Longest power outage?

[300UGUY]

I was just thinking about checking my genset out, it's a propane unit, 15kw. The longest I've been out is 7 days. Consumer's power, in Michigan.

 

[EddieWalker]

Couple years ago I lost power for just over three days. We has a pretty big snow storm and a lot of trees lost branches, taking out power lines. I didn't have a wood stove then, but I do now!!!! Small Honda generator will give me enough power to have a few lights on and either the TV or the computer and charge my phone. We don't really need much more to get through the evening.

Eddie

 

[Bird]

I definitely consider us to have been very, very lucky. We've had lots of power outages, but the longest one we ever had was 8 hours in Navarro County the morning we were getting ready to go to my father's funeral in 1996.

 

[nybirdman]

During our ice storm in 1997 we had folks out for six weeks;we were only down for four days.Since then all of our family households have generators.

 

[TripleR]

We were without power for a week and my brothers over two weeks, some even longer. We ran our 5000kw to power our heater, lights submersed water pump etc. This spring we put in a 20kw propane unit that runs automatic checks, also is serviced if needed. We are just too old to be dragging generators and cords around in the middle of a storm.

 

[ultrarunner]

Power was out for 5 days in Olympia a few years ago... it was also during a record low cold snap.

Home is wired for a gen-set with pigtail in place... so my renters hooked up their generator so the well would work... house is all electric and asked neighbors if this happens often and they said no... otherwise I was thinking of setting a propane tank...

 

[Dr_Zinj]

4 days during the ice storm a couple years ago.

Ran a fire in the fireplace all four days and the lowest the temperature got in the house was about 40 degrees in the cellar; so no frozen pipes.
Used the camp stoves hooked to a propane tank to cook on and boil water.
Pump and heating system won't work without electricity, so I have a half dozen 7 gallon jerry cans of water stored away.

 

[Tdog]

After Katrina, we were out for a month. It had to be our hottest September ever - - upper 90's every day. Burned a ton of gasoline keeping a portable generator going. And yes, we added a 15 kw propane unit a couple months later. Nothing like closing the barn door a little late.
And, we were out for 4 days after a snow in 2008, but my generator cannot handle heat. Luckily, my woodstove works well.

 

[Beltman60]

we were without power for 6 days after wind storms hit about 6 years ago
Lived in a plat back then and I was the only one with a gen set (6500 watt)
So every 2 hours I would take the gen set and move it from house to house (total of 6 houses)
Neighbors would have extension cords outside and I would come by and plug them in and start the gen for there 2 hrs.
luckily this was in Sept and we didn't need heat or air but we kept all the freezers and refrigerators running
most neighbors would also go and get gas but some would rely on me to have it
was actually a good time as the neighborhood got closer and we would get together and grill out

 

[oosik]

We went without power for 17 hours during a summer wind storm about 18 years ago. Fortunately, winter outages have been considerably shorter and less often. I have never run my generator during a power outage.

 

[tallyho8]

We were out for 8 days after Hurricane Betsy in 1965. After Katrina we had our power restored after only a few days because we were out of the flooded area where they could not work to restore the electricity. Some of the flooded areas did not have electricity restored for over a year.

 

[IXLR8]

Longest outage was for 3 days, 7 years ago. Outages have been getting shorter and shorter, and less and less often, since then. Used the wood stove to heat the house, gas stove to cook with, put food out on deck in coolers to keep cold. On deck to keep food cold, coolers to keep critters out of the food. Keep thinking about getting a generator, but outages are just so few and far between now to justify the cost.

 

[Baby Grand]

5 days out from Hurricane Irene, in late August, 2011 and then another 6 days out from the Halloween nor'easter 2 months later. I had just bought a Miller welder-generator a few months earlier after making a big pitch to The Plant Manager about how it wasn't just a welding machine, but a 10k generator, too. She was relieved to have heat, hot water, a working stove and all the food in her fridge and storage freezer unspoiled, when many of our friends and family were roughing it, that the purchase was never again questioned. That also bought me some solid street cred' when I made a case for buying the backhoe.

 

[thatguy]

We were out for 3 days during teh 2012 Duracho - others in the area were out for up to 10 days (some 14 days)

brian

 

[kennyd]

6 days here after ice storm. Glad to have the Generac 15kw!

 

[Shift4200]

16 days after Hurricane Gloria in 85. I was a young boy and i remember on day 7 my mom cooked everything that was left in the chest freezer for diner. Pretty sure i had a steak with a side of veal for dinner that night.

Runner up was 9 days in central Florida after Hurricane Charlie moved thru (2004 the first storm of the trifecta). No generator, and I lived across a golf course from a Marriott resort who was on backup power the whole time. Nothing worse than sweating balls and watching/listening to people having a great time all night long.

-J

 

[buickanddeere]

Last year some homes in Toronto were out for weeks after the ice storm.

 

[Mike_Kanzer]

We were without power for 3.5 days after a bad thunderstorm took down trees out on the street with our power feed. We have a 20kw LP generator that ran everything including the central AC. We have horses and are on wells so some form of a generator is a must so that the horses can get water.

 

[mddorange]

We were out for 3+ days after the tornados of April 2011. Packed up everyone and went to Atlanta to see a ball game and take showers.

 

[sailorman]

Approx. 2 months after Katrina .