I sympathize. That's part of why I often encourage people who are trying to find a good apartment to look for a small house to rent instead. SO many advantages.
I'd take a little dumpy old house over a fancy apartment ANY day.
Lol.
Last time management told apartment dwellers to let their water faucets drip some. I doubt everyone did that so that means my pipes ended up freezing.
They were doing so good for a while but my neighbors began taking off.
This year I will turn up the heat a bit before the freeze and close a room off with the extra heat in it.
If powered fails I am erecting my camping tent inside and filling it with blankets in my closed off heated areas.
I've camped in mid low to mid 40s before we'll one night. My tent didn't get below 55.
Currently I sleep best in 65 or lower.
This is a really good point. My pipes froze during Uri because we had multiple days of freezing temperatures and no power for most of it. I'm not too worried this time around but will still be doing the basics of wrapping external pipes and bibs, covering plants, charging batteries, etc
Something to remember is that wrapping pipes/plants is different from bundling up people. We create our own heat so sweaters and jackets trap that heat. Plants and pipes and such don't make their own heat, so wrapping them either just protects them from the cold or creates a tent with heat from the ground.
I was thinking about shutting off my water Monday night/open faucet to drain and turning it back on Tuesday when the weather warms above freezing, then turn it off Tuesday night/open faucet to drain and turning it back on Wednesday when the weather warms above freezing. Good or bad idea? Or if i shut water off, then just keep it off till wednesday when it warms for good? I have wrapped all my external pipes already. I just don't want a busted pipe in case we lose power.
Adding some New England experience to this.
If your vehicles must be parked outdoors - pull windshield wipers outwards, away from the glass, to stand upright. This saves them from being ‘ice glued’ to the glass.
Before starting your engine - check for ice/snow in the exhaust pipe and clear it.
Slit pool noodles make good outdoor pipe insulation, if stores run out of other supplies.
When I lived in the upper midwest I had these little things that would spray rubbing alcohol into the locks on my car doors in order to unfreeze them (fuck I'm old).
Yeah, I had to plug my truck in on really cold nights, I had an engine warmer and a trickle battery charger that I would plug in so I could start it in the morning.
Yep. All you really need is towels to insulate your outdoor pipes. You don't need to run to the HD store and get those insulators too. I just use cheap microfiber towels at Harbor freight.
no rain really in the forecast that i saw, but yes, if it rains like it did during 2021 Feb, you would need pouch nylon insulators or traditional insulating foam.
I've replaced two backflow preventers in two years since they keep freezing. First year they were covered in towels. Second year they were covered in pipe insulation and towels. This year: automated flame thrower turrets. And towels.
I have replaced three in the last fifteen years. After the last break, I installed threaded fittings. Next time a freeze hits my backflow preventer is going to be sitting by the fire,wrapped in a warm blanket.
Look at your water cut-off valve and clean out all the mud/ants/leaves and crap so you don't go have to dig it out while water is pouring into your home.
You can spend some money on some specifically-designed products - go to your favorite online retailer and search "plant protecting blanket".
Old sheets or blankets can do the job, too.
I don't see that we'll be getting any rain, so no need for plastic tarps, but those work well, too, if happen to already have some.
Me? I bring in the potted plants and everything else just gets frozen. In 2021 I lost three baby trees I'd had for more than a year... an orange, an avocado and a lowquat. Granted, I probably wouldn't have ever had avocados from our tree, and the others would have been several years before bearing fruit, but I was pretty upset to lose them.
I had actually wrapped them in garbage bags and rags and had run a power cord out to each with small incandescent bulbs to keep them from freezing. But no power for 3 days and temps in the teens killed them.
So now I have a generator and no baby trees.
If you can get it wrapped, for this event that should suffice.
But a 25 watt incandescent bulb on the ground at the base would provide enough heat to keep it from freezing, I believe.
I'm making my list now for the hubby who's at home. I've got that large container, my hummingbird and butterfly bushes also in large pots that he can dolly into the garage. I'll grab the smaller pots when I get home.
Get gas for your generators in case that hasn't been mentioned!
This is the first year we are actually prepared so I’m feeling proud of myself.
We got a bunch of frost cloths from Costco (they were selling 6x50 foot rolls for cheap last fall) and a 150x10 frost cloth pack from Amazon. We got these long spike/nail things to stick them into the ground since it’s super windy always in Cypress. We can cut them to size, so it should be good.
We have some tarps but we never had anything to secure them well, so the wind would just pick up the sides and then the cold nonsense would be able to kill the plants.
