Your last generator Maintenance Run

[Sawyer Rob]

The power outages in Texas have been blamed on the natural gas wells freezing.
Then they blamed the outages on windmills & solar which is less than 10% of their electrical consumption.

According to the textbook Organic Chemistry by Joseph M. Hornback, propane has a boiling point of -44ｰ F (-42ｰ C) at atmospheric pressure, but methane (natural gas), has a boiling point of -260ｰ F (-162ｰ C) at atmospheric pressure.
The freeze point is -297 degrees.
Is it the production machinery that freezes, Mechanical issues?

I have to ask what really is the problem?

90cummins

My research says that your figures are low for wind generated electricity in Texas...

As for freezing nat gas, i'm seeing conflicting numbers on that, probably because it depends on how much moisture is in the gas.

The most reliable info I can find says, it's a combination of frozen windmills and frozen nat gas combined, that's most of the problem.

I read that they just put a nuk powerplant back on line, and it's helping a lot to get electricity restored...

SR

 

[daugen]

I'm guessing the cold is affecting the machinery that pumps the gas vs being an issue with the gas temperature itself. ?

Watching the snow come down, and then the sleet, thought it was an appropriate time to up my propane tank game when I saw a variation
on a 40 pounder that came with wheels for transporting. Too heavy for me otherwise. And a nice tank level gauge.

But my question is when you look at this tank, and use it horizontally like I would like to,
does having the longest tank length run horizontal vs vertical have any effect on vaporization?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084DFHCTF/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_image_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I'm also getting a new propane barbecue so going to use 30 pounder in that and then have one 30 pounder as spare.

However, if one tees off a tank to gang two tanks together,
can they be of different sizes, like a 30 and a 40? I'm not sure how one feeds the other.
I'd rather have spare propane tanks than gasoline tanks, which I already have two of.

 

[LouNY]

The Natural gas itself isn't freezing but when it comes out of a producing well it usually carries a lot of moisture and slop with it.
Usually Texas doesn't have a problem with it more northern ares will have heater treater skids to separate much of the water out of it.
Then it has to go to the cleanup and compression plants were they will actually strip much of the heavier products out of the "natural" gas
the ethanes and bytanes to reduce the btu's per cubic foot down to the standard value for home grade natural gas, at times they will actually
pump air into the system to reduce the btu value.
If the raw gas was used your equipment would require constant monitoring and adjusting to compensate for the varying gas makeup.

 

[Rustyiron]

That's what I thought. LNG is super cooled nat. gas and is shipped (and trucked?) In that form. It's volume is drastically reduced.
I believe that there deflecting, or trying to take your eyes off the frozen windmills and snow and ice covered solar panels that doesn't fit their green only narrative.
edit, thanks Lou I was typing.

 

[gsganzer]

There's a bunch of issues at play. First is curtailment, giving home heating gas allotment a priority. Next is natural gas controls, like regulators, actuated valves and instrument sensing lines freezing due to entrained moisture. Just like a semi-trailer truck having it's air brake lines freeze. Next are generating plants that were improperly winterized so that feed water lines and instruments (freezing controls, sensing lines etc.) wouldn't freeze. At the end of the day, it comes down to poor planning and poor execution on the part of ERCOT and the plant owners. Apparently, due to the pandemic, ERCOT was not performing "cold operation readiness inspections" and was instead relying on the plant owners to perform these inspections. I've also heard that ERCOT does not have a definition for cold readiness nor procedures to insure compliance.

 

[downsizingnow48]

Interesting story about how the outage could have lasted months, the blackouts prevented greater damage to the grid.

Texas was minutes away from monthslong power outages, officials say | The Texas Tribune

 

[daugen]

and Ford to the rescue...

https://www.motortrend.com/news/202...t-hybrid-powering-texas-homes-winter-weather/

 

[Sawyer Rob]

and Ford to the rescue...

https://www.motortrend.com/news/202...t-hybrid-powering-texas-homes-winter-weather/

Nothing like using your 50-60 thousand dollar vehicle to make a little electricity... I guess I'll stick to using my small tractor...

Then there's that matter of ford making that donation to blm that really annoys me, too...

SR

 

[LouNY]

I'm guessing the cold is affecting the machinery that pumps the gas vs being an issue with the gas temperature itself. ?

Watching the snow come down, and then the sleet, thought it was an appropriate time to up my propane tank game when I saw a variation
on a 40 pounder that came with wheels for transporting. Too heavy for me otherwise. And a nice tank level gauge.

But my question is when you look at this tank, and use it horizontally like I would like to,
does having the longest tank length run horizontal vs vertical have any effect on vaporization?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084DFHCTF/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_image_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I'm also getting a new propane barbecue so going to use 30 pounder in that and then have one 30 pounder as spare.

However, if one tees off a tank to gang two tanks together,
can they be of different sizes, like a 30 and a 40? I'm not sure how one feeds the other.
I'd rather have spare propane tanks than gasoline tanks, which I already have two of.

Interesting propane tank the one is set to be used horizontally or vertically a person would want to be careful
when it was full as if sloped a bit to far it could pass liquid propane down the lines for a bit.
I would hazard a guess that it could have a bit higher vaporization rate on the horizontal as more surface area is open.

As far as teeing off different sized tanks there wouldn't be any liquid transfer if both were in the operating position and they should
run fairly equal. If one tank is warmer then the other it will feed a bit more.

 

[ultrarunner]

and Ford to the rescue...

Texans Are Using Ford F-15 Hybrids to Power Their Frigid Homes

I like it... also noted it's quiet which is a bonus and provides 7.2 kW... self regulating on-off motor.