 grobinetteSoutheast of disorderPremium,Mod
join:2001-01-27
Springfield, VA
kudos:1
 ·Verizon FiOS
Host:
Frontier Communica..
Home Improvement
Millenicom
| reply to SixOfNine
Re: friday night storm said by SixOfNine:Somebody told me that the reason for the suckage of AT&T's 3G connectivity was a downed tower.
That might explain why when I tried to tap into a guys 3G network at Caribou yesterday it was so infuriatingly slow. |
|
| reply to stillrunnin
That was wicked! Our power went out Friday night and didn't come back on until the morning of Day 5. The generator kept us from sweltering but this whole experience was very costly  |
|
 Coma Thanks StevePremium
join:2001-12-30
NirvanaLand | said by somebodeez:That was wicked! Our power went out Friday night and didn't come back on until the morning of Day 5. The generator kept us from sweltering but this whole experience was very costly
I live in Loch Haven and had power restored yesterday about 7:30pm, what a relief that was. No more tripping over extension cords and cool air coming out of the registers.
--
July is National Ice Cream Month |
|
| It took a couple days for me to become accustomed to not automatically reaching for the light switch when entering a room. When we finally got our power restored, I found myself still ignoring the light switches, haha!
Our neighbors were running a generator too except they have have theirs on a switch. When our power got restored, we noticed that they were still running theirs. My husband finally when over to check on them and it turns out they didn't know the electricity was back on. |
|
Coma Thanks StevePremium
join:2001-12-30
NirvanaLand | I just had my comcast go live, now I have TV & phone. During the outage, I was using ATT cell data for internet, way to slow.
--
July is National Ice Cream Month |
|
1 edit | said by Coma:
I just had my comcast go live, now I have TV & phone. During the outage, I was using ATT cell data for internet, way to slow.
Fios Internet + phone here was working fine once hooked up to the generator. We didn't try TV but once our power was restored, that was working fine too.
This outage was the first one we had a generator to use (also the longest one we've ever experienced). The genny sure was wonderful to have! It was soooo nice to still be able to shower (gas hot water heater), have AC etc. 1 of the top purchases that we have ever made  |
|
Coma Thanks StevePremium
join:2001-12-30
NirvanaLand |
I priced out a 20K generator last year and because of this latest outage, my trigger finger is getting itchy.
--
July is National Ice Cream Month
|
|
| said by Coma:
I priced out a 20K generator last year and because of this latest outage, my trigger finger is getting itchy.
Oh boy, that's big time!
I was wondering about the merits of going from an electric stove to a gas one... |
|
 RxdoxxPremium,Mod
join:2000-11-03
Middle River, MD
kudos:11
Software
Washington & Balti..
Philadelphia & Nor..
| reply to stillrunnin
Late addition
A couple pf days ago I noticed streaks running down the family room cathedral ceiling.
Started about 1/2 way down and ran to the fireplace.
Got up on the roof and saw that the old roof antenna's guy lines were the cuplrit. The wind had pulled the hooks up a little raising the shingles on the wind side in two spots and water was probably forced up under by the wind.
Got out the tube of Henry's clear flexible patch and hopefully have solved the problem at miminal expense, except for the streaks down the ceiling
--
Was a Cruise Fanatic, one cruise on Princess cured me. Bleah |
|
|
|
Coma Thanks StevePremium
join:2001-12-30
NirvanaLand | reply to somebodeez
said by somebodeez:said by Coma:
I priced out a 20K generator last year and because of this latest outage, my trigger finger is getting itchy.
Oh boy, that's big time! I was wondering about the merits of going from an electric stove to a gas one...
Oops . . . I left out a W as in KW = Kilowatt. which was priced out at $8500. I specced Diesel power because of existing oil infrastructure.
Had I specced LPG, it would add another $1500-$2000 to the bottom line, but as you have pondered, I too would love the convenience of a gas stove so that option is also on the table.
--
July is National Ice Cream Month |
|
grobinetteSoutheast of disorderPremium,Mod
join:2001-01-27
Springfield, VA
kudos:1 | I don't know, that just seems kind of pricey.
$8,500 for a generator plus the required maintenance verses the cost of a hotel and in a worse case scenario the replacement cost of your food for an occasional extended power outage. |
|
Coma Thanks StevePremium
join:2001-12-30
NirvanaLand | said by grobinette:I don't know, that just seems kind of pricey.
$8,500 for a generator plus the required maintenance verses the cost of a hotel and in a worse case scenario the replacement cost of your food for an occasional extended power outage.
I have several large birds which would not be easy to move especially during a snow storm in the winter or hurricane in the fall.
In the past, I have toyed with the idea of upgrading my stove/oven from electric to gas for the convenience. That would provide an alternate fuel source to the fuel oil I currently use for heating. An LPG powered generator would be cheaper to run than a diesel equivalent and most likely quieter.
I also own the houses on both sides of me in a very nice older water front community. With a large enough generator, I could supply all the houses with basic electrical needs. That would also have the added benefit of reducing the amount of sound pollution by eliminating 2 of the 3 generators required.
