Preparing for Sandy

Rob-D · Oct 28, 2012

newbury said:
You should always be prepared for that. The only "special" preparation I did was fire up the generator a few weeks before I had planned to test it and fill an extra 5 gal jug of drinking water. One of those plastic collapsible ones to take camping etc.

And that confuses me. How bad are we that we HAVE to buy bottles of WATER for a heavy RAIN event? Doesn't anyone keep water filters? What does that stuff cost? $5/case? $4/gallon? I keep about 20 gallons on hand in glass carboys. Filled from the tap.

Exactly!
After 911, after Katrina and terrorism at our door, how can anyone not be prepared to the point that there's a run on water? What?
Someone please explain that thinking to me.
Rob

NY_Yankees_Fan · Oct 28, 2012

Rob-D

Will your solar panels work with no utility power? My neighbor solar panels did not work when we had no power last October for 4 days. He said when the utility power was lost his control panels stopped working. I guess if you have battery power via the panels you will be OK.

Yea we are in for it for sure, I expect to loose power for a week and loose most of my trees. We are about 70 miles from the NJ coast.

NYC Mayor just announced mandatory evacuation of NYC ANYONE in flood zone A.

murphy1244 · Oct 28, 2012

Will your solar panels work with no utility power? My neighbor solar panels did not work when we had no power last October for 4 days. He said when the utility power was lost his control panels stopped working. I guess if you have battery power via the panels you will be OK.

Now thats funny.

NY_Yankees_Fan · Oct 28, 2012

murphy1244 said:
Will your solar panels work with no utility power? My neighbor solar panels did not work when we had no power last October for 4 days. He said when the utility power was lost his control panels stopped working. I guess if you have battery power via the panels you will be OK.

Now thats funny.

He said it was a safety feature on his control panel that feeds power back to the utility so power does not go to the utility side and shock linemen working on the downed wires.

He was not happy after spending big $$$ on his solar system.

tractchores · Oct 28, 2012

Love the idea of TBN cleanup crews. I'm usually the guy in my neighborhood driving around with the tractor, saws and chipper and helping everyone clean up (lots of older folks in my neighborhood). Hoping it'll be quiet, but I know better.... Luckily if we end up in a really bad state I've got a pool full of mostly potable water (and iodine to take it the rest of the way) and a pond full of easy to catch fish

murphy1244 · Oct 28, 2012

NY_Yankees_Fan said:
He said it was a safety feature on his control panel that feeds power back to the utility so power does not go to the utility side and shock linemen working on the downed wires.

He was not happy after spending big $$$ on his solar system.

What he needs is a transfer switch i think.

NY_Yankees_Fan · Oct 28, 2012

murphy1244 said:
What he needs is a transfer switch i think.

Yea you would think the company installing the solar system would have designed that into the system.:banghead:

forgeblast · Oct 28, 2012

Sounds like he had a grid tie system which would be down just like the power grid, so that he is not putting electricity back into the wires as people are trying to work on them.
We just got all our furniture put away. I started to make a big pot of corn chowder (my gram would aways have some type of soup on) in case the power goes out.
In other news my neighbor up for the first day of turkey found out his place was hit again, 3 dirt bikes stolen all his tools, rakes etc. It was a pretty pro job, not a meth head since there were things left behind that still had value but not as much as some of the antiques that were stolen.

Rob-D · Oct 28, 2012

NY_Yankees_Fan said:
Rob-D

Will your solar panels work with no utility power? My neighbor solar panels did not work when we had no power last October for 4 days. He said when the utility power was lost his control panels stopped working. I guess if you have battery power via the panels you will be OK.

Yea we are in for it for sure, I expect to loose power for a week and loose most of my trees. We are about 70 miles from the NJ coast.

NYC Mayor just announced mandatory evacuation of NYC ANYONE in flood zone A.

I have two systems, your neighbor has what's called an interite. When the grid goes down so does his tie, it has to or people on poles would be getting electrocuted. Power companies do testing after systems are in to make sure they power down on grid falures. I have an intertie but I also have an off grid system that is independent of the grid so it will power my house when the grid is down. I just finished adding 12 more panels last week and this morning I put some straps on the panels just in case we get high winds.

Rob

newbury · Oct 28, 2012

tractchores said:
Love the idea of TBN cleanup crews. I'm usually the guy in my neighborhood driving around with the tractor, saws and chipper and helping everyone clean up (lots of older folks in my neighborhood). Hoping it'll be quiet, but I know better...<snip>

Tell me about, I figure most of you guys and gals live where there are other tractors nearby.

I live on a 1/4 acre lot in the middle of suburbia with hundreds, if not thousands of other 1/4 acre lots and townhomes.

The only other tractor I've seen in the community is an ancient Ford, about 20hp, the homeowner association uses.