Hurricane Irene left with my power

[the fat kid]

So the "tropical storm" Irene came through my way early Sunday morning into late evening. We lost power around 9:30 am on Sunday still don't have it back and CMP says probably won't for another 4-5 days. Thank goodness for camping gear and small generators!! Wife and daughter are going nuts but I'm kinda enjoying it.
Sorry to all those that have it worse than us ( new jersey area). Good luck and enjoy the beautiful night sky that folks can actually see now!!

 

[rekees4300]

Hope your generators are enough to keep your frig. going? At least you don't have to worry about the furnace this time of year ... every cloud has a silver lining. :thumbsup:

 

[General Lee]

Same here in Maryland. Been without power since about noon this past Saturday, so going into the 4th day. Thank goodness for generators. My 5500 watt generator has been running what I need with the exception of A/C. I pick and choose the breakers in the panel carefully. It will even heat my hot water with nothing else on.

 

[rekees4300]

I pick and choose the breakers in the panel carefully.

Hope you don't have the generator hook directly to your service panel? That could cause a line repairman to be electrocuted.

 

[Storm56]

Hope you don't have the generator hook directly to your service panel? That could cause a line repairman to be electrocuted.

Only if the main is left on. Actually I have some friends that are lineman, they tell me they usually check for voltage before they touch a line anyway. They also have some kind of a shunt device they can put on the line and kill whatever power is there.

By the way I have been on the generator since Sun morn at 9:30 also. With all the trees down everywhere here it will probably be another 4-5 days at least before we get power back.

 

[whistlepig]

Only if the main is left on. Actually I have some friends that are lineman, they tell me they usually check for voltage before they touch a line anyway. They also have some kind of a shunt device they can put on the line and kill whatever power is there.

By the way I have been on the generator since Sun morn at 9:30 also. With all the trees down everywhere here it will probably be another 4-5 days at least before we get power back.

If the linesman doesn't get electrocuted it won't be because of any effort on your part.

 

[rekees4300]

By the way I have been on the generator since Sun morn at 9:30 also. With all the trees down everywhere here it will probably be another 4-5 days at least before we get power back.

Power is something that is taken for granted until you don't have it. Our record outage is 39 hours from an ice storm this past winter but that is small potatoes compared to what you are facing.

 

[Storm56]

If the linesman doesn't get electrocuted it won't be because of any effort on your part.

You are making assumptions that were NOT present in my post. The fact is that as long as the main is turned off there can be no backfeed into the transmission lines, unless the breaker is malfunctioning which is highly unlikely.

Another fact that is never mentioned is that even if you did not turn off the main, the power load on the generator from trying to feed the entire transmission line and any people that are on it would most likely overload the generator instantly causing the circuit breaker on the generator to trip immediately anyway.

By the way my linemen friends do not want to die any more than the next guy. They know in power outages that lots of people run generators and use appropriate care.

I am not advocating any mis or improper use of generator hook up systems, and I do endorse the main disconnect which is the proper method of course. But the fact of the matter is that it can be done safely without the disconnect if the proper steps are taken.

 

[whistlepig]

Power is something that is taken for granted until you don't have it. Our record outage is 39 hours from an ice storm this past winter but that is small potatoes compared to what you are facing.

We weathered out the same storm. February 2 if I remember correctly. We were with out power for 72 hours. If you don't take care of yourself out here they will just let you freeze to death. Not enough of us to make the local news.

 

[Storm56]

Power is something that is taken for granted until you don't have it. Our record outage is 39 hours from an ice storm this past winter but that is small potatoes compared to what you are facing.

Our previous record was 5 days in 1999 when hurricaine Floyd went through. The damage is quite a bit worse this time, so I am keeping my fingers crossed. We also lost power for 3 days one time starting the day before Christmas.

Generators can truly be a godsend when you really need them!