Seriously, WTF is with this Weather?

[Shadows]

58 minutes ago, Barb said:

We looked into a whole house generator and they are insanely expensive. Something about high altitude makes them more expensive. We have a gas generator and we always keep 5-8 gallons of gas handy. And yes, propane. Power outages are a very regular occurrence here. But yesterday was unusual. It’s a learning curve living here for sure….

Just buy an electric car. The big thing nowadays is to just connect your car to your meter 

 

 

[indiggio]

1 hour ago, Barb said:

We looked into a whole house generator and they are insanely expensive. Something about high altitude makes them more expensive. We have a gas generator and we always keep 5-8 gallons of gas handy. And yes, propane. Power outages are a very regular occurrence here. But yesterday was unusual. It’s a learning curve living here for sure….

Ugh, yeah.  When we moved in, power would go if someone sneezed in the wrong direction, but just couldn't bring my self to spend the money on a generator.
We have propane, but only 2 small tanks instead of one of the buried big ones, so running out is an issue too.
Sandy was the big problem, having power out for a few days which meant no water.
Not something many think about, but not having power is a big issue when you're dependent upon a well for water.
I now keep a few of the plastic 5 gallon drinking water jugs in the basement, just in case.
They sell battery operated pumps you can just put into the jug.
Also fill up buckets and keep them in the bathtub before a wind storm is forecast for "flushing" the toilets.
They also sell bathtub liners that you put into the tub and fill up to keep water for an emergency, if you have an extra tub.
Hopefully you just have a gravity septic, as having a dosing tank is yet another set of issues when you don't have power.

 

[JFskiDan]

Forecast from last Tuesday.

Kind of looks like our cold has moved back, again.  Now looks like cold comes around Sat/Sun after thanksgiving.  

I hate to be the barer of bad news, but it doesnt look like we are skiing this coming weekend.  Just drinking.  

 

 

Edited November 20, 2023 by JFskiDan

[Schif]

43 minutes ago, JFskiDan said:

Forecast from last Tuesday.

Kind of looks like our cold has moved back, again.  Now looks like cold comes around Sat/Sun after thanksgiving.  

I hate to be the barer of bad news, but it doesnt look like we are skiing this coming weekend.  Just drinking.  

 

 

Just drinking? Does this mean I should stop at Blue this weekend for a parking lot dry run? 

[Benm]

2 hours ago, indiggio said:

Not something many think about, but not having power is a big issue when you're dependent upon a well for water.
I now keep a few of the plastic 5 gallon drinking water jugs in the basement, just in case.

... yeah i think about this constantly. we have roughly 15 gallon jugs in the basement. gotta check them tho, the plastic eventually gets brittle.

we already have gas generators and the kerosene heater, which handles our needs ... with the exception of the well.

since we have the generators, we've been considering getting one of those hookups to feed it to the main panel. cost would be exponentially less than a standby gen. 

[AirheadD8]

8 minutes ago, Benm said:

... yeah i think about this constantly. we have roughly 15 gallon jugs in the basement. gotta check them tho, the plastic eventually gets brittle.

we already have gas generators and the kerosene heater, which handles our needs ... with the exception of the well.

since we have the generators, we've been considering getting one of those hookups to feed it to the main panel. cost would be exponentially less than a standby gen. 

I’m on outage number 9 this year. My wife is lobbying for an automatic generator but I don’t have propane. The last outage she was in the shower with hair filled with shampoo. Fortunately my well tank is a little larger so she had time to rinse. Getting out in the dark was a challenge lol. 
 

I have a 5kw generator with a transfer switch and a 30amp cord I run outside after dragging the generator out. Take the plug out and stuff some insulation in to keep the critters out. I’m reluctant to change to the automatic because my generator starts every time so far. 
I flip a couple switches and I can run my oil boiler, well pump fridge and some lights. 
The transfer panel is no frills and pretty basic. 

[Benm]

15 minutes ago, AirheadD8 said:

I have a 5kw generator with a transfer switch

Thanks, 'transfer switch' was eluding me for whatever reason.

also forgot about the septic system... tho that wouldn't be a problem unless it was a long outage.

