VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Lee Gordon · Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 10:25 pm Post subject: I Am the 1 Percent

As those of you in the Northeast are all too aware, on Saturday, October 29 we had an early snowfall, the weight of which landing on trees that still sported most of their leaves (a bit late in the season for that, methinks), caused numerous power outages throughout the region. Here in Connecticut, 800,000 customers lost power. Our major electric utility promised to have 99% of their customers' service restored by midnight Sunday (11/6). Well, they missed the deadline by a full 24 hours (not to mention they got an extra hour of grace when the clocks were turned back).
There are now around 24,000 CL&P customers still in the dark -- the remaining 1% of the homes they "serve." In my town there are still more than 4000 homes without power -- mine included.
They were originally supposed to have my street back on line by 11:45 Sunday night. Some time Sunday they revised that to 11:45 Monday night. It's now Tuesday (Day #10 without power) and still no sign of wattage or a work crew to restore it.
Powering my cable modem, router and laptop from an inverter plugged into my car, and working by the light of an oil lamp, is getting mighty old.
[/rant]
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Chuck Davis · Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 5:26 am Post subject:

Jeez Lee! This is beyond BS...and the second time around for CL&P in the "epic fail" department.

Here's hoping the lights finally come back on today for you!
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todd ellis · Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 6:58 am Post subject:

i feel ya lee! we lose it all the time - summer (tornadoes) and winter (ice). we were out for 10 days in 2008 and another 5.5 days a few weeks later (it was summer, though) ... major PITA. i have since bought an 8500 watt generator and back-wired a 220 line out of my breaker box. it will power everything in the house (although NOT all at once) for example - you can't take a hot shower and microwave pizza rolls at the same time.

i recommend that EVERYBODY put a few hundred bucks into the purchase of a generator (they're usually cheaper in the summer). even a small one can save the day and the paycheck. i have a huge LOUD dude - but the small honda models are SUPER quiet.

/radical survivalist rant
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Chuck Davis · Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 7:15 am Post subject:

Same here Todd. I haven't tried to power the studio with it though.....power just doesn't seem "clean" enoough for a computer. It does work for charging the portable setup though. I'm able to hook that up in the studio and still use the booth.

That reminds me....time to start the generator for it's monthly run today.
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todd ellis · Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 7:22 am Post subject:

chuck - that's true. i have a power conditioner in my rack that cleans it up pretty good. our power here is extremely inconsistent on it's best day.

also i should mention - DANGER-DANGER-DANGER - if you back wire a generator into your breaker box make sure to TURN OFF THE UTILITY POWER to the box BEFORE plugging in the generator. the utility company will be very upset if you backfeed their system and blow a transformer!

also ... i'm not 100% sure it's legal
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Kristin Lennox · Flight Attendant Joined: 30 Apr 2011 Posts: 858

Moe Egan · Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 7:54 am Post subject:

Lee. I'm so sorry that you're still in the 1800's. Jeez Louise. RE: generators, I'm actually thinking of getting a solar panel rig....very pricey, but totally silent and no gas required. Smile

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todd ellis · Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 7:55 am Post subject:

you don't have to go crazy for the whole house replacement deal - i got this:

for just a bit over $1,000. i have an ALL electric house. it's not enough to run everything at the same time - but if we're conservative - it works great. heat, lights, hot water, 1 refrigerator ...
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mcm · Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 8:10 am Post subject:

Lee, how awful - I hope you get your power back soon.

We were amazingly lucky and were only out for 40 hours. We did well with a small inverter running off a car battery to run the blower on our wood stove. We're getting a larger inverter to have on hand to power the boiler so we can heat the house and a tank of water and then switch it over to run the refrigerator for a while. It's very rare to lose power at our house so I'm not tempted to get a generator. If I did I would want one that could be plumbed in to run on natural gas. I wouldn't want to be looking for gasoline or propane when everybody else is also looking for gasoline or propane.

Our electric company did well by some, not so well by others. It sounds like management did not do well by their workers, many of whom were running on severe sleep deficits AND were spending way too much time getting lost because they were from out of the area and couldn't easily find some of the more remote dwellings. You would think the company could spring for a GPS for all their trucks.

Despite the inconvenience (and in many customers' cases, the hardship), I was glad of the opportunity to get my refrigerator and freezer cleaned out.

heyguido · Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 8:18 am Post subject:

Same thing happened to us a few years back.... Here in NC, we're prone to ice storms in winter, and fond of our trees, so when the ice comes, power lines get taken out regularly. Finding and replacing downed lines takes time, especially when conditions outside are brutal. We, too, rely on a combination of generator and inverter to keep things going when power fails.

Stay warm, friend, and look into a self-sufficient backup when the weather clears.....
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imaginator · Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 8:26 am Post subject:

wow, lee. worst i ever had to endure was nine days...and that was after a major hurricane sat over raleigh for what seemed like a full day's worth of destruction.

wanna come down and visit?
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heyguido · Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 8:29 am Post subject:

We'll take you out for BBQ and 'Nana Puddin', too.....
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Don Brookshire
"Wait.... They wanna PAY me for this?"

Lee Gordon · Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 9:41 am Post subject:

The longest I had ever been out before was four days.
Fortunately, I don't have to worry about taking a hot shower and nuking pizza rolls simultaneously. Because I have gas service, the one thing I never lost was my hot water. If I hadn't been able to take hot showers I'd have bugged out to my brother's house in Maine a week ago.
Harbor Freight happens to be having a sale on generators this week. I could get a 5500 watt model for 700 bucks but because their stuff is cheesy even by Chinese-made standards, I'm guessing theirs are the loudest generators available. I'm going to wait until summer and then check out a Honda.
I had to drive down to North Haven (about 35 miles south of here) to find the inverter I'm using to power my portable studio & internet connection. And even at that, I got the last one PC Richard had in stock.
It is now about 12 hours after my original post and the electric company still has not shown up. But now they are not even offering an estimate of when power will be restored to the neighborhood.
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Lee Gordon, O.A.V.
Voice President of the United States
www.leegordonproductions.com
Twitter: @LeeGordonVoice

Deirdre · Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 9:51 am Post subject:

I suppose the fact that I am the one on the phone telling you what your delays will be doesn't help matters.
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heyguido · Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 10:15 am Post subject:

Deebs, you crack me up!
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