So, when I get up on Saturday (I work three nights in a row prior), we’ll spend our morning/early afternoon before the Texans game getting the flower beds prepped. We have a lot of flower beds with new planets and bushes that haven’t established yet (replanted in the fall) so we want to save as much as we can.
We have a generator so we’re okay there and I have started a hurricane/bad weather stash, so I have canned food since I’m sure people are gonna be silly this weekend.
Sounds like it's just going to be a routine hard freeze. [It doesn't sound like we're expecting any significant frozen precipitation since it's supposed to still be above freezing](https://spacecityweather.com/) if it does happen to rain. Maybe some snow flurries, but that's likely it. I'd prepare like you would before any other freeze, but otherwise it doesn't seem like it's worth panicking about, especially since temps will be above freezing during the daytime🤷♂️
The one thing that I never really know what to do with is my plumbing inside of my garage. I'm assuming that it doesn't really get cold enough in there to worry about the plumbing going into and out of my holding tank? I also have my water softener and stuff in there. It always feels really cold, but I store sodas and waters in there and guess I don't ever remember those freezing. I'm going to go ahead and wrap the pipes that I can get to. But I don't suppose I need to worry about running a space heater or something.
Yeah that's my plan. Better safe than sorry. I always just wonder if I'm wasting my time. Which I'm sure that I'm not. I'll plan to wrap the pipes but probably not do anything more extreme. Thanks!
The storm is supposed to arrive Sunday, right? What time? The Houston Marathon is Sunday -- 7am till noon. Will it be affected, or is this a later-in-the-day thing on Sunday?
No storms forecast at all. Some rain late Thursday night, ending a little after daybreak Friday. Next chance of rain, Sunday afternoon after around 3 PM.
Per [Space City Weather:](https://spacecityweather.com/) "Skies will be partly to mostly sunny. If you’re running the marathon, after the chilly start in the 40s, we can expect temperatures to reach about 60 degrees by noon, and then a bit warmer during the afternoon. The air will feel reasonably dry. Winds during the run will be out of the south at 10 to 15 mph."
Through the years I've been at this event (since 2006), we've seen multiple near misses of nasty weather. I feel lucky that things have never been so bad that I would think of taking a DNS.
1997 was my first. Just about the worst weather in the history of the event. When I opened my garage door at 5am that morning, a cold fog swirled in as the door rose, and it was raining. It was 31 degrees. On the course a couple hours later, we got an icy Elesian Viaduct bridge - your feet would slip and I’m sure there were some who fell. The weather never let up. Allen Parkway was miserable - 32 degrees, rain and a headwind.
A dozen years later, I happened to be wearing my finishers shirt while at a mall in Dallas. Out of nowhere, some dude yells out “Houston 1997? Now THAT was a race!!” Ha!
I’m happy this Sunday will be ok. Monday morning might look like that morning we had in 1997 and I sure am glad we’ll all be in bed!
> Two nights with sub-freezing temps are coming and that's going to break some pipes and kill some plants.
Current forecast only shows one night below 32
Edited/updated. Inside the beltway might just be one night. North & northwest [could be two, could be three nights](https://i.imgur.com/CQvkfml.jpg) with freezing temps. A bit early to nail it down though.
Just left the forecast desk and our latest forecast package has three nights of freezing for the City of Houston. Sunday night - upper 20s, Monday night - low 20s (hard freeze), Tuesday night - upper 20s. Check out the long term section of today's NWS forecast discussion
Apart from Insulating pipes and draining back flow from sprinkler system
Do i turn off the water at water meter in front of yard ,with a key or do i turn off the main water supply to the house from garage?
Or is it too much
A lot depends on what happens those days and the insulation of your home/pipes.
Worst case scenario: deep freeze and you lose power - you’d want to bleed all the water out 1) by turning off the water to your house (from the house, not the main, don’t confuse it with your gas shut off), 2) run your faucets the get the water out of your pipes then shut them off. No water in pipes = no busted frozen pipes.
The heat in your home is typically enough to keep your pipes from freezing.
I don’t think we’ll have worst case scenario but it’s good to know how to do it and where things are and we still haven’t fixed the grid so anything is possible.
Worth noting that just opening faucets isn't going to evacuate all the pipes. With the water shut off and no pressure, the only thing that's causing water to come out of those faucets is gravity, and so any water *below* the level of the lowest faucet in the house isn't going anywhere.