[JFskiDan]

9 minutes ago, AirheadD8 said:

I’m on outage number 9 this year. My wife is lobbying for an automatic generator but I don’t have propane. The last outage she was in the shower with hair filled with shampoo. Fortunately my well tank is a little larger so she had time to rinse. Getting out in the dark was a challenge lol. 
 

I have a 5kw generator with a transfer switch and a 30amp cord I run outside after dragging the generator out. Take the plug out and stuff some insulation in to keep the critters out. I’m reluctant to change to the automatic because my generator starts every time so far. 
I flip a couple switches and I can run my oil boiler, well pump fridge and some lights. 
The transfer panel is no frills and pretty basic. 

 

my old house had frequent outages, the big deal there was the sump pump.  every house had one, and always ran when it rained.  during a huge storm, the power went out across the street, and my neighbors basement was destroyed.  after that i install a battery back up for the pump that would run it at least long enough to were i could get home and hook up the generator.  Then i was gifted a Honda 6500 inverter, so i installed a sub-panel with a generator hook up.  the generator was totally over the top for what i needed since i was on city water and sewer.  Of course, after i went through all of that, i think i used it once.  i moved in 2019, i have the generator still, but have never lost power at that house for any length of time.  

Fun story - my boss (who i got the gen from) his previous home had frequent outages.  his power went out.  maybe he wasnt home or whatever, but waited a while before setting up the generator.  Hooks up the generator, but everything is kind of odd, things are making weird humming noises, the lights on his fridge arent right, water pressure isnt good.  so he calls me to come over.  he was set up for his whole panel to run off this generator, but what happened was everything was trying to start at the same time, well, fridges, etc.  turned everything off, then back on one at a time and everything was fine.  Kinda surprised he didnt cook at least the electronics in the one fancy kitchen fridge.  

[AirheadD8]

44 minutes ago, JFskiDan said:

my old house had frequent outages, the big deal there was the sump pump.  every house had one, and always ran when it rained.  during a huge storm, the power went out across the street, and my neighbors basement was destroyed.  after that i install a battery back up for the pump that would run it at least long enough to were i could get home and hook up the generator.  Then i was gifted a Honda 6500 inverter, so i installed a sub-panel with a generator hook up.  the generator was totally over the top for what i needed since i was on city water and sewer.  Of course, after i went through all of that, i think i used it once.  i moved in 2019, i have the generator still, but have never lost power at that house for any length of time.  

Fun story - my boss (who i got the gen from) his previous home had frequent outages.  his power went out.  maybe he wasnt home or whatever, but waited a while before setting up the generator.  Hooks up the generator, but everything is kind of odd, things are making weird humming noises, the lights on his fridge arent right, water pressure isnt good.  so he calls me to come over.  he was set up for his whole panel to run off this generator, but what happened was everything was trying to start at the same time, well, fridges, etc.  turned everything off, then back on one at a time and everything was fine.  Kinda surprised he didnt cook at least the electronics in the one fancy kitchen fridge.  

Doing mechanical crap all day and coming home my stuff gets neglected. I didn’t service my oil boiler one year and the filter was due. When the well and boiler came on it was a little too much for the burner motor and burned out. I have a 60 gallon indirect water heater tank so I have the family shut off the boiler when showering just to be sure.

The cheap led lights don’t like the sign wave on my generator. They flicker a bit which can get annoying. 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

@AirheadD8 why do you have so many outages?  

[Barb]

2 hours ago, Benm said:

... yeah i think about this constantly. we have roughly 15 gallon jugs in the basement. gotta check them tho, the plastic eventually gets brittle.

we already have gas generators and the kerosene heater, which handles our needs ... with the exception of the well.

since we have the generators, we've been considering getting one of those hookups to feed it to the main panel. cost would be exponentially less than a standby gen. 

Look into aqua bricks. That’s what we got. A box of 6, they are 3 gallons a piece so easily moveable and lock together like legos when you stack them to take up less space. Just change out water every 6 months. 

