Power Out - Day Two

[Patches]

14* in Lyman right now and we've been on generator since early Friday morning; not constantly, as I run the gen unit every 3-4 hours. CMP(Central Maine Power) estimates a Monday/Tuesday date for the return of service, but we're some of the lucky ones; heat, water, etc. Check on your neighbors, especially if they may be elderly. Stay safe and warm

 

[Flatheadyoungin]

We had an ice storm, I think, it was in 2001. We live in a hollow with dense trees and I'll never forget the sounds from two night of trees breaking and crashing down. It sounded like shotguns going off all night. I estimated that we lost a tree about every 4 seconds, that I could hear. I told my wife that I honestly didn't think there would be a tree left after the second night. Very strange feeling......

Kind of funny.......

Our's happened on a Sunday night and we skipped church that morning. I was sleeping in. My wife came in about 8am and said, "Jeff, the power went out." Well, when our power goes it usually is back on in about an hour or so. So, I just told her "ok" and rolled over and went back to sleep. She came back in about an hour and said, "It's still off, the house is getting cold." Once again, I brushed it off, told her to be patient and went back to sleep. Well about 12 (I really was sleeping good) she came in and said, "I'm cold get the kerosene heater out." Of course I mumbled around and groned. The power came back on 8 days later!!! Needless to say, I get reminded of my misjudgement a LOT!

We didn't have a generator but my neighbor did. He and I have known each other for years and we always help each other out- borrow things, etc. I trust him with my stuff and he trusts me with his. Anyway, we left his generator up in his big pole barn to suppress the noise and keep it out of the icy weather. It would run about 24 hours on two tanks of gas. My shift was the middle of the night, 3am, to go fill it up! Man, it was hard to get out of that warm bed, suit up, track up to his building, 200 yards away, and gas that thing up! I couldn't wait to get back in to my warm bed. I didn't use his generator except to run my freezer to keep from losing all of my food. We put the rest of the groceries out in the snow and ice. We did setup everything one night and watch a movie.

I'll tell you, you realize how much you depend on electricity when you don't have it. We were blasted, literally, back in time. Every day's routine was to make sure we had heat (kerosene heater) and food (we keep canned food). I'll tell ya, though, we got to know almost all of our neighbors, helped each other and spent much more family time together; talking, playing board games, going to bed earlier, getting up earlier, worked harder with no distractions, the radio became our best friend, along with hurrican lamps, etc.

I hope your power comes back on........sounds like you're ready....


edit: the news reported during our ice storm that there is always a surge in new born babies, 9 months, after some similar to a power outage......better be careful!

 

[EddieWalker]

MH Generator is an Onan. Maybe not as good as a Kubota, but not bad.

How old is the Onan Generator? Onan uses Kubota diesel engines in their generators. I don't know how long they have done this, but in my parents RV, it's a Kubota diesel engine in their Onan generator. In fact, when it gives them problems or needs a part, they go straight to the Kubota dealer for those parts. Just tell them what engine you have and they can get the parts for you.

Eddie

 

[JoelD]

POWER CAME BACK LAST NIGHT.

Big relief, glad to be able to shut the generator down.

My neighbor's has not yet come back, should be any time now.

Funny how you learn something each time. I think we've got the process pretty well figured out.

I think the next big step will figuring out if it makes sense to go to auto fail over or not.

Looking forward to slightly warmer temps today.

Joel

 

[JoelD]

14* in Lyman right now and we've been on generator since early Friday morning; not constantly, as I run the gen unit every 3-4 hours. CMP(Central Maine Power) estimates a Monday/Tuesday date for the return of service, but we're some of the lucky ones; heat, water, etc. Check on your neighbors, especially if they may be elderly. Stay safe and warm

Good luck patches.

I've got family in Northern Maine, Fort Kent, Mainer's are tough stock.

