Whole home backup power

[Daniel]

"Since the beginning of last year, ComEd’s supply rates have increased more than 50%,"

Good grief.

[Daniel]

I can tell what a power outage in Florida means- not much.

I survived without power for over a year.

If the grid goes down in a storm, that means a hurricane.

And that could mean massive rainfall and flooding.

The rain and wind would be the problems. Residential power not so much.

[jon-nyc]

When I was a kid on the space coast the power used to go out all the time. Florida Power and Light, the utility, was called ‘Florida Flash and Flicker’ by the locals.

[Daniel]

I remember the power going out in NYS during winters. That was awful.

[jon-nyc]

Here if it happens it’s usually heavy rainstorms with lots of wind and/or lightning, more likely in the spring or summer. Branches or trees fall into power lines. The problem is it happens in dozens or hundreds of spots around the area at the same time so it can take crews a while to get to them all.

[ShiroKuro]

This thread is a reminder that I really need to start working on this for us…

So we have this ridiculously big back yard, the outside location shouldn’t be an issue.

But there are so many options, I feel like I’d need to take a week off from work just to figure them all out and figure out which ones would be best for us…

[wtg]

@jon-nyc Same here. Overhead lines rather than underground and lots of mature trees. Spring/summer winds definitely. Ice storms are the worst. They're usually to the south of us but weather patterns have been changing for years and I think we're going to start seeing them in our area more frequently in the future. Worst outage we had was after an ice storm many years ago.

ComEd has done a lot of work on the equipment around here (at least we see some benefit from those rate increases that @daniel pointed out) and in many cases the system can re-route power automatically around the problem. Lots of times our lights will dim or go out briefly and then go right back on. The entire system is more efficient and robust, and they can locate and dispatch the resources needed to get the power back on.

We had an outage last week. It was kind of windy one day and a limb fell across the line in someone's backyard a couple of blocks away. We heard the cutout fuse pop (it's across the street from our house) and the power went out completely. Half an hour later the crew was resetting the cutout even though the tree limb hadn't been removed yet. The only houses that didn't have power were the ones immediately around the house with the downed limb. It took about four hours for them to clean up the tree, repair the damage and get the last few houses back online.

[wtg]

@ShiroKuro Most people live without backup power; having it is definitely a luxury. I wouldn't worry about taking the time off to look into and implement it....

[Steve Miller]

This retired sparky does not have a backup generator. What I do have are two portable generators and a whole lot of construction grade extension cord.

I changed the connection at the furnace to a plug and cord. I figure if the power is going to be out for a while I can hook up the sump pump and the furnace and go stay somewhere else.

I really should put an inlet on the side of the house but the utilities here are all underground and in 5 years we’ e only lost power when a little tornado came through a few years back. Even then power was restored in a few hours.

[Steve Miller]

@wtg said:

@ShiroKuro Most people live without backup power; having it is definitely a luxury. I wouldn't worry about taking the time off to look into and implement it....

But please be sure to research thoroughly before you decide to get one.

[wtg]

@Steve-Miller said:

in 5 years

Wow. Can't believe it's already been that long.