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Texas Cold Weather Discussion

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Dusty Stevens said:
Imagine ripping the insulation off of miles of pipes, installing the heat tracing, then reinsulating every pipe not to mention the cost of the shutdown. It takes months to install on brand new pipes. Ive personally never seen a power plant with no heat tracing, even in texas, even in hotter climates like southern florida. Now ive seen plenty of heat tracing not work, and its a pretty large part of a plant’s budget doing maintenance on it, and some never get fixed.
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I’ve never worked any plants in the south, so I’ll take your word that heat tracing is in place. My question then would be, is the tracing working, and if not why.
 
jimmymac said:
I’ve never worked any plants in the south, so I’ll take your word that heat tracing is in place. My question then would be, is the tracing working, and if not why.
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It goes bad a lot. Mainly from valve maintenance id say. They put the heat tracing back and forth around valves, as you may know, one 12” valve may have 35’ of heat tracing on it and that may be part of a 400’ run. If its flexed just right it shorts out and that whole run has to be replaced. That may cost $100,000 to fix or maybe more. The ones that short out are easy to identify, but the pieces that are opened wont trip the breakers and you wont know its not working until it freezes. That budget in a texas type climate is usually spent on “more important” items. Fixing heat trace in all the power plants would take a covid type bailout and outages the grid cant handle.
 
Dusty Stevens said:
It goes bad a lot. Mainly from valve maintenance id say. They put the heat tracing back and forth around valves, as you may know, one 12” valve may have 35’ of heat tracing on it and that may be part of a 400’ run. If its flexed just right it shorts out and that whole run has to be replaced. That may cost $100,000 to fix or maybe more. The ones that short out are easy to identify, but the pieces that are opened wont trip the breakers and you wont know its not working until it freezes. That budget in a texas type climate is usually spent on “more important” items. Fixing heat trace in all the power plants would take a covid type bailout and outages the grid cant handle.
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Yep. "Perfect storm" and nows there is a huge mess to sort through....
 
338 dude said:
Pretty much the same for me in Tennessee I’ve had power it has only blinked a couple of times but even with four-wheel-drive with the ice I am stuck in my yard and I live on a ridge my driveway goes downhill about 80 feet in 300 yards so I’ve been stuck at home for four days nowBut worse than that the grocery store shelves are bare because trucks cannot get to Walmart or other stores to re-supply it’s amazing how things can change in just a couple days
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I was able to get out yesterday finally after a week , everything is about normal today exept we are in the same boat with the grocery store and gas stations... Hopefully it won't take long to restock.... Your dogs are exactly like the one I had for 13 years we lost him two years ago... I showed my wife your picture and I thought she was going to cry.... What kind of dogs are those.??? We think ours was a catahoola lab mix...
 
338 dude said:
It did not help me this time because I’m not living in it yet maybe I’ll be better for the next one word of advice do anyone building it is very expensive but do not skimp on insulation my new place is totally encapsulated the roof deck and all exterior walls with spray foam also R19 in the ceilings I will even get a $500 reimbursement from my local power company for it
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What’s the total bill for the insulation in your new house?
 
Ive seen power sell for $2000/mwhr. I doubt the meter holder will pay what the utility had to pay to get it. Its pretty much a penalty on the utility to not have it and to have to buy it wholesale. The end customer will still be paying their $.12kwhr or whatever their rate is. The public service commission sets rates and has to vote to allow surcharges like for storms or whatever
 
“Ty Williams, a Dallas-area resident, saw his monthly bill soar from $600 last month to nearly $17,000 so far this month, according to local news outlet WFAA.”


Normally $600 month in winter?!?!


Rates here are $0.16-$0.17 /KW but my bill is between $50-$60/month when not running AC. Next summer will be our first in this house so we’ll see what AC costs. I’m guessing it will probably add another $50/month for June, July, August.
 
BigJohnson2 said:
“Ty Williams, a Dallas-area resident, saw his monthly bill soar from $600 last month to nearly $17,000 so far this month, according to local news outlet WFAA.”


Rates here are $0.16-$0.17 /KW but my bill is between $50-$60/month when not running AC. Next summer will be our first in this house so we’ll see what AC costs. I’m guessing it will probably add another $50/month for June, July, August.
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Chuckle chuckle, Do you live in Montana?
 
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jimmymac said:
Heat tracing and insulation are your friends. In cold climates, the shit hits the fan at times with it in place. For critical infrastructure, like gas, oil and electricity it’s extremely short sighted to not have tracing and insulation in place. I don’t care if that heat trace circuit only turns on once every 5 years. With it in place, at least you are covered.
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Jimmy, you and I think alike on what you said. But the guy that control the purse strings during the planning stages of a project is the culprit. As long as his project comes in on time and under budget, he is a hero. He doesn't care about the personnel that spends 12 and 16 hrs outside with a steam hose in his hand keeping things running during a freeze.
Don't worry about the mules, just load the wagon.
 
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