February 17, 20214 yr 14 minutes ago, we_gotta_believe said: Ok that partially explains it. In that case, the powerwall just acts as a buffer to sustain him from dusk til dawn. So if he's careful about managing it during those dark hours, and allowing for enough excess to recharge it during the day, then yeah I can see it. I just checked my usage and we currently are averaging 26kWh per day for the last 30 days. A powerwall is rated at 14kWh. There are days in the summer where we get dinged for peak usage because we hit 60+. Everyone's gonna have different usage profiles obviously, so he's probably good at load shedding by turning off everything but a fridge, cooks on a propane grill instead of stove, uses fans instead of A/C in the summer, etc. I think heating and cooling needs would be a big consideration. He's in VT so minimal cooling needs in the summer and has a big pellet stove that can hear the whole house need be. Plus it's a new build and very well insulated. If you're in a place where you're running and AC on high constantly yeah that may be a big difference. He doesn't have to ration his use super strictly though so for him it's perfect. I'll probably do the same once my roofline is finalized.
February 17, 20214 yr 33 minutes ago, ToastJenkins said: Froze our asses off plenty of nights during Sandy with a toddler in the house. spent my days running to find gas to keep the generator going. Ran so much i had to do an oil change on it. yes people should be able to suck it up for a while and make due. Oh the hardships you faced.
February 17, 20214 yr If there's one thing that's perfectly clear, it's that the hardships caused by once in a generation events would be non-existent if the Monday Morning quarterbacks stroking themselves off on the internet were in charge of everything. Exorbitant costs be damned, everything would be overengineered to account for every possible scenario.
February 17, 20214 yr One of my first WTH moments after Mr Di died was losing power in a tropical storm (July I think). I filled and started a portable generator for 2 days every 3 hours!! And I'm a girl!
February 17, 20214 yr 5 minutes ago, Toastrel said: Oh the hardships you faced. I mean to be fair Sandy was friggin horrible. I was in a house with no heat, no electricity for 14 days with a 6 month old baby and an asthmatic kid while it was bitter cold outside. Thankfully I had a natural gas grill outside and a room with a wood burning stove (which was terrible for asthma but we had to make due). For me it was not easy at all. I hate that these people in Texas are going through the same type of thing. Hopefully it will not take 14 days for their power to come back on. It is the one thing I will always praise Chris Christie about. When Sandy hit, he put all politics aside, worked with the Obama administration and worked hard for the state of NJ, regardless of backlash from the GOP.
February 17, 20214 yr 24 minutes ago, DEagle7 said: I think heating and cooling needs would be a big consideration. He's in VT so minimal cooling needs in the summer and has a big pellet stove that can hear the whole house need be. Plus it's a new build and very well insulated. If you're in a place where you're running and AC on high constantly yeah that may be a big difference. He doesn't have to ration his use super strictly though so for him it's perfect. I'll probably do the same once my roofline is finalized. For us, A/C is a killer in the summer. That thing runs almost all day long. Another factor is kids. They turn TVs on and walk out of the room, leave doors open when it's 90 degrees outside, every tablet and video game console on at all times, etc. I had to go so far as to run a home automation script that would detect a door or window left open for 60 seconds on hot days and then play a scripted audio file on a smart speaker to remind them to shut the GD door.
February 17, 20214 yr Found a site that lets you upload sound files... https://vocaroo.com/19DtwWtmUH8R https://vocaroo.com/1kGke0Y09ARn And this is another automation I would trigger when my phone entered my home geofence (about 100ft from the house.) https://vocaroo.com/1hTSqFWaQRI8
February 17, 20214 yr 47 minutes ago, we_gotta_believe said: For us, A/C is a killer in the summer. That thing runs almost all day long. Another factor is kids. They turn TVs on and walk out of the room, leave doors open when it's 90 degrees outside, every tablet and video game console on at all times, etc. I had to go so far as to run a home automation script that would detect a door or window left open for 60 seconds on hot days and then play a scripted audio file on a smart speaker to remind them to shut the GD door. Could just link it directly to a shock collar? Might be more effective.
February 17, 20214 yr 50 minutes ago, we_gotta_believe said: For us, A/C is a killer in the summer. That thing runs almost all day long. Another factor is kids. They turn TVs on and walk out of the room, leave doors open when it's 90 degrees outside, every tablet and video game console on at all times, etc. I had to go so far as to run a home automation script that would detect a door or window left open for 60 seconds on hot days and then play a scripted audio file on a smart speaker to remind them to shut the GD door. My kids are better trained. The AC thing I can relate to, right now I am in an older home and while the AC is newish, it runs all summer long. The home I am moving into in a few weeks is much newer but also much larger. It does have 3 zones for each floor so I guess I will have to figure out the best way to set each zone up.
