.

By the way, we are in a winter storm warning, chance of 1-3" of snow. This happens about every five years and will basicly shut the City down if it happens!

[Gordon]

Just woke up to about 5" of snow on top of the ice that was still leftover from Tuesday's storm.

And I have to go to work.  Already missed 9 hours this week, and can't really afford to miss any more.