Ever wish you had more snow?

[Pete6114]

Several deaths been reported on the news in ontario about people using BBQ's and generators in garages during the currant huge ice-related power outage.

 

[milkman636]

I don't have a transfer switch either, just an approved mechanical interlock. You simply wrap the sense wire around the main feed in your service panel and it will chirp like a smoke detector whenever power is sensed on the feed wires. It is especially great for power outages during daylight hours. I've used it for 3-4 power outages and it works 100% of the time to get our attention that power has been restored.

Cool, thanks for explaining it more. With all the activity of this week I haven't had much time to research things. I'll probably be picking one of those up be toward the end of the week.

With 7 young kids and a wife that's 7 months pregnant, this weeks events have me thinking about dealing more efficiently with any surprises winter can dish out. Overall I think I did good but there is always room for improvement. There were lots of people scrambling around trying to find what they needed after the fact.

 

[wmonroe]

I'm disappointed we haven't had more snow so far, hopefully some big storms are coming. If you can't tell, I love winter.

 

[milkman636]

I'm disappointed we haven't had more snow so far, hopefully some big storms are coming. If you can't tell, I love winter.

We've had plenty of it this year so far. We had about two more inches of snow on the ground yesterday morning, another light coating when I woke up this morning, and all the ice still on the trees and power lines. The sun showed up this afternoon and temps broke above freezing for the first time this week. Driving home from work tonight the ice was falling off tree branches and randomly pelting the roof and hood of the car.

As an extra bonus, Consumers Power showed up at my house with 4 boom truck yesterday evening and drove back to my woods along their right of way. Three phase lines come up out of my woods and feed the road that I live on. The middle line was down just inside my woods and still energized. The fuse was iced over so heavily that it couldn't break open to shut the line off. That was just inside my woods about 10 yards beyond where I stop mowing at the back of the yard. So I've had a live 14.400 volt powerline laying there since around 2 AM on Sunday morning. We were very fortunate that our transformer does not use that leg, and the two-hour outage we had yesterday while they pulled the line back up was the first one we experienced during all this. They were still working to restore power at a couple of house about 1/4 mile down the road when I came home tonight.

We've been keeping the kids cooped up inside for a week now because of hazards like these down lines, falling tree branches, and falling ice. So we really need to get back above freezing for a day or two to get the ice melted off the high stuff.

 

[wmonroe]

I'm not envious of the ice you have, it ends up just being destructive and very dangerous. Here's hoping you can thaw out a little to get back to normal.

 

[4shorts]

I'm disappointed we haven't had more snow so far, hopefully some big storms are coming. If you can't tell, I love winter.

Like most things in life to much of anything is not good. We are having records amounts of snow for December. So much in fact yesterday I had to start shovelling off the roofs of our buildings. We get snow then rain and that makes for some miserable weather. This year I prepared for any power outages with a new generator and custom built generator shelter but this amount of snow is something else. I pity the folks that don't have the equipment to help move it.

 

[Thomas]

I don't long for those days,shoveling the roof off before shoveling walks..but its a part of winter chores.

Always amaze me how some will let the snow build up on roofs than all of sudden they push panic button.

 

[4shorts]

I don't long for those days,shoveling the roof off before shoveling walks..but its a part of winter chores.

Always amaze me how some will let the snow build up on roofs than all of sudden they push panic button.

What you see in those photos are the result of 9 days of snow. I bet I'm the only one who have bothered to shovel off their roofs. We are known for drastic climate changes so I didn't want the rains to come with all that snow on the roofs :shocked:

 

[milkman636]

Like most things in life to much of anything is not good. We are having records amounts of snow for December. So much in fact yesterday I had to start shovelling off the roofs of our buildings. We get snow then rain and that makes for some miserable weather. This year I prepared for any power outages with a new generator and custom built generator shelter but this amount of snow is something else. I pity the folks that don't have the equipment to help move it.

So how does that enclosure work? It looks like it has an air intake on the side. Is there an exhaust outlet also? How did you tie it back to your panel?

 

[milkman636]

I'd still trade you Paul. but I know what you are saying about getting the snow handled asap. Michigan gets it share of freeze/thaw weather also. When the snow gets wet it gets real heavy, and if it refreezes afterward...........well, I don't even care to think about that right now.