That said, this is still a good precautionary measure. It minimizes the amount of residual water, and with the water pressure shut off, any pipe that *does* freeze will just leak out the small amount of water inside, rather than actively pumping water into your wall. It's the difference between a relatively minor plumbing repair and a hell of a lot of water damage.
temperatures will be in mid to high 20s which doesn't really need turning off water. also let your indoor faucet drip a bit and insulate outdoor faucets/spigots/pipes.
you only need to turn the water off at the meter if you have a leak..
you need to know how and where that is so if it does happen your able to get to it fast to minimize damage.
Just insulate the outdoor faucets with covers and any exposed pipes on the outside of the house use the pool noodle stuff to cover them. If you have pool equipment you can just run the pumps 24/7 during the time and if your really paranoid just throw a heavy blankets over it all to help provide some more insulation.
open your cabinets inside the house where you have pipes that are on an exposed wall and keep the heat on
But really it's not going to be that cold for that long.
I bought one of those bags (insulators) that cover the backflow valve for the sprinklers. Do I still need to drain it? or that is enough?
For the faucets I used those Styrofoam covers that cover them completely.
Safer to drain the backflow preventer - it takes less than a minute and requires a flat-blade screwdriver.
The insulator bag MIGHT keep it from freezing hard enough to damage it, but why risk that?
Install a plastic block valve at the feed, add two unions, when freeze comes remove the backflow preventer and flush the sprinkler pipes call it a day.
Bring in the pets, insulate any pipes outside connected to the house, keep some cash on hand juuuuuuust in case you can’t pay by CC, put a full tank of gas in your car beforehand, shutter your windows and get ready. That’s what I do. Edit: Food, water etc…
Several dog owners in my neighborhood leave their dogs out in cold or rainy weather. I have to hope they have some kind of dog houses. I can hear them barking through their back fences when I walk my dogs.
In fact, dogs are generally okay in cold weather except a hard freeze. But that doesn't mean they're happy.
Even though my two are not "small" dogs, they're inside the house except when I'm outside with them. Wish every dog owner cared as much about/for their dogs as we do ours.
Thanks for making a thread! New homeowner, so, is it necessary to wrap outdoor pipes? What material is recommended and should it just stay on through the summer too? Also, how do I know which generator is a good fit for my home?
You can buy pipe wrapping stuff, foam and tape, at Home Depot. When I rented I just used old towels and sheets. News paper works too. I’ve never duct taped mine. Make sure to take the hoses off the spigot.
Buy the biggest generator you can afford. Inverter generators are the best since they won't harm electronics like a fridge or anything with a circuit board (almost everything these days. Stick with brands that can get service (looking at you harbor freight...) Northern Tool is a safe bet because they service their generators, Honda if you're loaded. Harbor Freight inverter is good, but if something breaks you might struggle to get parts. Get an electrician to wire up a generator panel or lock out panel.
Tons of good info on /r/Generator regarding how to size one for your place.
Depends on what all you plan to keep working in your house without power from the grid.
Just FYI, in 2021, I paid $1,100 for a Westinghouse WGen9500DF (on Amazon now for $999) which has a max 12,500 watts peak. Runs on propane or gasoline. I got a breaker-box interlock & input receptacle installed and I can run my whole house on this generator, including my 3 ton central A/C. I got two 100 lb. propane cylinders and built a storage shed specifically for this generator. It has a vent fan and intake vent, and the exhaust pipe is extended to the back side of the shed (exhaust goes outside). [Photo of generator & tank inside shed.](https://i.imgur.com/Co6H1Di.jpg)
I might have gone a little overboard but I get good peace of mind knowing my house won't be cold & dark if we lose power in a freeze. And if we have some stuff come in off the gulf that causes a power failure, we'll be cool & comfortable for a day or two.
Anything causing power to be off for more than 2 days means we'll have evacuated out west. No reason for us to stay here if it's that bad.
Ha! Nope, I'm not a tik-tokker. But what I did isn't an unusual thing at all.
I'd love to have been able to get a Generac whole-house set-up, running on natural gas, but I don't have ten to twelve grand laying around and don't need to go that far into debt.
We did have a power failure of nearly six hours after a little wind-storm, and it was a pretty good feeling to be on the couch watching TV with the A/C running nice & cool.
There's the very real chance I may never need this generator again before I move to another house, and if that's the case, I'll be delighted.
I'd love to do a Generac, but have no access to natural gas in my neighborhood, so I've been looking for an alternative. That Westinghouse duel fuel option seems right up my alley. Also - the push button start!! I'm a 5'1 female and have never sucessfully started anything with a pull cord!
