As of this morning there’s nothing coming out of the taps.
CHAT Well, my city water is gone
- Thread starter Dennis Olson
- Start date
Loretta Van Riet
Trying to hang out with the cool kids.
No fun. Activate plan B?
I have 25 gallons in carboys.
ChicagoMan74
ULTRA MAGA
You probably have a plan B, but If it gets really bad...get some coolers and watertight containers and start melting snow.
It’s just ice now. Unusable
Bps1691
Veteran Member
Chip it, melt it, filter it through old tea shirt to get the chunks out and use your water filter comes to mind
You ever tried to do that? It’s not a trivial or easy exercise.
patriotgal
Veteran Member
You are more prepared than 100 percent of Texans. 
(Excluding fellow tb2k members of course.)
(Excluding fellow tb2k members of course.)
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It won’t get above freezing until tomorrow afternoon.
And it’s snowing again. 2” expected in the next few hours.
Also no trash pickup this week, and no mail delivery this week at all.
And it’s snowing again. 2” expected in the next few hours.
Also no trash pickup this week, and no mail delivery this week at all.
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coalcracker
Veteran Member
We all could use more containers to provide extra capacity for storing water. I like keeping empties of these hard plastic bad boys:
Of course, the trick will be to know when to fill them up from the tap. My emergency extra water is stored in larger, less portable containers.
How much extra capacity will we need? Our brothers and sisters in Texas will be able to shed some light on that question. Continued prayers for all of you.
Of course, the trick will be to know when to fill them up from the tap. My emergency extra water is stored in larger, less portable containers.
How much extra capacity will we need? Our brothers and sisters in Texas will be able to shed some light on that question. Continued prayers for all of you.
Bps1691
Veteran Member
Yep, sure have at least two dozen times while winter camping through the years and a few times around the place to make sure I could do it in a real pinch. Still practice making fires using flints and strikers a few times per year as well to make sure I still know how to do it or to teach my grandkids.
Icicles work easiest, but have done it with ice chipped out of ponds, water barrels, and an above ground swimming pool. If push comes to shove the same system would work if you had to chip it off any non-polluted surface.
You've got 25 gals stored, so odds are you'll get city water back before you run out.
Hour S of Austin, hour E of San Antonio, in Gonzales, water has been 1/3rd
pressure/volume, yesterday they announced need to boil before use now.
Had 1000 gallons water from roof runoff in a plastic tank, but dumped it all at
beginning of freeze so as not to risk splitting the tank. Will be hooking it back
up soon, but have about 40 gallons back-up in the meantime, and of course
plenty of water purifiers if I didn't want to bother to boil municipal water, etc.
All across Texas, as the thaw commences, extent of the broken water mains
will be daunting. BTW, if you think you might need any plumbing repairs, you
better go get your tubing, fixtures and glue before hardware stores run out.
Never boring, huh?
Panic Early, Beat the Rush!
- Shane
pressure/volume, yesterday they announced need to boil before use now.
Had 1000 gallons water from roof runoff in a plastic tank, but dumped it all at
beginning of freeze so as not to risk splitting the tank. Will be hooking it back
up soon, but have about 40 gallons back-up in the meantime, and of course
plenty of water purifiers if I didn't want to bother to boil municipal water, etc.
All across Texas, as the thaw commences, extent of the broken water mains
will be daunting. BTW, if you think you might need any plumbing repairs, you
better go get your tubing, fixtures and glue before hardware stores run out.
Never boring, huh?
Panic Early, Beat the Rush!
- Shane
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CaryC
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Sorry to hear that Dennis that's worse than loosing power.
A suggestion if you don't already know it. Don't use your drinking water in your toilet. Use the snow and ice in a melted form - water to flush. 'Course to conserve even further if your back yard is fenced in, you can do No. 1 outside.
A suggestion if you don't already know it. Don't use your drinking water in your toilet. Use the snow and ice in a melted form - water to flush. 'Course to conserve even further if your back yard is fenced in, you can do No. 1 outside.
The pups go through about a gallon a day.
How old are you now? What physical condition were you in then/now?
naegling62
Veteran Member
Hey look at the bright side, you don't have to mow your grass.
Optimus Prime
Senior Member
For some bizarre reason, weather fatigue?? This is how I read the subject line....
Sorry Dennis, embrace the suck
Sorry Dennis, embrace the suck
bw
Fringe Ranger
Dump and fill them on a calendar basis, and don't worry about timing your disasters.
summer-texan
Contributing Member
and no mail delivery this week at all.
what happened to Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.
oh, that was when people cared.
We haven't had water in So San Antonio since sunday. No electricity till early thurs morning.
oh yea, water boiling orders. no water, no electricity, huh, what.
what happened to Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.
oh, that was when people cared.
We haven't had water in So San Antonio since sunday. No electricity till early thurs morning.
oh yea, water boiling orders. no water, no electricity, huh, what.
bw
Fringe Ranger
It's a matter of taste, obviously, but I recommend not later using the No 1 snow to melt for drinking water. It's color-coded, if that helps.
ChicagoMan74
ULTRA MAGA
Not so....you can always bucket flush if you have a bucket that holds 2-3 gallons of water...unless you know for sure that you have a clog in your sewer line.If you're going get to get melt off on a side of the house, at least put a tote out there to catch it for the babies. Just in case. Oh, and the toilet :: no fun at the olson house today eh::
Get a 2-3 gallon bucket fill it up and then dump it fairly quickly into the bowl...voila...you got yourself a toilet flush. This SHOULD work for NON-pressure assisted, run-of-the-mill residential toilets.
If you like the extra work you can always dump your bucket water into the tank and handle flush...but again...thats just extra work.
Wow Dennis, sorry to hear about this.
Whenever we have a big rain/wind storm here we lose power and as I am all electric in this house, and have well water, I have no water then.
Until I can afford a backup genny and can get an electrician to rig it up to the house, I am going to rely on my water barrels.
Whenever we have a big rain/wind storm here we lose power and as I am all electric in this house, and have well water, I have no water then.
Until I can afford a backup genny and can get an electrician to rig it up to the house, I am going to rely on my water barrels.
xtreme_right
Veteran Member
I saw a woman in our area that set up multiple 5 gallon buckets and coolers along the roof drip line. She said she got a decent amount to flush with.
Now that we are getting round two of storms, you can collect some more to supplement what you have.
Now that we are getting round two of storms, you can collect some more to supplement what you have.
I miss my house in Wisconsin. 450 gallons of water. Whole-house genset. 500 gallons of propane in an owned tank. Here I have nothing.
CaryC
Has No Life - Lives on TB
'Course for this short duration (hoping) I would just use the same corner of the fence, and probably melt it down to the ground anyway, and use the snow close to the house for the toilet. And would never use exterior ice/snow for drinking without running it through a Berkey first. Color coded or not.
Hfcomms
EN66iq
And filled the tub with water knowing that this was likely to happen?
coalcracker
Veteran Member
I didn’t fill the tub. However, after all this, I will purchase a 55 gallon water drum and a siphon pump for it.
NO....NO...ALLMOST NO WATER PIPES ARE INSTALLED TO DRAIN WITHOUT HELP25 gallons ought to hold well enough for you and the dogs and a couple of flushes/day.
Upside? Your water pipes are drained, so they shouldn't freeze.
MOST PIPES MUST BE BLOWN OUT WITH AIR
IF YOU LEAVE(HAVE)A HOUSE WITH HEAT
YOU SHOULD TURN OFF THE WATER............OR LET IT DRIP