Skip to content
  • Categories
  • Recent
  • Tags
  • Popular
  • Users
  • Groups
Skins
  • Light
  • Brite
  • Cerulean
  • Cosmo
  • Flatly
  • Journal
  • Litera
  • Lumen
  • Lux
  • Materia
  • Minty
  • Morph
  • Pulse
  • Sandstone
  • Simplex
  • Sketchy
  • Spacelab
  • United
  • Yeti
  • Zephyr
  • Dark
  • Cyborg
  • Darkly
  • Quartz
  • Slate
  • Solar
  • Superhero
  • Vapor

  • Default (No Skin)
  • No Skin
Collapse
Brand Logo

WTF-Beta

  1. Home
  2. Categories
  3. Off Key - General Discussion
  4. Whole home backup power

Whole home backup power

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Off Key - General Discussion
32 Posts 8 Posters 206 Views
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as topic
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
  • S
    S
    Steve Miller
    wrote last edited by Steve Miller
    #23

    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.

    wtgW J 2 Replies Last reply
    👍
    • wtgW 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....

      S
      S
      Steve Miller
      wrote last edited by
      #24

      @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. 😎

      1 Reply Last reply
      👍
      • S 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.

        wtgW
        wtgW
        wtg
        wrote last edited by
        #25

        @Steve-Miller said:

        in 5 years

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

        1 Reply Last reply
        • S 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.

          J
          J
          jon-nyc
          wrote last edited by
          #26

          @Steve-Miller said:

          … and go stay somewhere else.

          That was always my plan. The problem is when there’s a huge power outage everyone else has that plan and the nearby hotels fill up.

          Once I spent a week hopping between hotels every night or two for a week. You’d believe the reports that power will be restored tomorrow, then when it isn’t, and you call to extend, they say no because the room has been rented out. So I find another hotel. Then the same thing happens again.

          The next month I bought the generator.

          D 1 Reply Last reply
          • wtgW
            wtgW
            wtg
            wrote last edited by
            #27

            He has a daughter nearby. He may be hoping that any power outages aren't too widespread...

            When we had dogs, the "stay in hotel" plan wasn't really viable. The dogs are gone, but now Mr wtg has limited mobility and packing up to go somewhere would be a pain.

            It's always something!

            1 Reply Last reply
            • S
              S
              Steve Miller
              wrote last edited by
              #28

              Daughter lives close and the Airbnb is about 30 min away. One of those should work.

              1 Reply Last reply
              • DougGD
                DougGD
                DougG
                wrote last edited by
                #29

                i’ve had a couple of events of more than one day power loss since I’ve moved to Reno. One was while I was still working remotely, so I found a coffee shop and a library that were out of the power loss zone and had Wi-Fi during the day, and pretty much just came back to the house to sleep in the dark. The only real cost to me was about the hour drive and everything in my refrigerator and freezer going bad.

                The other time I can think of was much more uncertain about when power would be restored, so I just locked up and left town. All the local hotels were a combination of full and price gouging, so I drove to California and stayed a week.

                J 1 Reply Last reply
                • DougGD DougG

                  i’ve had a couple of events of more than one day power loss since I’ve moved to Reno. One was while I was still working remotely, so I found a coffee shop and a library that were out of the power loss zone and had Wi-Fi during the day, and pretty much just came back to the house to sleep in the dark. The only real cost to me was about the hour drive and everything in my refrigerator and freezer going bad.

                  The other time I can think of was much more uncertain about when power would be restored, so I just locked up and left town. All the local hotels were a combination of full and price gouging, so I drove to California and stayed a week.

                  J
                  J
                  jon-nyc
                  wrote last edited by
                  #30

                  @DougG said:

                  and everything in my refrigerator and freezer going bad.

                  So the beer, the ketchup packets, and your frozen dinners?

                  DougGD 1 Reply Last reply
                  • J jon-nyc

                    @DougG said:

                    and everything in my refrigerator and freezer going bad.

                    So the beer, the ketchup packets, and your frozen dinners?

                    DougGD
                    DougGD
                    DougG
                    wrote last edited by
                    #31

                    @jon-nyc

                    it was more of an “ice cream problem” than a “beer problem” for me…

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    • J jon-nyc

                      @Steve-Miller said:

                      … and go stay somewhere else.

                      That was always my plan. The problem is when there’s a huge power outage everyone else has that plan and the nearby hotels fill up.

                      Once I spent a week hopping between hotels every night or two for a week. You’d believe the reports that power will be restored tomorrow, then when it isn’t, and you call to extend, they say no because the room has been rented out. So I find another hotel. Then the same thing happens again.

                      The next month I bought the generator.

                      D
                      D
                      Daniel
                      wrote last edited by
                      #32

                      @jon-nyc said:

                      @Steve-Miller said:

                      … and go stay somewhere else.

                      That was always my plan. The problem is when there’s a huge power outage everyone else has that plan and the nearby hotels fill up.

                      Once I spent a week hopping between hotels every night or two for a week. You’d believe the reports that power will be restored tomorrow, then when it isn’t, and you call to extend, they say no because the room has been rented out. So I find another hotel. Then the same thing happens again.

                      The next month I bought the generator.

                      We have the same problem with hurricanes. By the time you need to rent a room there are none- zero. It's a fictional option. The y say conditions in shelters (I've been told) during hurricanes aren't ideal. In the case of my acquaintance his experience included backed up toilets and no toilet paper. The authorities come through with cars with sirens and bullhorns telling us to leave. I spent Helene at a friend's house in Pasco. I stayed home for Milton. Milton was the one they thought might hit Tampa directly. It wiped out much of Ft. Meyers instead

                      Btw, Our power is underground. The power in HI isn't underground for residential. Drilling tunnels through volcanic rock- not happening.

                      The privatized utility charges a fortune (I mean an astronomical amount) but never keeps the lines properly maintained vis a vis trees and underbrush. Better to give the money to the shareholders. Bog stand routine there. So in a storm, the poles fall over, the broken lines start fires, and towns burn to the ground.

                      Oh, and if there's a hurricane in HI, there's really nowhere to go. You're ****ed.

                      'But as they said in one of the later Rocky movies, "Time...it's undefeated.".-- Mik

                      1 Reply Last reply

                      Hello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.

                      Getting fed up of having to scroll through the same posts each visit? When you register for an account, you'll always come back to exactly where you were before, and choose to be notified of new replies (either via email, or push notification). You'll also be able to save bookmarks and upvote posts to show your appreciation to other community members.

                      With your input, this post could be even better 💗

                      Register Login
                      Reply
                      • Reply as topic
                      Log in to reply
                      • Oldest to Newest
                      • Newest to Oldest
                      • Most Votes


                      Powered by NodeBB | Contributors
                      • Login

                      • Don't have an account? Register

                      • Login or register to search.
                      • First post
                        Last post
                      0
                      • Categories
                      • Recent
                      • Tags
                      • Popular
                      • Users
                      • Groups