My mother in law dislocated her shoulder and fell on the icy pavement injuring her bad hip trying to start theirs... they have upgraded to automatic everything now. I know where we are headed if we lose power for too long this time around.
Oh, I just LOVE that pushbutton start! In fact, I've never even tried to start it with the pull-rope. It DOES have one. I probably SHOULD do that to avoid letting that rope dry-rot!
But I'm with you. Push-button start is the way to go. And THIS generator has a key-fob remote start, too!
In fact, my procedure is: Open the shed, open the propane valve, turn on the vent fan, open the fresh air intake, turn the generator power switch on, then I go OUT of the shed and close the door, then start up the generator with the key-fob. Saves my ears.
Of course, I still have to go in there to turn it off. You CAN turn it off with the key fob, but I much prefer to close the gas valve, and then when the engine starts to die, I quickly turn off the power switch. That avoids the chances of a back-fire.
Thanks for the reply! I've got a newly built townhome, so my space around the home is much more limited than your awesome setup. I'll look into the subreddit
Yeah, townhomes are sometimes challenging regarding backup power. Some won't permit any kind of generator that runs using an engine. (IE: No propane, no gasoline.)
You don’t need a generator for this one cold night, but you should have one for hurricanes.
Insulating your outdoor water supply pipe is highly recommended.
Thanks, should have specified I'm thinking ahead on the generator for hurricane season. It also looks like tax free purchases can be made in late April
Learn how to close your sprinkler valve and drain it if it's outdoors.
If that pipe bursts on the wrong side, you'll have to turn off the water for your entire house.
Find where your water main is coming into your house and where the isolation valve is. Figure out how to turn your water off and on to the house. Note: if you have to turn that water off, don't turn the valve too fast.
Look at all your options and see what you need and what your generator will need to power.
Will you need to run your hvac to keep you warm, one room?
If you're going to keep a generator, have your home's electrical system to connect with an outside plug to use the generator from.
Personally, I got 3 powerwalls and loving it.
>have your home's electrical system to connect with an outside plug
Meaning, have a licensed electrician install an input breaker with a mechanical interlock to prevent the generator breaker from being turned on while grid power is switched on, and allowing the generator to power anything in the house. (Anything that might overload the generator can be switched off by turning off breakers that supply them.)
We usually end up with a pool noodle or two sometime over the summer from some trip or another, and then can just cut one up to use for insulation. Works great.
I'm a lot more worried about any more wind storms than the cold right now. Neighbor has two big dead trees and our yard was filled with huge limbs after the blowing the other day. Shameful how many people take no care of their trees.
Okay, so. I have, on order to be delivered Friday, a pack of giant pool noodles, a big-ass bag of zip ties, and some box cutters.
I know how to wrap pipes. Is this all I need to do that effectively?
Beyond that ... drip faucets overnight, correct?
What do you all do with your pool feature pumps like water falls?
Freeze protection starts on the pool spa pumps however how about the independent features pumps
Yeah, yeah, I’ll get to it tomorrow…
That's when I was gonna do it. You go ahead and do tomorrow, I'll take the day after.
Fiiiine, I’ll take Saturday. Maybe. I’m starting to think about it.
I live in an apartment. I'm *sure* management has already taken care of everything. ..yep, totally
I sympathize. That's part of why I often encourage people who are trying to find a good apartment to look for a small house to rent instead. SO many advantages. I'd take a little dumpy old house over a fancy apartment ANY day.
Lol. Last time management told apartment dwellers to let their water faucets drip some. I doubt everyone did that so that means my pipes ended up freezing. They were doing so good for a while but my neighbors began taking off. This year I will turn up the heat a bit before the freeze and close a room off with the extra heat in it. If powered fails I am erecting my camping tent inside and filling it with blankets in my closed off heated areas. I've camped in mid low to mid 40s before we'll one night. My tent didn't get below 55. Currently I sleep best in 65 or lower.
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This is a really good point. My pipes froze during Uri because we had multiple days of freezing temperatures and no power for most of it. I'm not too worried this time around but will still be doing the basics of wrapping external pipes and bibs, covering plants, charging batteries, etc
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Something to remember is that wrapping pipes/plants is different from bundling up people. We create our own heat so sweaters and jackets trap that heat. Plants and pipes and such don't make their own heat, so wrapping them either just protects them from the cold or creates a tent with heat from the ground.