Joel

 

[Bousez]

I wish you good luck !
I know what you are talking about , back in 1998 we had an ice storm and power was out for 21 days .
Burnt 3 generators in the first week ........(coleman...)
Biggest problem was i had to pump , my basement and neighboors basement every 3 hours . We were only 3 with generators, out of 16 houses down the street.....I was one of the lucky with a wood stove
I have heard on tv, that Hydro-Quebec is sendig 25 teams to help you guys , just like Usa did back in 1998 .
Whatever you do, be careful with the generator, wood stove ,candles , portable heaters

Again i wish good luck and hope it won't last too long

 

[JoelD]

I wish you good luck !
I know what you are talking about , back in 1998 we had an ice storm and power was out for 21 days .
Burnt 3 generators in the first week ........(coleman...)
Biggest problem was i had to pump , my basement and neighboors basement every 3 hours . We were only 3 with generators, out of 16 houses down the street.....I was one of the lucky with a wood stove
I have heard on tv, that Hydro-Quebec is sendig 25 teams to help you guys , just like Usa did back in 1998 .
Whatever you do, be careful with the generator, wood stove ,candles , portable heaters

Again i wish good luck and hope it won't last too long

Bousez, thanks, it is great how people ban together during tough times. Me and my neighbor Bryan are like that, he helps me and I help him. Nice to not go it alone.

Joel

 

[SCOOBY14B]

After dealing with too many power outages (like the 10 days with no power back in 98) and the lack of response time from PSNH, we decided to purchase a full propane powered stand-by generator. Let me tell you, I will never own another house without one. It's a 24hp Honda engine powering a 12Kw (12,000 watt) generator with automatic power switching. When the power goes out, the generator waits 20 seconds to be sure it's not just a flicker and then starts up. The power is on immediately after it starts and you would not even know the power was out until you went outside and heard it running. When the power returns, it switches back to line power so fast the lights don't even blink, you only know the power is back when you hear the generator shut off. It also auto-cycles the engine once per week at any time you program.

The power company told me they would not be in my area until Sunday night at the earliest. I said take your time, I am going to take a hot shower.

Click thumbnail for larger image

NICE SYSTEM!!!

I want to put something like that in when I build our new house.

How much does the entire system run, price wise?

 

[Dmace]

If you click the link in that post, he list the prices on there too. Our system was $7900 installed. That includes the generator installed on a nice 3" thick concrete pad, an automatic transfer switch next to the fuse panel, all the wiring that goes along with it and connecting it to the propane line.

Looking at the wiring, it is a lot of work. They have to take the main feed from the line coming into the house and wire that into a new panel that has a large breaker, run that to the automatic switch and then wire it to the main house panel. It's quite the extensive system and works so reliably that besides changing the oil twice a year and making sure there's propane in the tank, you forget it's there until the power goes out.

The owner/installer told me about a guy up in the north country that has be using this same exact unit for a few years straight as his only power source only shutting it off to change the oil monthly. It had something like 8,000 hrs on it and showed so change in power output or engine operation.

 

[gboudreau]

Dmace & JoelD

Nice to see you got power back, most of my city is powered back up. I lost mine Friday morning and got it back Sat. afternoon. didn't get cable and internet back until late Monday night night. Most of Rochester was out of power with exception of a small part of town. There was only 2 gas stations open at one end of town and the line was so long it back up traffic through town on one side. Luckly I was on my days off from work and missed all the headaches so I was able to stay home and keep the woodstove cranked, the house was 70 the whole time the power was out. I only hooked up the generator to keep the frig cold, can't let my big boy beverages spoil.....

 

[Diamondpilot]

I keep 30 gallons of gas on hand to power my 8550 Troy Built Generator. That will last me 3 days. The first time I had to use it I had to drive 120 miles to get gas due to none of the gas stations having power to run the pumps and if they did they were out. I also have a boat that is always full of gas, 70 gallons, that I could get out if needed via a 12 volt electric pump. My generator also calls for 50 hour oil changes so I just do it every two days. Most I have been out was 8 days in January Ice Storm and 3 days after a tornado.

