[at-l] Storm's a'comin

Fri Dec 19 12:00:55 CST 2008

I was without electricity for a week in the ice storm of '98. Since then
outages have been a matter of hours or once for a whole day and I was
getting complacent until this latest storm when not far South of me they
lost power for several days. I'm running a pellet stove now which requires
power and I have a 60+' drilled well so no power, no water. I could probably
haul water from the university where my wife works but if we lose power I
have no heat. I could probably get by with a portable generator to run the
stove but when you're getting clobbered like Art is a unit that cuts in
automatically when the power goes out looks like a real good option.

Jim Bullard
http://jims-ramblings.blogspot.com/

2008/12/19 KGJ <jplynch at crosslink.net>

>  We rarely (knock on wood) lose power for any extended time (we're in
> Virginia) so I've never considered a generator.  But the thought of getting
> something small to run some lights, the TV, turn on the refrig a couple of
> hours, has crossed my mind.  But I've never done it just because of the
> concern of having another motorized thing around (maintenance, keeping
> gasoline, etc), and even the smaller ones aren't cheap.  We can burn wood to
> keep sort of warm, candles for some light, we're on "city" water.   We'll
> lose a couple of ice boxes full of food granted.  The only thing we scramble
> for is to try to save a couple of pieces of wedding cakes.  And our
> neighbors have had enough room for those.
> But, if we lost electricity for more than 3 or 4 hours, 4-5 times a year,
> we'd definitely have to look hard at a generator of some sort.  Maybe not
> whole house, but something.
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> *From:* Jim Bullard <jim.bullard at gmail.com>
> *To:* Art Cloutman <Art at crystalacresnh.com>
> *Cc:* at-l at backcountry.net
> *Sent:* Friday, December 19, 2008 9:09 AM
> *Subject:* Re: [at-l] Storm's a'comin
>
> For those who own their own place (not rent) and suffer outages from
> time-to-time there are whole house generator systems. They run on propane,
> are wired into your main power panel and automatically fire up within
> seconds of an outage. Granted they aren't cheap ($3k or more installed) but
> if you live where outages are frequent like a friend of mine in the ADKs
> whose power goes out 4-5 times/year, it might be worth considering. Our
> power doesn't go off that frequently and I'm considering getting one.
>
> Jim Bullard
> http://jims-ramblings.blogspot.com/
>
>
> 2008/12/19 Art Cloutman <Art at crystalacresnh.com>
>
>>  We were without power in the Lakes Region of NH for only three days.  My
>> wife did not like camping in the livingroom.  I spent most of that time
>> hauling firewood to keep the fireplace and wood stove cooking so we would
>> not freeze our pipes.  Since we have a well and pup water into the house
>> using electricity we had no running water.  Which of course means no morning
>> shower, no septic system - (I didn't mind steping out into the woods but my
>> wife could not manage that.  I hauled buckets of water from the lake to
>> flush the toilet.  It was really nice to eat by candle light near the fire.
>> And I enjoyed reading by headlamp.  We do have a battery powered radio to
>> keep in tough with the rest of the world.  But of course no email, no TV,
>> and no telephone - we are out of cell phone range.  This morning there are
>> still 35,000 homes without power, some will not get their power back until
>> after the holidays.  It is particularly hard with several snowstorms on the
>> way and temps in the teens.  I am glad that we are back on the grid and feel
>> very bad for those that are still waiting for the lights to come on.
>>
>> With a week passing since the ice storm there are now about 45,000 homes
>> in NH without power. (population of NH is 1.3 M, so about 600,000 homes?) At
>> the peak it was estimated 430,000 were without power. A dozen friends in the
>> area have all been switched on -  with the last getting power last night.
>> It's been quite a storm. Some were running out of wood, propane or tired of
>> bunking with friends & relatives. Interesting that by Sunday there were more
>> people in the shelters as folks tired of toughing it out.
>>
>> Last night was a minny ice storm, only 2 inches of slush turning solid
>> after dark. Fridday we're set for gridlock (again) with a major storm that
>> will bring 6-12 inches during the commuter hours. Last year, Dec. 13 storm,
>> the commuter nightmare had people abandoning their cars in the roads, one
>> brother-in-law made it home at midnight from work.
>>
>> I can appreciate & enjoy snow at times, for example tonight I'm going for
>> a snow hike with GoldThumb (AT '97) on Uncanoonuc, west of Manchester, NH.
>> But being in a metro area makes it a challenge sometimes. Every year we have
>> to learn all over again about how to drive in snow conditions, how to avoid
>> pedestrians who are now in the streets, how to cooperate about shoveling out
>> parking spots. By January we'll have figured it all out I guess!
>> --RockDancer
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>> --
>>
>>
>> Life is Good!!!
>> Art Cloutman
>>
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>>
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