Yes…if power is on…excellent idea to try a hair dryer to help thaw. And maybe space heaters if you have them.
We still have power, never lost it. But our water pressure has dropped; not sure why, though all over the news they warn of water shut offs and such.
I’ve been reading extensively about what to do if your pipes freeze and rupture. Of course, the advice is to IMMEDIATELY turn off the water to your house.
This strikes me as the strangest, most awful thing relative to this issue:
Our water shutoff is at the street in front of our house. This is the case with many people in this area. Why this is, I have no idea-why isn’t there a shutoff in the garage or in the house, or right outside the house???
Well, not only is the water shutoff at the street-you have to have a special “key” to access it to turn off the water! You can buy these at Lowe’s or Home Depot if you don’t have one.
WTH??? We bought this house a year ago and remodeled extensively, moved in right before Christmas. No on has mentioned this “key.” I began reading about it in NextDoor this week when people would say “HELP!!! A pipe broke in our house and we need to shut off the water, but don’t have a key? Can someone help???”
WHAAAAAAT??? Long story short, our next door neighbor has a key and said we are welcome to it if something happens, and for that I’m grateful. But I want to have this "key " in hand and ready to go should something awful happen. I cannot believe this is the situation, and apparently no one questions it.
Is this a common thing???
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Based on my experience, it’s possible to shut the water off without the key, with some combination of wrench/vise grips/ monkey wrench. Just not an easy task. And as a result of said experience, we now have the “tool” hanging in the garage, never needed after a couple decades. Insurance, I guess?
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Sending my best wishes to everyone in these storms’ paths. It sounds horrid.
We’re fortunate in PA that it’s nothing out of the ordinary. However, at the moment, we’re in NC with our oldest son and apparently awaiting ice. If it comes, that will delay our progression north to FIL’s in VA. I’m from far northern NY. Even up there, folks respect ice. It was the only thing other than a blizzard that would close school in my day.
Of course, down here we’ll need to watch out for anything winterish before continuing on. I’m aware of how little folks know about driving in snow when it’s not part of their previous experience. In our high school (NY) the driving instructor would purposely put kids into a spin in safe areas of our school’s parking lot so they could get experience. It’s pretty much impossible to do that in areas that rarely see snow. I have no desire to get into or behind accidents on the highway in good weather, much less cwappy weather.
We’re in AZ. It was breezy today but otherwise beautiful. Not gloating or anything. We are just off that hellishly hot summer and the next one is looming.
D in Chicagoland is happy to be working from home and has said it’s basically snowed every other day for the last two weeks.
But S at college in north Texas Is having all the fun right now. School in all formats is cancelled for the week. Canvas isn’t even online at his school for the students or professors to log in. Power is off and on. Yesterday mostly off. He was getting very cold. We finally determined that the problem wasn’t just the rolling blackouts but also when the power came back on in his apartment complex it hadn’t come back on for his building. Once we (and other families on the school Facebook page) determined that just a few buildings were out, emergency maintenance was called and the power was back on in 15 minutes. Impressed how fast it was fixed once maintenance was made aware. Back to just rolling blackouts. But then the fire alarm alarm went off in the middle of the night, probably due to the power issues. And today the city issued a boil water notice due to low pressure in the city system. He says he can’t shower, can barely flush the toilet due to no pressure, and has to boil water for dishes, toothbrushing, eating, etc. but it’s hard to boil water when the power is off and on. Boil notice won’t lift before Saturday according to the city. Cooking also a challenge. He is a little low on things he doesn’t have to cook, but did manage to make tacos in the nick of time while the power was on today. The roads are barely passable, the stores are empty. He’s learning new things for sure. And really he’s been fortunate, from the stories I’m reading.
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Finally have power and internet! Monday had power but no internet or cable so couldn’t work. Not fun but glad we had power because it was cold for us. Tuesday morning at 1am power went out. Below freezing. Stayed out all day and we had snow and ice. Wed. morning at 2:30am power back out, no internet, no cell service, boil water notice. Not fun. 8:40 tonight everything back except boil water notice still in effect. Stores have no food, there is no gas. Such fun!
Just hope we can keep power tonight! Our low was just in the teens but for southern TX that is not what we are used to.
Ds was -18 at college. The high that day was 0. Coldest he has ever been!
Dd had several inches of snow in central TX. Bad thing is her dog got very sick on Sunday and she was not able to get her to a vet until today. All, including the emergency vet, were closed with no power and roads that could not be travelled. She got her to the emergency vet today (only one open). Dog has a high fever. They are keeping her overnight for bloodwork and other tests. I’m very worried. My dd uses this dog like an emotional support animal. She has gotten her through so much. With her depression I’m very worried what will happen if she loses the dog. Mad that power added to her not being able to get the dog in.
Just had a warm meal and going to bed. Praying I can actually work tomorrow!
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D in Austin still without power in her apartment. She does have water. She said her apartment is a toasty 51 - so not too bad. she has camping gear including sleeping bags and coat sleeping bag. She’s fine. She’s sending photos of her meals. Well, I should say creative meals.
