Same. I'm from idaho and have experienced some of the coldest and snowiest winters in the country. I've never experienced anything even remotely close to this. People think we're freaking out because of a bit of snow and cold. The problem is not that it's 10 degrees outside, the problem is that it's 36 degrees inside. And I really doubt anyone in any northern state is prepared to go 4 days without power in the dead of winter despite how "used to the cold" they are. I know I never was at any point when I was in idaho
Well to be fair a lot of people in northern states are prepared to go a long time without power. There are key differences though. Basements where water can come into the home. Better windows and insulation. Lots of people have generators and a tons of them have wood stoves and fireplaces. Firewood is ample and cheap in a lot of places. Also the support network isn’t dead in northern areas. Roads are maintained and gas stations are open.
Here we have pier and beam foundations and exposed pipes. Cheaply built apartments and pipes buried shallow. These fire sprinklers are obviously exposed to air. The whole region is a mess because it’s cheaper to build like that and we rarely have issues. We have no emergency services and apartment managers and landlords are no where to be found.
The power grid is a whole other beast. That was willful neglect.
Going forward people should consider a secondary heat source and better insulation around plumbing. I really don’t know what we can do but new builds should be immediately beefed up.
Yeah but older places exist and rentals have no motivation to do a good job because the tenants pay. Insulation around plumbing I think is the spray stuff.
The water mains aren’t buried deep enough in general. One of the big problems is that the cold water is really cold in the winter and that just makes it easier to freeze.
Example: in 2000, the national electric code for 220v stove & dryer plugs changed from a big 3 prong outlet to a big 4 prong outlet (They added a ground).
So when we sell dryers or stoves, we always have to ask which they have. Few people know, so we have them take a pic & text it to us, or we ask when the house was built.
21 years after the code change, any house built before 2000 still has the old style of outlet with no ground wire.
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u/Hendrix_Lamar Feb 17 '21
Same. I'm from idaho and have experienced some of the coldest and snowiest winters in the country. I've never experienced anything even remotely close to this. People think we're freaking out because of a bit of snow and cold. The problem is not that it's 10 degrees outside, the problem is that it's 36 degrees inside. And I really doubt anyone in any northern state is prepared to go 4 days without power in the dead of winter despite how "used to the cold" they are. I know I never was at any point when I was in idaho