One word of caution is to chain up your genny. When we were out after the tornado I heard of a couple that was sleeping and the genny went off line but was still running. The husband said he would go out in a hour or so to check when he got up for work. He went outside and there was a worn out $99 push mower sitting where the genny once was running away. The crooks simply pushed the mower over, started it, shut off the genny, and away they went. I guess they figured with the sound the people would not wake up.

Chris

 

[JoelD]

I keep 30 gallons of gas on hand to power my 8550 Troy Built Generator. That will last me 3 days. The first time I had to use it I had to drive 120 miles to get gas due to none of the gas stations being without power to run the pumps and if they did they were out. I also have a boat that is always full of gas, 70 gallons, that I could get out if needed via a 12 volt electric pump. My generator also calls for 50 hour oil changes so I just do it every two days. Most I have been out was 8 days in January Ice Storm and 3 days after a tornado.

One word of caution is to chain up your genny. When we were out after the tornado I heard of a couple that was sleeping and the genny when off line but was still running. The husband said he would go out in a hour or so to check when he got up for work. He went outside and there was a worn out $99 push mower sitting where the genny once was running away. The crooks simply pushed the mower over, started it, shut off the genny, and away they went. I guess they figured with the sound the people would not wake up.

Chris

This was a fear I had, if we all went out I shut down and rolled into the garage.

My neighbor, who is still on generator (has same exact unit as mine) parked his car in front of the generator.

I have definately thought about the chain idea, mine is also under a motion sensor light.

People will do most anything in an emergency.

Joel

 

[Dmace]

Dmace & JoelD

Nice to see you got power back, most of my city is powered back up. I lost mine Friday morning and got it back Sat. afternoon. didn't get cable and internet back until late Monday night night.

Yeah we ended up getting power back on Sunday, figures once you spend the money on a stand-by system you never lose power more than a day or two. I had some friends in Rochester that actually never lost power just a flicker or two yet homes and businesses less than a mile down the road were out for days. Funny how that works.

 

[Diamondpilot]

My unit is portable but I poured a 4'x5' slab next to the house and put a 1/2" rebarb ring in the concrete to chain the genny up to. The first time I chained it to the deck support but really did not like having a level spot to put the genny near my panel.

I have it set up so if the power goes out I wheel the genny over and use a nice bicycle cable lock that is made of 5/8" cable and a good lock. I start the genny and let it warm up for a minute. I then hook up my 25' 10 gauge cord to the plug near my panel and throw the transfer switch. I also keep with my genny a blue 5'x8' tarp. I use the quick type spring wood clamps to hook one side of the tarp to the gutter and the put bricks on the other end to make a lean too roof over the genny.

Chris

 

[buyerjohn]

How do you tie the generator into the house electrical system? I know you can run extension cords to a unit but don't know how you wire it so it will power the house....

we are going on Day 7 without power...

 

[shvl73]

How do you tie the generator into the house electrical system? I know you can run extension cords to a unit but don't know how you wire it so it will power the house....

we are going on Day 7 without power...

A transfer switch is the best, safest way.

 

[buyerjohn]

A transfer switch is the best, safest way.

thanks...do you just hard wire the transfer switch breakers 1:1 to the breakers you want to power in the house panel and run a connection to the generator? If so, are you limited in the number of circuits the transfer switch can support - ie, if the transfer switch has 4 circuits, then it can only power 4 circuits in the house panel?

 

[shvl73]

Yes, and no...
Some (mine) transfer specific circuits. Others will throw the whole panel. If I had to do it all over again, I'd throw the whole panel and use only selected circuits as needed.

 

[buyerjohn]

Yes, and no...
Some (mine) transfer specific circuits. Others will throw the whole panel. If I had to do it all over again, I'd throw the whole panel and use only selected circuits as needed.

yeah, I'd think the whole panel would be the easiest...when the power comes back on, is there a potential issue with the generator and the electric company sending juice into the panel at the same time? or does the transfer switch sense the change and turn off the supply from the generator?

 

[shvl73]

The transfer switch (properly wired) will only allow one or the other.