We have a cut off valve for water to the house (20 years old) in our garage next to the boiler. There is also a cutoff valve at the street which prevents water coming down the driveway to the house. I do not have a key for that, the water company does.
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My parents’ power came back on after being out for 12 hours yesterday. They still seem to be doing OK.
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Wow, UT-Austin has canceled classes for the entire week.
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It looks like your only shut off is at the meter (main). You can do this without the tool. Here’s a pictorial:
ETA: it is not that hard. Ask me how we know. 
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THANK YOU. Printing this immediately.
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Daughter in Austin still have power and feels very blessed. Water pressure is very low, but she still has water, so again, very lucky.
Son in New Orleans was at Trader Joe’s this morning where the shelves were truly bare. He said the trucks come from Texas, so no deliveries this week.
I shipped a UPS package to Austin on Friday that is sitting somewhere. There is no tracking info other than delayed. Hopefully it is at my hub and will go out soon and isn’t lost.
Also in San Antonio here where we are now experiencing our second snowfall this week with up to six inches expected, according to some forecasts. Have had intermittent power since Monday, mostly due to rolling blackouts, with no outage since yesterday afternoon.
I made a run to H‑E‑B, our one and only supermarket chain, yesterday and it was the literal Hunger Games with many bare shelves and purchase limits on other items. People were racing through the store with their shopping carts like Supermarket Sweep.
This should all be behind us by Saturday or as early as tomorrow afternoon. Here’s hoping.
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Brilliant plan. Our guest room gets a lot of use from friends and family. And of course all of D’s college friends, many of whom have never left the northeast, want to visit too. The more the merrier!
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Regarding shutting of water at the meter:
You can do it without the dedicated tool. The valve just has a straight tab that needs to be twisted 90 degrees from the on position and a small crescent wrench (adjustable spread to the jaws) will do it nicely. Helps to use a flashlight and figure the direction it needs to turn. Pretty easy since when it’s closed, it will likely appear that you could put a lock on it to keep it that way.
The reason for that is: when a municipal water dept shuts your water off for non-payment, they would like it stay off.
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These discussions remind me of our winter days in Chicagoland, or more accurately, spring thaws when the frozen pipes would burst. We had pipes going up outside walls that routinely froze; eventually we had to permanently shut off the water to a lovely sink in our walk in closet in the bedroom. Even shutting off water all winter didn’t seem to work.
We had a pipe break under our dining room; they had to take up the carpet and cut open the floor everywhere to track the break. Our house was on a slab; no basement. Two benefits: (1) we found where the mice were hiding the wrappers from the Hershey kisses they apparently stole and (2) insurance covered it all. Since we had a very open floor plan, we essentially got new carpeting for the entire downstairs, new linoleum for the kitchen, and most of the inside of the house painted (living room was two stories opening up to a loft).
We had a pipe burst that we didn’t even know existed - apparently the previous owner had kept a refrigerator by the back door with water leading to it. That one was a surprise! Why was the wall leaking, I asked myself.
Fortunately the interior water shut off was in a closet in the downstairs hallway. There was a panel that covered it; we left it lightly screwed in with a screwdriver on the shelf for quick access. I was at it the moment I heard the gush of water in the spring. We also had a very good relationship with a local plumber, partly due to pipes and partly due to the kitchen sink periodically clogging somewhere under the front lawn. I used to kid that we kept them on retainer.
We had a flat roof, and when the snow (or rain) was deep enough it managed to leak through the parapet and into our bedroom closet. This started right after we moved in and I had the baby. Quite a winter. New roof didn’t really ever solve the problem; we routinely had water issues in the closet for the 25 years we were there.
I know OP asked people in good weather locations to stay quiet but I think I paid my dues! Today my husband played tennis, and I sunbathed. Tomorrow we’re biking by the bay.
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We had a pipe burst below the master bathroom. DH found water shutoff valves under the house (pier and beam foundation, crawl space is 4 feet tall in the area where the shutoff valves are). There was a shutoff valve that only serves the master bath, thank goodness! So we have no water in the master, but we are okay in the rest of the house. I’ve read that plumbers are impossible to find, they are so booked up. DH called ours and they are screening out all but current customers. We have an appointment booked for tomorrow (we had to turn off water on Thursday).
Overall we have been extremely lucky. Never lost power and water situation is only a mild nuisance compared to many.
This situation is truly one of the worst disasters to ever happen in Texas. I only hope that there is enough sustained outrage to result in meaningful change.
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UT is going to be closed until Wednesday at least.
I had frozen water pipe (main pipe at meter) since one week ago. Have been filling water jugs of water for the toilets and taking showers at my parents. Turned the water back on today since it warmed up. No leaks!! PEX pipes held up. Prayers for my fellow Texans. EDIT: we do have several of the dorms at Texas Tech and schools of Lubbock ISD with leaking pipes/flooding problems
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