[Benm]

24 minutes ago, Barb said:

Look into aqua bricks. That’s what we got. A box of 6, they are 3 gallons a piece so easily moveable and lock together like legos when you stack them to take up less space. Just change out water every 6 months. 

very cool, i've never seen those.

at $200 for the six pack tho, i think i'll stick to the gallon jugs lol.

[C1erArt]

3 hours ago, Benm said:

... yeah i think about this constantly. we have roughly 15 gallon jugs in the basement. gotta check them tho, the plastic eventually gets brittle.

we already have gas generators and the kerosene heater, which handles our needs ... with the exception of the well.

since we have the generators, we've been considering getting one of those hookups to feed it to the main panel. cost would be exponentially less than a standby gen. 

We had a portable gasoline generator that put out 2 phases, and put in a 2 phase plug and socket on the power line to the well and fabbed up a little adapter so we could hook it up to 110 cords coming from each side of the generator to the well. High level alarm from the septic pump tank was also put on the generator. 
 

Also cut into the furnace power with a dedicated outlet and pigtail coming from the kill switch so we could supply that with the generator. Probably not code, but it is all in the basement, so doing a rewire if there is a fuss when we sell the house isn’t a big deal. 

Edited November 20, 2023 by C1erArt

[AirheadD8]

2 hours ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

@AirheadD8 why do you have so many outages?  

Lots of dead Ash trees. My power comes through a mile or so of a gauntlet. Hurricane Sandy did a good job of pruning but now the Ash trees are coming down from the invasive borers. 
 

I was trying to count power line splices in the lines on the way home lol. Too many to count. 
 

Getting a bit dangerous at times too . I took down a tree yesterday that had a huge piece hanging in . It doesn’t help to have a cheap neighbor who won’t spend a dime to take down obviously threatening ones. 

[AirheadD8]

3 hours ago, JFskiDan said:

my old house had frequent outages, the big deal there was the sump pump.  every house had one, and always ran when it rained.  during a huge storm, the power went out across the street, and my neighbors basement was destroyed.  after that i install a battery back up for the pump that would run it at least long enough to were i could get home and hook up the generator.  Then i was gifted a Honda 6500 inverter, so i installed a sub-panel with a generator hook up.  the generator was totally over the top for what i needed since i was on city water and sewer.  Of course, after i went through all of that, i think i used it once.   

Forgot to mention these, Sump Jet . They work without power if you’re using city water. 
https://www.libertypumps.com/wp/dom/Products/SJ10-SumpJet

[indiggio]

12 hours ago, AirheadD8 said:

Lots of dead Ash trees. My power comes through a mile or so of a gauntlet. Hurricane Sandy did a good job of pruning but now the Ash trees are coming down from the invasive borers. 
 

I was trying to count power line splices in the lines on the way home lol. Too many to count. 
 

Getting a bit dangerous at times too . I took down a tree yesterday that had a huge piece hanging in . It doesn’t help to have a cheap neighbor who won’t spend a dime to take down obviously threatening ones. 

We're in the exact same boat...
Power routes up a road that's the gauntlet of ash trees.  We have them falling all around us.
Neighbors took down a dozen or so when they put in their pool, so I had the guys come over and drop a couple that were doomed to fall on the shed. 
If nothing else, they make for good firewood for the pit and exercise chopping it.
After Sandy, PPL had people come out and trim back a ton of branches and trees near the lines which has helped a lot with the outages, so it's hard to justify spending the $ on a generator. 
Also, since the way the power is routed, it usually knocks out a few hundred people all at once, so PPL is pretty good at getting out to restore it.   Talking to the guys one time, they said they keep some trucks at a nearby substation all the time just for the immediate area.

Edited November 21, 2023 by indiggio

[AirheadD8]

40 minutes ago, indiggio said:

We're in the exact same boat...
Power routes up a road that's the gauntlet of ash trees.  We have them falling all around us.
Neighbors took down a dozen or so when they put in their pool, so I had the guys come over and drop a couple that were doomed to fall on the shed. 
If nothing else, they make for good firewood for the pit and exercise chopping it.
After Sandy, PPL had people come out and trim back a ton of branches and trees near the lines which has helped a lot with the outages, so it's hard to justify spending the $ on a generator. 
Also, since the way the power is routed, it usually knocks out a few hundred people all at once, so PPL is pretty good at getting out to restore it.   Talking to the guys one time, they said they keep some trucks at a nearby substation all the time just for the immediate area.

