Big Storm Karma

[Jess from VA]

Having worked all day yesterday in the heat, I was a bit tired, so I lay down to take a nap early afternoon.  We had a big storm projected, and sure as hell a doozy blew in and woke me up.  Rain and wind and very dark, and although no tornado warning, it would not have surprised me at all.  Big limbs thunking down on my roof.  The bottom yard flooded in 20 minutes, when normal rains never flood.

Because we can lose power in these things, when it's hot outside I always crank down my AC before storms, so if we do, the house doesn't turn into a sauna so quickly.  Then bang, we get a power loss and instant surge back on, and there are blinking leds all over the house.  But I was glad we didn't lose power.

Except an hour after the storm blows through, the power goes off for good.  We've lost power for days or half days a number of times, but no more than 30-90 minutes for the last 4-5 years.  So I never go out and drag out the big generator, fuel it up, plug it into the house panel, and bring the circuits up slowly when the power first goes off.  (And I keep my fridges full of water and freezers full of frozen water at all times).

But after several hours with no joy, I go pull out my generator manual for a careful review, restudy my panel box, and drag the generator out and wipe it down.  The temps have dropped from the storm, so it's not unbearable in the house, and my frozen food is still frozen, so I wait.  I periodically make a 100 mi round trip for 20 gallons of non corn polluted fuel (as close as I can get it), and I realize I'm down to about 4 gallons left.  Crap.  So I keep waiting.  

After dark, I take a drive around the neighborhood and see it is only my part of the huge subdivision that is down, but I can't find any VA Power people working anywhere (that's not good).  So I go back home and eat a bowl of soup, and strap on my headband LED and start a book about Mary Custis' and Bobby Lee's Arlington, before and during the war.  This is a good story.

I keep checking my frozen food, and it's OK but it's not going to be good in the morning.  So at 1am, I finally go out and fuel up the generator, and it starts right up with the electric start (tiny battery on constant tender).  Good deal!  I stretch my heavy cord to back power my panel from the shed to my outdoor plug.

I am ready to power up the house, and I see my house lights pop on.  WTF????

It may be one of those false restarts, so I let the generator run, but the power is on for good now.

So I wait about 10 hours, and when I finally decide to fuel, fire up and hook up, the power comes back on.   Karma.

So I get to winterize the damn thing in summer.     If I was just going to test run it, it would have been so much easier when it wasn't slap dark. 

[hubcapsc]

The last time it rained here, it was Biblical. We're in drought now. Everything is crispy. Enjoy your rain  ...

-Mike

[old2soon]

            The entire state of Missouri is well ahead for the year in rain totals. Some of the state near rivers and such like are waiting for Record flood stages. Dams in the state Must release water to keep from damaging the dam. Levees are starting to fail here and there. What was the question?  RIDE SAFE.

[Jess from VA]

Unless I'm riding, I like the rain.  I'm never happy with power outages though.

Last years' Biblical volume (three times our average, higher than any recorded history here) was a problem.

But we are mostly having normal rains here now, and yesterday's flood is completely absorbed this morning (unlike last year, when the water table was like 3" from surface for most of the year).

Big mess to clean up can wait till tomorrow.  I'm whipped.

Generators are like insurance policies.  You are glad to have them, but you are hoping you never need them. 

[Willow]

...
I keep checking my frozen food, and it's OK but it's not going to be good in the morning.  ...

If you're without power checking your frozen food is the last thing you want to do.  Freezers hold the heat out well but every time you open the door you exchange frozen temp air for ambient air causing the freezer temp to rise.

[The emperor has no clothes]

...
I keep checking my frozen food, and it's OK but it's not going to be good in the morning.  ...

If you're without power checking your frozen food is the last thing you want to do.  Freezers hold the heat out well but every time you open the door you exchange frozen temp air for ambient air causing the freezer temp to rise.

absolutely ! Also don't open your fridge unless absolutely necessary. A good freezer even in a hot garage will hold it frozen for a couple days if unopened and having a good seal.

[MarkT]

We rarely lose power for any longer times after the local power coop who buys it from the big company, got their poop in a group and worked on their infrastructure and cut all the trees near power lines.  But I had grown tired of losing power for 10 hrs or so with every snow and ice and rain and wind storm on a monthly basis, so I had bought a 7k generator at Costco for a good price and rewired the main panel so it had a master breaker.  House was built before that was code.  Of course after I went to this trouble is when they grouped their poop and it was less needed.  I keep the generator ready with preserved noncorn gas and extra cans standing by, and replace the fuel and test the generator at least annually.  Well the good thing is the feeling that unlike most neighbors I'm not completely at the whims of the co-op which, when you're on a well with electric kitchen and three freezers and forced air heat not to mention computers and a workshop that needs to be not idle, power gets important.  Though I can heat with wood in a pinch.  And the original baseboard electric when power is up, furnace is down but HOLY COW that wrecks the budget with the obscene electric bill that results.

I change the oil once in awhile using Mobil1, installed 2 fuel valves with T to keep the carb empty and ease changing the gas, replaced the wimpy muffler with a big one to quiet it down, and replaced the pneumatic tires with solids as I got tired of them going flat for no reason.  Did the same tire thing on the ranch utility trailer and the Honda tug - retired garden tractor/mower.

[0leman]

When we lived in Susanville, CA (for 9 years), we would experience power outages.  Normally only a couple of hours.  One winter, 2-3 feet of snow on the ground, we lost power for 5 days.  The power coming to our town came up thru what is caller the Feather River Canyon.  The power towers were on the sides of very rugged mountains.  The snows caused several towers to go down.  Thankfully we had snow on the ground and used it as our ice box.  Worked pretty well.  Freezer kept the food in it frozen as we didn't open it during the power outage. 

Also had a wood stove that kept out 1800 sqft home at around  50 degrees.  Since the hole town as with out power didn't have to go to work.   

[Jess from VA]

I'm well aware of keeping fridge/freezer closed as much as possible.

But I still check (very quickly - seconds) to see when I'm going to need generator power to save the food because I'm not going to guess when I need it.  If my checking (three times in 11 hours) causes me to go to backup power an hour sooner, so be it.  If it wasn't for the food, I would have gone to bed for 7-8 (more) hours with no generator.

The extra (big chunks of) ice I perpetually keep in my freezers is a big help too.

I splurged and bought my first ice cream in a year a few days ago, and that appears to be the only loss.  Well, it's not lost, but when it becomes soup and is refrozen, it's kind of like the chewing gum on the bedpost all night.