February 17, 20214 yr 1 hour ago, pallidrone said: I mean to be fair Sandy was friggin horrible. I was in a house with no heat, no electricity for 14 days with a 6 month old baby and an asthmatic kid while it was bitter cold outside. Thankfully I had a natural gas grill outside and a room with a wood burning stove (which was terrible for asthma but we had to make due). For me it was not easy at all. I hate that these people in Texas are going through the same type of thing. Hopefully it will not take 14 days for their power to come back on. It is the one thing I will always praise Chris Christie about. When Sandy hit, he put all politics aside, worked with the Obama administration and worked hard for the state of NJ, regardless of backlash from the GOP. I had no electric for 11 days, it came back for a day or two and a snow storm took it back out for 3 more days. It was rough but we had a generator and could run some stuff and managed.
February 17, 20214 yr Sandy was a once in a lifetime storm. Texas is bad right now, this artic cold has never happened that far south. Ever. So feel it is also once in a lifetime for them as well. No need for rebuilding their grid really just better preparation. They are simply not able to handle it. Yet they survived Harvey and Allison which makes sense as they are much more prone to tropical weather than artic cold. It is surreal to see snow cover there.
February 18, 20214 yr Texas largely relies on natural gas for power. It wasn’t ready for the extreme cold https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/16/natural-gas-power-storm/
February 18, 20214 yr It got really cold in Texas 10 years ago. They had similar problems: outages and blackouts... Here are the recommendations made in the aftermath of that event. Did they even consider this? https://www.ferc.gov/sites/default/files/2020-05/ReportontheSouthwestColdWeatherEventfromFebruary2011Report.pdf
February 18, 20214 yr 9 hours ago, DiPros said: Sandy was a once in a lifetime storm. Texas is bad right now, this artic cold has never happened that far south. Ever. So feel it is also once in a lifetime for them as well. No need for rebuilding their grid really just better preparation. They are simply not able to handle it. Yet they survived Harvey and Allison which makes sense as they are much more prone to tropical weather than artic cold. It is surreal to see snow cover there. Ever? I guess you mean in the last 200 years or whatever.
February 18, 20214 yr Wind power can run in cold weather if properly equipped to do so. Having said that, such a cold weather event in Texas is once a century or whatever so equipping the wind farms in that manner probably doesn't make sense. HOWEVER, what does make sense is for Texas to have a backup emergency plan that will be able to ensure restoration of power within a reasonable timeline even in a once in a century event.
February 18, 20214 yr 1 hour ago, DrPhilly said: Ever? I guess you mean in the last 200 years or whatever. Pretty close to ever as it’s been three days of record breaking. Other times it’s been a 1 day record. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wfaa.com/amp/article/weather/historic-cold-a-look-at-the-record-breaking-past-few-days/287-529958c6-0216-4c7c-b67c-8141907b6cb8
February 18, 20214 yr 6 minutes ago, DiPros said: Pretty close to ever as it’s been three days of record breaking. Other times it’s been a 1 day record. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wfaa.com/amp/article/weather/historic-cold-a-look-at-the-record-breaking-past-few-days/287-529958c6-0216-4c7c-b67c-8141907b6cb8 I can't open that site as I'm geo blocked. Are you saying ever from a historical geological perspective? As in "not even during the ice ages"? Or do you mean more from a recorded history perspective?
February 18, 20214 yr 24 minutes ago, DrPhilly said: I can't open that site as I'm geo blocked. Are you saying ever from a historical geological perspective? As in "not even during the ice ages"? Or do you mean more from a recorded history perspective? I’m still in bed. I’ll see what I can find for you when I get my laptop fired up in the kitchen today. Recorded history. That stuff interests me.
February 18, 20214 yr 1 hour ago, DrPhilly said: I can't open that site as I'm geo blocked. Are you saying ever from a historical geological perspective? As in "not even during the ice ages"? Or do you mean more from a recorded history perspective? It would appear that while uncommon, 3 days of deep cold has happened twice in the last 40 years with a handful of cold snaps in between where temps below freezing impacted power supply. At what point do you decide you need to prepare for these conditions as an essential service?
February 18, 20214 yr 1 minute ago, JohnSnowsHair said: It would appear that while uncommon, 3 days of deep cold has happened twice in the last 40 years with a handful of cold snaps in between where temps below freezing impacted power supply. At what point do you decide you need to prepare for these conditions as an essential service? Meh, buy a coat.
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