I’m on the “STBY “ Sucks to be you branch. Only a handful so we go to the bottom of the list unless we get knocked out early in the storms . Although PPL does a good job of projecting service restoration time it’s a pain but I just deal with it. I’ve been out for days at a time. 

[indiggio]

4 minutes ago, AirheadD8 said:

I’m on the “STBY “ Sucks to be you branch. Only a handful so we go to the bottom of the list unless we get knocked out early in the storms . Although PPL does a good job of projecting service restoration time it’s a pain but I just deal with it. I’ve been out for days at a time. 

I hear ya!  They cater to the greater numbers to make the most happy.
Unfortunately, if you're on a branch with only a few customers, they'll let you flail in the wind.
Being in that situation would drastically effect my decision to purchase a generator.

[Benm]

14 minutes ago, AirheadD8 said:

I’m on the “STBY “ Sucks to be you branch. Only a handful so we go to the bottom of the list unless we get knocked out early in the storms . Although PPL does a good job of projecting service restoration time it’s a pain but I just deal with it. I’ve been out for days at a time. 

i didn't know there was a term for it, but we are in the same boat with PPL. we have around 80 ppl. 

if there's just a run of the mill outage, it gets fixed pretty quickly. in a big storm scenario though, with lots of outages, we are definitely waiting.

Edited November 21, 2023 by Benm

[AirheadD8]

47 minutes ago, indiggio said:

I hear ya!  They cater to the greater numbers to make the most happy.
Unfortunately, if you're on a branch with only a few customers, they'll let you flail in the wind.
Being in that situation would drastically effect my decision to purchase a generator.

I had a crazy one 2 years ago. Wife calls me and says some power out in parts of the house? I’m like??? I come home and find a tree came down on the transformer on the pole and took out one leg , so anything 240 didn’t work and half the rest of the circuits . 
Luckily no damage to anything inside. 

[JFskiDan]

25 minutes ago, AirheadD8 said:

I had a crazy one 2 years ago. Wife calls me and says some power out in parts of the house? I’m like??? I come home and find a tree came down on the transformer on the pole and took out one leg , so anything 240 didn’t work and half the rest of the circuits . 
Luckily no damage to anything inside. 

i had the neutral from the meter to the panel corroding.....any time something with any amp draw would start up, the lights would dim, and the computer speakers would crackle.  That was interesting.  

[JFskiDan]

Interestingly enough, they have made snow at Frost and Boulder.  They usually dont run both.  

[Johnny Law]

4 hours ago, Benm said:

i didn't know there was a term for it, but we are in the same boat with PPL. we have around 80 ppl. 

if there's just a run of the mill outage, it gets fixed pretty quickly. in a big storm scenario though, with lots of outages, we are definitely waiting.

My neighborhood is probably somewhere around 5k people with one of the nicest, largest most expensive old folks compound down the street. Last one we had no power for nearly 2 days and the one before was 20hrs, both were bangers but nothing crazy. My theory is when they went interstate consortium with modernization they run with way less excess capacity. Which combines with fracking/ng economics, general privatization from utility to run super lean and transfer the wealth from the system to private individuals. Add in longer runs as they shut down the old coal monsters and it's kinda surprising it isn't down more. 

2 hours ago, JFskiDan said:

Interestingly enough, they have made snow at Frost and Boulder.  They usually dont run both.  

Super smells like snow out,  pellet core here though quickly melts when it lands. 

It's getting closer and I'm bullish on a pre Christmas storm.

[indiggio]

1 hour ago, Johnny Law said:

Super smells like snow out,  pellet core here though quickly melts when it lands. 

It's getting closer and I'm bullish on a pre Christmas storm.

Took a walk out earlier with the wife, smelled and felt (damp) like snow, but haven't gotten squat.

[Benm]

i don't think i've ever seen something like this before.