An additional benefit would be the elimination of the hassle factor of humpin fuel.
--
July is National Ice Cream Month |
|
3 edits | reply to grobinette
said by grobinette:I don't know, that just seems kind of pricey.
$8,500 for a generator plus the required maintenance verses the cost of a hotel and in a worse case scenario the replacement cost of your food for an occasional extended power outage.
Good luck trying to get a room (double good luck if you need a pet friendly hotel like I would have needed) around here during such a wide spread power outage like this one 
And lemme tellya, my genny was powering more than just our fridge. With temps over 100 degrees out there, it literally saved us from heat stroke! (both of us are heat sensitive).
Ours is just a portable 5600 watt though and all it needed was gas and an oil change. I don't know what kind of maintenance a big one would need.
Edit: Everyone is on well water here. When the power is out - no water. I was also able to supply someone else w/water. (she's in the same neighborhood but too far away to have been able to toss her a line)
Edit: Our hot water heater is gas. I wonder how much it would be to get a gas stove hooked into that supply line... |
|
grobinetteSoutheast of disorderPremium,Mod
join:2001-01-27
Springfield, VA
kudos:1 Reviews:
·Verizon FiOS
Host:
Frontier Communica..
Home Improvement
Millenicom
| reply to stillrunnin
No offense intended. Everyone has different circumstances.
If we had either pets that we could not smuggle into a hotel or medical conditions or whatever I would be thinking along different terms.
Let's hope that today's heat doesn't blow the system. It was stinkin' hot 6:30 AM when we went to the farmers market |
|
| Oh gosh yes this heat is *awful*! |
|
 statestress magnetPremium,Mod
join:2002-02-08
Purgatory
kudos:6
Webhosting
Android
Sonic.net
Washington & Balti..
UK Chat
| reply to grobinette
said by grobinette:It was stinkin' hot 6:30 AM when we went to the farmers market
It's gonna be another scorcher here..
|
|
 DC DSLThere's a reason I'm Command.Premium
join:2000-07-30
Washington, DC
kudos:2
 ·Covad Communicat..
·Verizon Online DSL
| reply to grobinette
said by grobinette:I don't know, that just seems kind of pricey.
$8,500 for a generator plus the required maintenance verses the cost of a hotel and in a worse case scenario the replacement cost of your food for an occasional extended power outage.
You also need to look at it in terms of how often there are prolonged outages over a set period of time, say 5-10 years; not just a single instance. Figuring a hotel plus meals and incidentals for a week can easily cost $2K in the DC-Baltimore corridor. Since there seems to be an average of 1 major outage (not necessarily widespread) per year in the outlying areas, if someone lives where that's the case, a generator has probably paid for itself in about 5 years.
In cases where there is someone who has special needs such as medical equipment or motorized chairs, even shorter outages could have potentially serious consequences. So, for anyone in that category, it definitely makes sense to shoulder the expense.
--
"Dance like the photo isn't being tagged; love like you've never been unfriended; and tweet like nobody is following." |
|
grobinetteSoutheast of disorderPremium,Mod
join:2001-01-27
Springfield, VA
kudos:1 Reviews:
·Verizon FiOS
Host:
Frontier Communica..
Home Improvement
Millenicom
| I was more or less figuring it that way. We had a few days outage with Isabel and then the derecho. Other than that just minor outages in the 24 years we have been here.
If I was in Pepco territory I would have a different story. Dominion takes pretty good care of FFX county. Our power lines are already underground and they upgraded all the transformers in our neighborhood in the last five years. |
|
Coma Thanks StevePremium
join:2001-12-30
NirvanaLand | reply to state
said by state:It's gonna be another scorcher here..
You should be used to it since your current Location is Purgatory.
said by DC DSL:You also need to look at it in terms of how often there are prolonged outages over a set period of time, say 5-10 years; not just a single instance. Figuring a hotel plus meals and incidentals for a week can easily cost $2K in the DC-Baltimore corridor. Since there seems to be an average of 1 major outage (not necessarily widespread) per year in the outlying areas, if someone lives where that's the case, a generator has probably paid for itself in about 5 years.
In cases where there is someone who has special needs such as medical equipment or motorized chairs, even shorter outages could have potentially serious consequences. So, for anyone in that category, it definitely makes sense to shoulder the expense.
I was at my shrink yesterday and we discussed the generator as a possible business expense if I power the 2 adjacent properties. Definitely going to look into the possibility.
--
July is National Ice Cream Month |
|
 SixOfNineBrake In A Ladylike Manner.Premium
join:2001-08-30
Sterling, VA | reply to grobinette
said by grobinette:I was more or less figuring it that way. We had a few days outage with Isabel and then the derecho. Other than that just minor outages in the 24 years we have been here. In our 17 years in this house, we had an outage of several hours from Isabel (most of those overnight) and 50 hours from the derecho. Besides that, only minor stuff not worth remembering. No pets or special medical needs, either.
There have been some well thought out reasons stated in this thread for investing in backup power, but our circumstances haven't fit yet.
--
Leave the gun. Take the cannoli. |
|
