LIGHTS OUT??? What were you doing and where?

PBMAX · Aug 21, 2003

Was in the air. I had left Islip airport on Long Island at 11:30 am E time.
Landed in Baltimore/Wash. and couldn't figure why I was having so difficult a time calling out. guess all the lines were busy and switches were getting clogged or down. found Out When I landed back in Bham what was going on.

Glad I got out when I did I almost took a later flight.... /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

_RaT_ · Aug 21, 2003

Had Fox news on and saw <font color="red"> FOX NEWS ALERT </font>. Thought oh now what, Scot Petersen, Kobe Bryant alllowing cameras in the court room. Oh no, a power outage back East, well at least it was important this time I thought. Was it a deliberate outage by unfriendlies. Saw a clip on East coast power generation and was amazed at all the smoke stacks and what I determined to be coal generators. Looks like there will be some upgrading ahead all the way around.

5030 · Aug 21, 2003

Knucklehead:

We are not "survivalists", but living in the boonies and at the end of the power line does pose it's problems. When our power does go out, it usually goes for at least a day.

To that end, we heat our house with a pellet stove that I mix 50% pellets and 50% corn. I heat our old barn for about $600.00 per year. I have a high efficiency furnace in the basement to keep the pipes from freezing and my shop is heated as extreme cold is very hard on close tolerance machine tools.

We always keep a good supply of food on hand and in the winter, there is always a snowmobile gassed up if needed.
I too have a sort of "Alladan" lamp. I have an old Coleman-white gas lantern and I also have a German made lantern called a Petromax. They are pretty expensive, but will run on any fossil fuel (I am a fossil too!!). I have never tried it on diesel, but gasoline, alcohol and kerosene as well as coleman fuel all work good. This is without a doubt, the best lantern I have ever bought and gives the most light by far

Now that our new genset has arrived to my amazement 2 days after I ordered it and the electrican has committed to the install right after labor day. We have complete peace of mind, I hope.

I don't have a web address for the Petromax, but Cabella's outdoor store sells them. I believe it's www.cabellas.com

_RaT_ · Aug 21, 2003

Cabelas and the Petromax Lantern

5030 · Aug 22, 2003

RaT:

Thank you for the link. I'm sure you are aware that I am not "computer literate" I do know about "transmissions" though!!

Anyway, it's a tremendous lantern. If anyone gets one, I suggest getting the schrader valve accessory that replaces the coleman like hand pump. That way, you can use a foot pump to pressureize the lantern as it takes quite a bit more pressure than the "coleman type lantern".

I have the large one with the large shade. I also have the nylon case. It's nice to store the lantern in when you are not using it. It also has a pouch for spare mantels and the tool kit.

Trev · Aug 22, 2003

I was in NH visiting my mom... and got a frantic call from my wife. "How do I hook and and run the PTO generator??" My reply was "You don't! If the power stays out, I'll come home. None of my friends have bothered to read the tractor manual, or the genset manual, or understand the circuit breaker setup, and to try to rig this up yourself would be suicide."

In the middle of our conversation, her power came back on.. so that was that. Made me think, though. I'm not usually gone without her, but if I am.. it would be good if my neighbor knew how to do this stuff. Trouble is, he "doesn't have time" to learn it all. Which to me means, he isn't touching it. The tractor key stays in my pocket, period.

Maybe we need a little generator people can run with no knowledge of what they're doing? No. Silly waste of money. Maybe I need to lay down the law and make them learn this stuff? I dunno... I may not have that much clout! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Any ideas, that won't cost me money? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Bob

Inspector507 · Aug 22, 2003

Bob,
During the recent outages, I sat down with my wife....with full power /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif , and asked her which we were going to get, the PTO style, the portable, or the BIG KAHUNA? She's the one that said the permanent/automatic one. The PTO unit was out of the question. She could probably do it physically(the portable one) but didn't want to worry if I wasn't home. I'm trying to make sure she is taken care of, now and in the future.
So......now the 12KW unit, with auto tranfer, is on order

5030 · Aug 22, 2003

Inspector:

What brand did you order? I got a generac 15KW packaged unit from http://www.norwall.com I ordered the unit on Sunday evening when I got home from my travels. The unit was delivered on Wednesday afternoon that's 2 DAYS after I ordered it. It came commercial frieght and the freight company delivered right to my door or should I say into my FEL bucket!!

That is faster delivery than I even get from UPS!!!!!! I have had to speed up the install of the tandem propane tanks and the electrical install too. Should have everything done by the week after Labor day.

Inspector507 · Aug 23, 2003

Daryl,
I ordered the Generac 12KW. Same price as Norwall. Free shipping as well. But since the company I went with is in OHIO, I had to pay tax /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Jerry

5030 · Aug 23, 2003

Inspector:

There is another thread running concurrently with this one about PTO generators. I just replied to F350Lawman. He just bought the same unit that I did. Rather than typing the post again, please read that thread. I got a little insight from another Generac owner about mounting the unit.