Power Outages in Boston MA and other places
Dan is without power due to the Northeasterner coming up the coast. He is hoping to have power restored today since it went out on Wednesday. I am assuming he still has water.
When we lose power, we lose everything besides electricity. Our well stops also and we resort to bottled water and large containers for sanitation use. While there is no heat, we do have a wood burning fireplace. Probably going to by a generator one of these days. When this happens, there’s a big risk that issues may happen. Therefore, it’s good to have a technician that provides residential power restoration in New Jersey.
Above 12 years ago when a squirrel shorted the electrical network, we went without power for a week in the heat of the Summer. Not fun.
When Katrina happened and I watched the Bush response, I was horrified. My instant first thought was, I was watching a third world response. This was America! It should not be happening this way. In here, we have observed a third world infrastructure. Dare I suggest a throw back to a time in Chili and Hogan’s model? Or Iraq, and Hogan’s model?
Hopefully, this will be addressed by the higher ups and the local government.
Run, generators are like snow equipment, once you get one it will no longer be needed. π
We have a B&S 5500/8500 (surge) generator for when we get hurricanes and/or wind damage. Used for the 1st time last week end due to the Nor Easter.
Get one big enough to run your well. Ours ran the well, furnace on emergency fossil setting, our freezers & refrigerators, several lights and TVs. When well came on lights dimmed significantly, but stayed on. That’s a heavy load for that size genset.
If you keep gas in it, always put Stabil in periodically, and after running, turn off gas and run carb dry. If you do these things the genset will start right up.
Last weekend’s run was on 5-6YO gas and started on 1st pull. At that load the tank was nearly emptied in ~2 hrs. I had just tested in apprehension of the storm and it started on 1st pull then too.
CoRev:
It is like insurance. We lose power due to tree branches or deer farting in the woods. Some times it will last a couple of days. I was thinking of a 10-12k. I agree with your maintenance suggestions.
Interesting.
“Air conditioning has changed demographics, too. It’s hard to imagine the rise of cities like Dubai or Singapore without it.
As residential units spread rapidly across America in the second half of the 20th century, the population in the “sun belt” – the warmer south of the country, from Florida to California – boomed from 28% of Americans to 40%.
As retirees in particular moved from north to south, they also changed the region’s political balance. The author Steven Johnson has plausibly argued that air conditioning elected Ronald Reagan.
Reagan came to power in 1980, a time when America used more than half the world’s air conditioning.
Emerging economies have since caught up quickly: China will soon become the global leader. The proportion of air-conditioned homes in Chinese cities jumped from under a tenth to more than two-thirds in just 10 years.
In countries like India, Brazil and Indonesia, the market for air conditioners is expanding at double-digit rates. And there’s plenty more room for growth: 11 of the world’s 30 largest cities are in the tropics.
The boom in air conditioning is good news for many reasons.
Studies show that it lowers mortality during heat waves. Heat makes prison inmates fractious – air conditioning pays for itself by reducing fights.
When the temperature exceeds 21C or 22C in exam halls, students start to score lower in maths tests.
In offices, air conditioning makes us more productive: according to one early study, it made US government typists do 24% more work.
Economists have since confirmed that relationship between productivity and keeping cool.
William Nordhaus divided the world into cells, by lines of latitude and longitude, and plotted each one’s climate, output and population. The hotter the average temperature, he found, the less productive the people.
According to Geoffrey Heal and Jisung Park, a hotter-than-average year is bad for productivity in hot countries, but good in cold ones. They conclude that human productivity peaks at between 18C and 22C.”
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-39735802
And the math on the study of Nordhaus is way, way beyond my pay grade.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1363683/
we’re snowed-in in northeast Ohio, but still have power…over a foot of snow, rural dirt road, so cars wont move til someone plows…February warmth thawed the lakes, so it’s lake effect all over again…
i have a small portable gasoline powered generator, mostly for the sump pump…the basement floods when spring rains melt all this snow, & one power failure cost me a number of appliances…
Someone should do something about that Ground Hog.
Re generators consider propane powered generators, you don’t have the spoilage problem of gasoline the tanks keep for a very long time. (you can go from 20 lb sized used in bbq on up. If you live on the natural gas grid and the system is up to it consider natural gas powered generators, as gas goes out a lot less than overhead electricity. Off natural gas grid in particular if you use propane for cooking heating and the like then a propane powered generator makes a lot of sense as most of the needed infrastructure is already installed. (just may have to change the minimum refill level for the tank)
Lyle:
I have looked at those also. 20K would cost about $4500 – $5000. I have seen the dual (propane or gasoline) function ones 10-12K going for a lot less. Plain gasoline are less costly too. I was talking to my plumber and he was saying the gas meter has to be changed out as most of them are 180,000 BTU. They have to make the jump to a larger 250,000 BTU one and run a separate pipe from it for the generator. I agree wit you; but, I am not sure I am going to do this.
I’m with Lyle. Gasoline is a poor choice. Dangerous to store any serious quantity and spoilage problem. There are nice 7-8 kw units and consume much less than larger ones. Still enough to run well and refrigeration.
I will probably get one that runs both and just get a larger propane tank. I appreciate your input.