Been w/ o power since Thursday night

[Suntiger]

I would feel better if a utility truck at least drove through the neighborhood and waved... The ole Suntiger is going to get a generator installed ... Kind of embarrassed I left myself in this position ...the brace of 1851s is fine though!

[99whip]

Suntiger,

You must be up in the Crystal River, Big Bend area somewhere?  I'm quite a ways S of there but remember well when Charley had us without power for about 8 days back in August 04.  Property survived but man did it suck, S FL summer heat and humidity for 8 days with no power.  After the 4th day with no power I hooked up my skiff and left for the Keys. 

Glad to hear your Navy's are fine tho...hope you are as well.  Hang in there.

Whip

[LonesomePigeon]

That sucks. For a minute there I thought you said without powder. That would really suck.

[Mad Dog Stafford]

Suntiger, is your power on now?

[ssb73q]

Hi, it give new meaning to keep your power dry. 

Regards,
Richard

[sourdough]

I feel for you with the power outage. We don't get any hurricanes here in SW WA State but in the Winter we do have our big storms that come in from the Pacific with beaucoup rain and winds 40-60 mph as a regular thing. We are 20 miles from the coast.

We have had for years a 5600W portable genset that powers all 3 refrigeration units and the forced-air propane furnace, and some lights, and it does not run 24/7 (we stagger the runtime based upon need). The house is wired for it using a simple main breaker interrupt that will not allow the grid power to backfeed the genset when it is powering the house. The oven/range and the water heater are propane. We normally keep 15 gallons of stabilized (STABIL) gasoline for the genset over the Winter and have only been without grid power for more than 2 days one time, but one never knows. It was out for 4 hours the other evening for unknown reasons and I nearly turned it on just for the refrigeration when it came back on.

We would not think of being without it. Knock on wood. 

Take care and be secure.

Jim

[Suntiger]

Still no lights.... Some indication the City of Tallahassee turned down some aid for Florida power and light ... I have not seen a utility truck even drive through our area.... Finally found a residence inn late yesterday that takes dogs and has Ac and cable...whatever the planned response was ... There clearly needed to be a better plan!

[ssb73q]

Hi Suntiger, sorry you are having so much trouble with getting your power back on. A number of years ago we had a storm that knocked out power for over four days. Since we have a well we needed to get water from a ditch to use for toilets. That experience convinced me to get a generator. Since then we have only needed to use the generator a couple of times, but we were never without heat and lights. A 5500w generator provides enough power to live without issues when the power goes out. I didn't get a battery startup generator because of the maintenance required to keep the battery usable. One pull of the starting cord starts up the generator with no problem. Northern Tool sells a very good generator, see:

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200467313_200467313

and also get the roll out kit:

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200467695_200467695

Murphy's law states that if it can happen it will. A backup generator sticks Murphy in the ass.

BTW, don't get a generator larger than needed. Even at no power they consume at least half the fuel at full power.

Good luck getting your power back.

Regards,
Richard

 

[mazo kid]

When I moved to the boonies 26 years ago, I kid that if there was a heavy dew the power would go out. Over the years the power company has cleared lines through trees and moved some, resulting in better service. Still, winds, ice will bring lines down. I bought a 14 KW standby unit and wired it up. It runs on LP, is automatic with a transfer switch, and pretty much powers the house. Now we have water, heat, and freezer/refrigerator, lights and outlets; not everything, but each room has lights and some outlets. The longest it has run is about 6 hours and it has run 3-4 times each year. Power company response time is usually about 2 hours so that has been the norm the last few times. Before I got this unit I had a 4KW portable generator. It worked, but by the time I got it out, hooked it up to the panel, shut off the main breaker and got it started it would only run about an hour before I had to reverse the procedure.

[Suntiger]

A great crew from Gulf Power came through this morning and we are back on line...

[Hawg]

Being without power sucks. After Katrina we were without power, water and phones for two weeks plus we couldn't go anywhere until all of us down this road got together and cut the trees out of the way. When we got that done there was nowhere to go anyway.

[mazo kid]

Just before were married, a nasty storm came through and took out power to a lot of Madison. My wife-to-be had a house there so I took my generator and hooked it up. Everything was fine until her daughter and the other gal staying there complained about the noise. Funny thing was that the house next door had power....I asked if we could run an extension cord from his house. No problem! So, minimum power, but at least she had refrigerator and lights, city water, micro wave and grill for cooking. Power was out five days. I cut up and hauled three big oak trees that were down in her yard (and through the roof and bedroom window!) it to my place. I was younger then!