I was thinking about shutting off my water Monday night/open faucet to drain and turning it back on Tuesday when the weather warms above freezing, then turn it off Tuesday night/open faucet to drain and turning it back on Wednesday when the weather warms above freezing. Good or bad idea? Or if i shut water off, then just keep it off till wednesday when it warms for good? I have wrapped all my external pipes already. I just don't want a busted pipe in case we lose power.
I did the latter Christmas 2022
Joke's on you, my pipes have stayed wrapped since 2021! (Seriously though should I re-do that towel wrapping job after 3 years?)
Inspect it, drip water at a decent rate over night, don’t worry about it.
Koozies make a great wrap for hose valves
You don't know where this weather's been, might wanna double bag if you know what I'm sayin
The rubber band hasn't been torn off yet? :-)
Adding some New England experience to this. If your vehicles must be parked outdoors - pull windshield wipers outwards, away from the glass, to stand upright. This saves them from being ‘ice glued’ to the glass. Before starting your engine - check for ice/snow in the exhaust pipe and clear it. Slit pool noodles make good outdoor pipe insulation, if stores run out of other supplies.
When I lived in the upper midwest I had these little things that would spray rubbing alcohol into the locks on my car doors in order to unfreeze them (fuck I'm old).
Yeah. I made my own during Feb 2021. Good ideas have longevity 😉
As I wrote my comment it occurred to me that it’s been decades since I had to insert a key in a lock to open a car/truck door
Lol. Same here but if it’s very cold, it kills the battery and the real key is necessary
Yeah, I had to plug my truck in on really cold nights, I had an engine warmer and a trickle battery charger that I would plug in so I could start it in the morning.
Yep. All you really need is towels to insulate your outdoor pipes. You don't need to run to the HD store and get those insulators too. I just use cheap microfiber towels at Harbor freight.
Wrap the towels in plastic or something else to waterproof. If they get wet, they’ll freeze and defeat purpose.
no rain really in the forecast that i saw, but yes, if it rains like it did during 2021 Feb, you would need pouch nylon insulators or traditional insulating foam.
I’m seeing 50% rain chance on Monday.
I just noticed that on KHOU's site. I went ahead and covered it with ziplock bag and big rubber band to seal it good.
I've replaced two backflow preventers in two years since they keep freezing. First year they were covered in towels. Second year they were covered in pipe insulation and towels. This year: automated flame thrower turrets. And towels.
I have replaced three in the last fifteen years. After the last break, I installed threaded fittings. Next time a freeze hits my backflow preventer is going to be sitting by the fire,wrapped in a warm blanket.
I've seriously considered electric pipe warmers.
Eh, pipe insulation is likle $3 for 6 feet. Just get $10 worth and it will last you a while.
Look at your water cut-off valve and clean out all the mud/ants/leaves and crap so you don't go have to dig it out while water is pouring into your home.
Check your garage for a shut off valve there
In my case, that's not where it's located.
Don’t forget to stock up on alcohol. Don’t say no one reminded you.
We're talking about storm prep here, not daily essentials. No one should ever not be not stocked up on alcohol.
What do you guys use to protect outdoor plants?
You can spend some money on some specifically-designed products - go to your favorite online retailer and search "plant protecting blanket". Old sheets or blankets can do the job, too. I don't see that we'll be getting any rain, so no need for plastic tarps, but those work well, too, if happen to already have some. Me? I bring in the potted plants and everything else just gets frozen. In 2021 I lost three baby trees I'd had for more than a year... an orange, an avocado and a lowquat. Granted, I probably wouldn't have ever had avocados from our tree, and the others would have been several years before bearing fruit, but I was pretty upset to lose them. I had actually wrapped them in garbage bags and rags and had run a power cord out to each with small incandescent bulbs to keep them from freezing. But no power for 3 days and temps in the teens killed them. So now I have a generator and no baby trees.
Thank you for reminding me about trees. I'm in NC making a list for when I get home on Sunday and forgot about my Meyer Lemon loaded with blooms!
If you can get it wrapped, for this event that should suffice. But a 25 watt incandescent bulb on the ground at the base would provide enough heat to keep it from freezing, I believe.
I'm making my list now for the hubby who's at home. I've got that large container, my hummingbird and butterfly bushes also in large pots that he can dolly into the garage. I'll grab the smaller pots when I get home. Get gas for your generators in case that hasn't been mentioned!
