A non-political (for a change) big wind

Home at last - but no internet yet. This is from my cell & the voice dictation auto-correct is ludicrous on a good day. So don't look for me 'till you see me post again.
 
Talk about a stroke of luck. Got home today at 2:20 PM after a 340 mile drive. Power on, water is no longer "boil-required." So we are unpacking, I'm cleaning out the stench of a garbage can that had leaked a little before being pick up <<<PHEW!!!>>> and there, across the street, there's a couple of AT&T guys in work trucks with cherry pickers. So, being the shy, retiring guy that I am, I inquired as to the schedule of getting houses connected. Turns out they were working our area so they said, "Got a downed line?" To which I said, "As it happens, I do." To shorten the shaggy dog story, we had internet, TV, and phones up by 6 PM same day we got home. Tomorrow is grocery day. After that, chain-saw day.

One side note... the big tree that fell across the street was SO big that the guys who cleared the street could not completely do so. Their chain saws were not big enough. They would have need a lumberjack-size saw. So that means the street is still partly blocked.

The A/C is working and the house is cooling. All the TVs are working. Phones are working. Internet is working. I'm good for the night, I think.
 
Awesome Doc! Sometimes things just fall into place.
 
Great that you're back. Looks like another storm coming but looks to be mostly west of you.

To those who bought generators - I've got a meeting scheduled with Generac people for next week. I'm looking at a whole house system and the estimate from the web site is ~ $7,000. Sounds like a lot since the generator is less than $2,000 and that is powerful enough to actually run the AC and blowers for the furnace plus the fridge, lights, computers, and TVs. It hooks up to my natural gas line and connects directly to the electric panel and the switch is supposed to be automatic. Is it really as simple as that? If you don't mind quoting your price and city, that would be helpful. I'm pretty sure labor varies dramatically around the country.
 
Pat Hartman said:
To those who bought generators - I've got a meeting scheduled with Generac people for next week. ... It hooks up to my natural gas line and connects directly to the electric panel and the switch is supposed to be automatic. Is it really as simple as that?
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Utilities can go down in a natural disaster. I suspect that natural gas lines could be damaged or otherwise loose pressure should the lines be damaged or the pumps fail. You may want to ask the Generac people if the natural gas lines lines in your area have previously failed. Around here, Morehead City, NC, the Generac generators are run-off of propane tanks. We didn't have, until recently, natural gas.
 
Pat Hartman said:
Great that you're back. Looks like another storm coming but looks to be mostly west of you.

To those who bought generators - I've got a meeting scheduled with Generac people for next week. I'm looking at a whole house system and the estimate from the web site is ~ $7,000. Sounds like a lot since the generator is less than $2,000 and that is powerful enough to actually run the AC and blowers for the furnace plus the fridge, lights, computers, and TVs. It hooks up to my natural gas line and connects directly to the electric panel and the switch is supposed to be automatic. Is it really as simple as that? If you don't mind quoting your price and city, that would be helpful. I'm pretty sure labor varies dramatically around the country.
Click to expand...
Mine is a 22kw...my house is 3500 square feet and it runs the house with no issues. We have lost power about 3 times this year for about a total of 6 hours. When the main distro senses a loss of power for 15 seconds, the Transfer occurs and the only problem is I have to reset the clocks on the stove and microwave.

The unit cost a little of 5k and they charged about 4.5k to install it. Mine runs on LPG which I have a 1000gl under ground tank. I had them install a shut off and additional port so I could hook up an external tank it I had to.

Good investment as far as I'm concerned. 2nd best decision I've ever made...
 
Was the tank installed as part of the project or was it already there?
 
I hadn't though about both the gas and the electric going down at once. Mostly we lose power because of wind, ice, and snow. We're not in tornado or earthquake country. We've had three outages of more than36 hours in the past three years. When I was living on the other side of town, there must have been something important near me because in 30 years we only lost power for a few hours at a time. Probably not more than 12 each incident. My problem now seems to be that I'm on the wrong side of the over pass from Sikorsky and a nursing home. I can see their lights but I have none:(
 
Pat Hartman said:
Was the tank installed as part of the project or was it already there?
Click to expand...
Already there, my furnace, stove and dryer all use LPG. If you have NG but want to use a dedicated tank, you will need to rent/buy ($$$)
 
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