Storm ISAIAS - Will become a hurricane

[missy]

I just got an automated phone message saying that based on new information my power should be restored no later than 6 PM on August 11. It is Saturday the 8 now, so that makes it Tuesday night....We'll see.n

Ugh I hope your power gets restored sooner than that @AGBF. (((Hugs))).

 

[missy]

Agreed, generator power can only go so far, which is why I had to get one big enough that I could pick and choose what to turn on and off. Mine is big enough to (thankfully) run a washer but I have to turn off everything but the AC and the refrigerator to have the juice to do it.

Lots of prayer that you're gonna get some power restored earlier than Tuesday! One of my neighbors is up that way restoring power. I don't know what state unfortunately will have to ask his GF.

Our Generac is 20KW and powers everything in the house. Both AC zones, our 2 washing machines and our 2 dryers, all our electrical stuff, all the fridges and freezers etc. We got it in 2011. It was the best purchase we made after we bought this house. I will never go without a generator after experiencing Irene then Sandy and seeing how badly prepared our electric companies are. In fact, we are considering getting a back up generator to the generator we have now. Because they do fail. I read that if one has a backup generator to the generator the odds of power failure are less than 1%. Just thinking about it because it would be an expense but not as expensive as one might think.

In any case if one can afford a generator for the entire house I wholeheartedly recommend it if one is in an area that loses power during storms.

 

[Arcadian]

Our Generac is 20KW and powers everything in the house. Both AC zones, our 2 washing machines and our 2 dryers, all our electrical stuff, all the fridges and freezers etc. We got it in 2011. It was the best purchase we made after we bought this house. I will never go without a generator after experiencing Irene then Sandy and seeing how badly prepared our electric companies are. In fact, we are considering getting a back up generator to the generator we have now. Because they do fail. I read that if one has a backup generator to the generator the odds of power failure are less than 1%. Just thinking about it because it would be an expense but not as expensive as one might think.

In any case if one can afford a generator for the entire house I wholeheartedly recommend it if one is in an area that loses power during storms.

Yeah definitely. I wish I were closer to natural gas lines because I'd have a bigger generator As it was I had to settle as I'm 5 miles away from any and I got the biggest "portable" which is Generac 17500E.

Then I got a generator shed because well....its noisy. I went with these guys because this is a metal box, it can be portable or used in place. I wasn't doing wood and for sure not some plastic suncast ones I've seen online, thats just asking for trouble https://www.zombie-box.com/

This is a great box, comes with a muffler (its very necessary!!) exteriior of the box is never ever hot. I think under 80% load the output is roughly 85F and thats under florida summer conditions.

this was last year prep picture for Dorian This is the year everything in my yard just looked sickly (but it was also a year of drought!)


The good; this generator is pretty much like fixing a riding lawn mower. If you can fix one of those, this is a breeze. Its about the same amount of maintenance as well.

I did let go of my small emergency generator this year. Had 10 hours on it and it was taking up a lot of needed space. As you can imagine there's a shortage on them this year, but So many people were selling well above retail price for used generators down here this year (people are gross....) The young couple who bought mine had just bought their house and she wanted peace of mind (she was 5 months pregnant) I could have sold it for any price, but sold well under retail (its the right thing to do) I also had a year left on the extended warranty so made sure they got the paperwork on that too.

This year I have a 20W solar trickle charger for the battery. I always had a spare battery and a charger but this way I can just leave the main breaker on and ready for the season.

 

[AGBF]

Our Generac is 20KW and powers everything in the house. Both AC zones, our 2 washing machines and our 2 dryers, all our electrical stuff, all the fridges and freezers etc. We got it in 2011. It was the best purchase we made after we bought this house. I will never go without a generator after experiencing Irene then Sandy and seeing how badly prepared our electric companies are. In fact, we are considering getting a back up generator to the generator we have now. Because they do fail. I read that if one has a backup generator to the generator the odds of power failure are less than 1%. Just thinking about it because it would be an expense but not as expensive as one might think.

In any case if one can afford a generator for the entire house I wholeheartedly recommend it if one is in an area that loses power during storms.