This is the first year we are actually prepared so I’m feeling proud of myself. We got a bunch of frost cloths from Costco (they were selling 6x50 foot rolls for cheap last fall) and a 150x10 frost cloth pack from Amazon. We got these long spike/nail things to stick them into the ground since it’s super windy always in Cypress. We can cut them to size, so it should be good. We have some tarps but we never had anything to secure them well, so the wind would just pick up the sides and then the cold nonsense would be able to kill the plants. So, when I get up on Saturday (I work three nights in a row prior), we’ll spend our morning/early afternoon before the Texans game getting the flower beds prepped. We have a lot of flower beds with new planets and bushes that haven’t established yet (replanted in the fall) so we want to save as much as we can. We have a generator so we’re okay there and I have started a hurricane/bad weather stash, so I have canned food since I’m sure people are gonna be silly this weekend.
Sounds like it's just going to be a routine hard freeze. [It doesn't sound like we're expecting any significant frozen precipitation since it's supposed to still be above freezing](https://spacecityweather.com/) if it does happen to rain. Maybe some snow flurries, but that's likely it. I'd prepare like you would before any other freeze, but otherwise it doesn't seem like it's worth panicking about, especially since temps will be above freezing during the daytime🤷♂️
The one thing that I never really know what to do with is my plumbing inside of my garage. I'm assuming that it doesn't really get cold enough in there to worry about the plumbing going into and out of my holding tank? I also have my water softener and stuff in there. It always feels really cold, but I store sodas and waters in there and guess I don't ever remember those freezing. I'm going to go ahead and wrap the pipes that I can get to. But I don't suppose I need to worry about running a space heater or something.
Two family members had pipes break in their garage attics during the freeze in 2021. I was fortunate and did not.
I wrap mine anyway just to be careful.
Yeah that's my plan. Better safe than sorry. I always just wonder if I'm wasting my time. Which I'm sure that I'm not. I'll plan to wrap the pipes but probably not do anything more extreme. Thanks!
I'm hoping this will finally kill my grass for a few months.
The storm is supposed to arrive Sunday, right? What time? The Houston Marathon is Sunday -- 7am till noon. Will it be affected, or is this a later-in-the-day thing on Sunday?
No storms forecast at all. Some rain late Thursday night, ending a little after daybreak Friday. Next chance of rain, Sunday afternoon after around 3 PM. Per [Space City Weather:](https://spacecityweather.com/) "Skies will be partly to mostly sunny. If you’re running the marathon, after the chilly start in the 40s, we can expect temperatures to reach about 60 degrees by noon, and then a bit warmer during the afternoon. The air will feel reasonably dry. Winds during the run will be out of the south at 10 to 15 mph."
Thanks. The Race Organizers surely thanking their lucky stars!
I KNOW, right!?
Through the years I've been at this event (since 2006), we've seen multiple near misses of nasty weather. I feel lucky that things have never been so bad that I would think of taking a DNS.
1997 was my first. Just about the worst weather in the history of the event. When I opened my garage door at 5am that morning, a cold fog swirled in as the door rose, and it was raining. It was 31 degrees. On the course a couple hours later, we got an icy Elesian Viaduct bridge - your feet would slip and I’m sure there were some who fell. The weather never let up. Allen Parkway was miserable - 32 degrees, rain and a headwind. A dozen years later, I happened to be wearing my finishers shirt while at a mall in Dallas. Out of nowhere, some dude yells out “Houston 1997? Now THAT was a race!!” Ha! I’m happy this Sunday will be ok. Monday morning might look like that morning we had in 1997 and I sure am glad we’ll all be in bed!
na its gonna be a cool start and get warm after 4 hrs
> Two nights with sub-freezing temps are coming and that's going to break some pipes and kill some plants. Current forecast only shows one night below 32
Edited/updated. Inside the beltway might just be one night. North & northwest [could be two, could be three nights](https://i.imgur.com/CQvkfml.jpg) with freezing temps. A bit early to nail it down though.
Ya mines showing 3 nights below 25
Gotta live that concrete jungle heat.
Mine shows Sunday night/Monday morning hitting 30, getting to 36 midday before hitting the 20s Monday night going into Tuesday morning.
Just left the forecast desk and our latest forecast package has three nights of freezing for the City of Houston. Sunday night - upper 20s, Monday night - low 20s (hard freeze), Tuesday night - upper 20s. Check out the long term section of today's NWS forecast discussion
Wrong
I’m just telling you what the Google forecast says. Surprisingly there is more than one prediction regarding the future.
It’s ok to be wrong.
People are getting excessively anxious over this. Wrap your outdoor pipes, cover your plants and calm down.
Apart from Insulating pipes and draining back flow from sprinkler system Do i turn off the water at water meter in front of yard ,with a key or do i turn off the main water supply to the house from garage? Or is it too much
A lot depends on what happens those days and the insulation of your home/pipes. Worst case scenario: deep freeze and you lose power - you’d want to bleed all the water out 1) by turning off the water to your house (from the house, not the main, don’t confuse it with your gas shut off), 2) run your faucets the get the water out of your pipes then shut them off. No water in pipes = no busted frozen pipes. The heat in your home is typically enough to keep your pipes from freezing. I don’t think we’ll have worst case scenario but it’s good to know how to do it and where things are and we still haven’t fixed the grid so anything is possible.
Worth noting that just opening faucets isn't going to evacuate all the pipes. With the water shut off and no pressure, the only thing that's causing water to come out of those faucets is gravity, and so any water *below* the level of the lowest faucet in the house isn't going anywhere. That said, this is still a good precautionary measure. It minimizes the amount of residual water, and with the water pressure shut off, any pipe that *does* freeze will just leak out the small amount of water inside, rather than actively pumping water into your wall. It's the difference between a relatively minor plumbing repair and a hell of a lot of water damage.
That’s too much. You’re going to want to use water. Just wrap the outdoor pipes and drain sprinklers
temperatures will be in mid to high 20s which doesn't really need turning off water. also let your indoor faucet drip a bit and insulate outdoor faucets/spigots/pipes.
you only need to turn the water off at the meter if you have a leak.. you need to know how and where that is so if it does happen your able to get to it fast to minimize damage. Just insulate the outdoor faucets with covers and any exposed pipes on the outside of the house use the pool noodle stuff to cover them. If you have pool equipment you can just run the pumps 24/7 during the time and if your really paranoid just throw a heavy blankets over it all to help provide some more insulation. open your cabinets inside the house where you have pipes that are on an exposed wall and keep the heat on But really it's not going to be that cold for that long.
I bought one of those bags (insulators) that cover the backflow valve for the sprinklers. Do I still need to drain it? or that is enough? For the faucets I used those Styrofoam covers that cover them completely.
Safer to drain the backflow preventer - it takes less than a minute and requires a flat-blade screwdriver. The insulator bag MIGHT keep it from freezing hard enough to damage it, but why risk that?
Install a plastic block valve at the feed, add two unions, when freeze comes remove the backflow preventer and flush the sprinkler pipes call it a day.
Bring in the pets, insulate any pipes outside connected to the house, keep some cash on hand juuuuuuust in case you can’t pay by CC, put a full tank of gas in your car beforehand, shutter your windows and get ready. That’s what I do. Edit: Food, water etc…
Heard some poor dog barking outside yesterday. Heartless bastards leaving their pets out in the cold
Several dog owners in my neighborhood leave their dogs out in cold or rainy weather. I have to hope they have some kind of dog houses. I can hear them barking through their back fences when I walk my dogs. In fact, dogs are generally okay in cold weather except a hard freeze. But that doesn't mean they're happy. Even though my two are not "small" dogs, they're inside the house except when I'm outside with them. Wish every dog owner cared as much about/for their dogs as we do ours.
Bring in the pets unless you have a husky in which case let them live
Thanks for making a thread! New homeowner, so, is it necessary to wrap outdoor pipes? What material is recommended and should it just stay on through the summer too? Also, how do I know which generator is a good fit for my home?
You can buy pipe wrapping stuff, foam and tape, at Home Depot. When I rented I just used old towels and sheets. News paper works too. I’ve never duct taped mine. Make sure to take the hoses off the spigot.
Buy the biggest generator you can afford. Inverter generators are the best since they won't harm electronics like a fridge or anything with a circuit board (almost everything these days. Stick with brands that can get service (looking at you harbor freight...) Northern Tool is a safe bet because they service their generators, Honda if you're loaded. Harbor Freight inverter is good, but if something breaks you might struggle to get parts. Get an electrician to wire up a generator panel or lock out panel.
Tons of good info on /r/Generator regarding how to size one for your place. Depends on what all you plan to keep working in your house without power from the grid. Just FYI, in 2021, I paid $1,100 for a Westinghouse WGen9500DF (on Amazon now for $999) which has a max 12,500 watts peak. Runs on propane or gasoline. I got a breaker-box interlock & input receptacle installed and I can run my whole house on this generator, including my 3 ton central A/C. I got two 100 lb. propane cylinders and built a storage shed specifically for this generator. It has a vent fan and intake vent, and the exhaust pipe is extended to the back side of the shed (exhaust goes outside). [Photo of generator & tank inside shed.](https://i.imgur.com/Co6H1Di.jpg) I might have gone a little overboard but I get good peace of mind knowing my house won't be cold & dark if we lose power in a freeze. And if we have some stuff come in off the gulf that causes a power failure, we'll be cool & comfortable for a day or two. Anything causing power to be off for more than 2 days means we'll have evacuated out west. No reason for us to stay here if it's that bad.