I don't think mine is as powerful as yours, @missy, but it takes on a great deal. I may just have made bad choices when I was deciding what to put on the generator. My dishwasher works. Two refrigerators do. Not only the central a/c, but old window units that nobody uses very often are still on the grid that the generator powers. The electrical system in this house (my father's house when we had the generator put in) is apparently very antiquated.The lights along the side of my bedroom and the outlets are not on the grid, nor are the kitchen outlets directly below those. It's my fault, I'm sure .But when we were putting it in this place was chaos with my father very ill . We had just had a horrible storm. I was pretty desperate. And stupid, I guess.

 

[missy]

I don't think mine is as powerful as yours, @missy, but it takes on a great deal. I may just have made bad choices when I was deciding what to put on the generator. My dishwasher works. Two refrigerators do. Not only the central a/c, but old window units that nobody uses very often are still on the grid that the generator powers. The electrical system in this house (my father's house when we had the generator put in) is apparently very antiquated.The lights along the side of my bedroom and the outlets are not on the grid, nor are the kitchen outlets directly below those. It's my fault, I'm sure .But when we were putting it in this place was chaos with my father very ill . We had just had a horrible storm. I was pretty desperate. And stupid, I guess.

You are the furthest thing from stupid @AGBF. You’re one of the smartest and wisest and loveliest people I know.

 

[AGBF]

Last night our generator went out. So we had no power at all. I scrounged for flashlights and candles. Eventually I found the number for the generator company and called them. They said a crew would be out last night or today. (That never happened.) In the morning my gas stove didn't turn on and I wondered if the problem with our generator could be the natural gas (which powers it), not the generator. I tried to call the gas company, but the only phones working were our wall phones, which are both rotary phones. The message kept telling me to press one number for one thing and another for another emergency, then hung up on me because I couldn't press a button. So I called the emergency gas hotline which didn't require button pushing. They said if my gas line was blocked, that was considered an emergency and they would be out later. I tried to take a quick shower, but the dog barking told me I didn't make it. I greeted the man from the gas company wet in a small towel. I couldn't hold the towel together and hold the dog's collar, so Hero ran out to greet him.He came in and tested my stove.It needs electricity to start it, but it was fine. Then he looked at the generator. It started to go on and off again and he said it needed service (which I knew and thought I was getting today).

Today was a big day: my first hairdresser's appointment since February, That was why I desperately needed a shower, even if the gas company man was coming. Well, the generator went off again and then an electric company truck started to work outside my neighbor's house.Right as I was about to leave for the hairdresser's, the power came on!

Now my hair is cut and colored. My daughter as always finds something to complain about. She says she liked it better when I looked like Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

 

[YadaYadaYada]

Yay! Glad you got your power back @AGBF!

 

[missy]

Last night our generator went out. So we had no power at all. I scrounged for flashlights and candles. Eventually I found the number for the generator company and called them. They said a crew would be out last night or today. (That never happened.) In the morning my gas stove didn't turn on and I wondered if the problem with our generator could be the natural gas (which powers it), not the generator. I tried to call the gas company, but the only phones working were our wall phones, which are both rotary phones. The message kept telling me to press one number for one thing and another for another emergency, then hung up on me because I couldn't press a button. So I called the emergency gas hotline which didn't require button pushing. They said if my gas line was blocked, that was considered an emergency and they would be out later. I tried to take a quick shower, but the dog barking told me I didn't make it. I greeted the man from the gas company wet in a small towel. I couldn't hold the towel together and hold the dog's collar, so Hero ran out to greet him.He came in and tested my stove.It needs electricity to start it, but it was fine. Then he looked at the generator. It started to go on and off again and he said it needed service (which I knew and thought I was getting today).

Today was a big day: my first hairdresser's appointment since February, That was why I desperately needed a shower, even if the gas company man was coming. Well, the generator went off again and then an electric company truck started to work outside my neighbor's house.Right as I was about to leave for the hairdresser's, the power came on!

Now my hair is cut and colored. My daughter as always finds something to complain about. She says she liked it better when I looked like Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Yay! First of all wow that the guy who came to check your gas stove was kind enough to look at your generator! And yasssss to having power now. And a double yasss to getting your hair cut and colored. Sweet.

 

[junebug17]

Sorry for all the rigamarole @AGBF but so glad you have power now!