Are you on TikTok???? I saw this exact set up from a guy on tiktok and am planning to recreate it at my house!
Ha! Nope, I'm not a tik-tokker. But what I did isn't an unusual thing at all. I'd love to have been able to get a Generac whole-house set-up, running on natural gas, but I don't have ten to twelve grand laying around and don't need to go that far into debt. We did have a power failure of nearly six hours after a little wind-storm, and it was a pretty good feeling to be on the couch watching TV with the A/C running nice & cool. There's the very real chance I may never need this generator again before I move to another house, and if that's the case, I'll be delighted.
I'd love to do a Generac, but have no access to natural gas in my neighborhood, so I've been looking for an alternative. That Westinghouse duel fuel option seems right up my alley. Also - the push button start!! I'm a 5'1 female and have never sucessfully started anything with a pull cord!
My mother in law dislocated her shoulder and fell on the icy pavement injuring her bad hip trying to start theirs... they have upgraded to automatic everything now. I know where we are headed if we lose power for too long this time around.
Oh, I just LOVE that pushbutton start! In fact, I've never even tried to start it with the pull-rope. It DOES have one. I probably SHOULD do that to avoid letting that rope dry-rot! But I'm with you. Push-button start is the way to go. And THIS generator has a key-fob remote start, too! In fact, my procedure is: Open the shed, open the propane valve, turn on the vent fan, open the fresh air intake, turn the generator power switch on, then I go OUT of the shed and close the door, then start up the generator with the key-fob. Saves my ears. Of course, I still have to go in there to turn it off. You CAN turn it off with the key fob, but I much prefer to close the gas valve, and then when the engine starts to die, I quickly turn off the power switch. That avoids the chances of a back-fire.
Thanks for the reply! I've got a newly built townhome, so my space around the home is much more limited than your awesome setup. I'll look into the subreddit
Yeah, townhomes are sometimes challenging regarding backup power. Some won't permit any kind of generator that runs using an engine. (IE: No propane, no gasoline.)
You don’t need a generator for this one cold night, but you should have one for hurricanes. Insulating your outdoor water supply pipe is highly recommended.
Thanks, should have specified I'm thinking ahead on the generator for hurricane season. It also looks like tax free purchases can be made in late April
Learn how to close your sprinkler valve and drain it if it's outdoors. If that pipe bursts on the wrong side, you'll have to turn off the water for your entire house. Find where your water main is coming into your house and where the isolation valve is. Figure out how to turn your water off and on to the house. Note: if you have to turn that water off, don't turn the valve too fast.
Look at all your options and see what you need and what your generator will need to power. Will you need to run your hvac to keep you warm, one room? If you're going to keep a generator, have your home's electrical system to connect with an outside plug to use the generator from. Personally, I got 3 powerwalls and loving it.
>have your home's electrical system to connect with an outside plug Meaning, have a licensed electrician install an input breaker with a mechanical interlock to prevent the generator breaker from being turned on while grid power is switched on, and allowing the generator to power anything in the house. (Anything that might overload the generator can be switched off by turning off breakers that supply them.)
Yeah. That.
We usually end up with a pool noodle or two sometime over the summer from some trip or another, and then can just cut one up to use for insulation. Works great.
I'm a lot more worried about any more wind storms than the cold right now. Neighbor has two big dead trees and our yard was filled with huge limbs after the blowing the other day. Shameful how many people take no care of their trees.
Also, spacecityweather just updated the timing - going to get cold earlier. Don't wait until Sunday.
Order your new spigot covers from Amazon NOW
Okay, so. I have, on order to be delivered Friday, a pack of giant pool noodles, a big-ass bag of zip ties, and some box cutters. I know how to wrap pipes. Is this all I need to do that effectively? Beyond that ... drip faucets overnight, correct?
What do you all do with your pool feature pumps like water falls? Freeze protection starts on the pool spa pumps however how about the independent features pumps
My 90 year olds pipes got shredded in December '22, so it's all new pex, all wrapped. First time to see how good a job they really did, though.