Nor Cal atmospheric river


 
LMichaels said:
About 3 years ago they were predicting a snowmagedden and polar vortex here that they said would knock power out for about 80% of my county (Winnebago IL) and my wife said "maybe we should buy a new generator". So I went up to Madison the next day and bought this https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200888192_200888192 It's an outstanding unit. Extremely quiet, and honestly powerful enough to run nearly my entire house including my fridges and freezer and furnace and water heater. I have multiple outlets I can use to back feed my house. One outside just behind the house, one in the garage and I can even plug into the back garage.
Funny, the weather event blew by us and never showed up. So I have never had to run it except to exercise it
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The thing with emergency generators is if your area is out of power for days, gasoline usually isn’t easy to get after the fact.

A little 2k generator like the Honda can run more than 24 hours on less than 5 gallons of gas.

Low decibels is also a plus if you live in a neighborhood where the houses are relatively close together.

My wife is requesting that we get a whole house generator- I told her when our gas furnace needs to be replaced we will get it done.
 
Brett-EDH said:
don't ever run out of tequila.

i organized the pantry this weekend and i have 6 bottles. i am golden. and a few rum bottles too.

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Ed P said:
I think they are talking about storms beyond this one, a "parade of storms".
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From San Diego NWS - 5 back to back to last us through the 17th !
Guess I'll need to break out the ham radios, just in case.... ;) ( NWS Skywarn member )
Subi and Ford ranger filled with gas. Ford F250 4x4 lifted filled with diesel.
About 55 days worth of fresh clean water available.
But the honda generator's fuel tank & portable tank are empty.
 
Well, I think we just had a hurricane. Last time I experienced rain and wind like that was hurricane David in FL in the 70’s as a kid.

Massive rain and winds, which woke me up, and now thunder and lightning.

Palm trees here were bent around 30° as the winds were howling. We still have power by us but local outages are growing.

Small amount of water on the floor at my south facing patio door. Cleaned it up with a towel.

Otherwise we’re still water tight.

Definitely one of the craziest storms I’ve ever experienced here in 30+ years living in CA.

Rainfall since Midnight is now at 0.70 inches. 0352 on the clock as I write this.
 
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PGE, power company, shows a lot of small outages across northern CA from the Bay Area up through the Sierras/Tahoe.

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Power out at my house. Went out 1.45 am pacific.

Thunder woke me a few mins ago and the downpour and hail was pretty wild.

Looks like a small scale outage. Text from pge said 1,259 customers affected.
 
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John_NJ said:
Loose power often?
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Actually no. In 30 years of living here only once or twice for an extended period. (meaning more than a day). Sadly on the last time I did not own a generator but thankfully my brother in law came through for me with one of his from his construction business. We were without power for 5 days then IIRC. Thankfully it happened on 4th of July holiday so really all I needed to worry about was keeping the fridges running.
Honestly my only reason for the tri-fuel kit is for convenience. Since I don't have a gasoline powered tractor anymore (now Kubota diesel) I don't keep enough gasoline on hand to run one for extended period (if I were to need it again). By going to a kit that can allow LP or NG I don't have to worry. Also engines run pristinely clean on NG/LP. No worries about oil dilution, carb gumming up and so on
 
I’m pretty lucky, commercial area close by, Consumers Power company, just down the block, I’ve only been without power for maybe nine hours in the 30 years we’ve lived here. I feel very lucky! Fireplace in the back room, plenty of lanterns.
 
LMichaels said:
Actually no. In 30 years of living here only once or twice for an extended period. (meaning more than a day). Sadly on the last time I did not own a generator but thankfully my brother in law came through for me with one of his from his construction business. We were without power for 5 days then IIRC. Thankfully it happened on 4th of July holiday so really all I needed to worry about was keeping the fridges running.
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I live in an area where the power lines are mostly above ground with large trees everywhere.

We have been seeing tornadoes in addition to the bad storms and infrequent hurricanes.

When a bad storm rolls through, we might lose power. If there are thousands of people without power, it can sometimes take more than a day before we get it back. It seems to happen every few years.

I installed a transfer switch a few years ago and it’s relatively easy to gas up the generator to power the essentials when needed.

I am opposed to a whole house generator but I can’t expect my wife to use the little Honda and transfer switch if I’m not around, so I will do it for her.

Talking to some contractor friends, whole house generators are becoming standard on new home projects around here.
 
My son in law lives in an area with well/septic, has a powered septic as well. Guy who had the house before them had a huge industrial sized gen installed. Needs a 1.5" NG line has a 120hp engine as well
 
LMichaels said:
My son in law lives in an area with well/septic, has a powered septic as well. Guy who had the house before them had a huge industrial sized gen installed. Needs a 1.5" NG line has a 120hp engine as well
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For me, it’s all about the essentials.

Gas furnace with an electric circulating motor- essential when it’s cold out.

Sump pump- essential. We live in an area with a high water table and have a french drain that needs to keep operating during heavy rain.

Internet, phone, tv and cable box, being able to recharge devices, not really essential but close.

Refrigerator and freezer - not essential but keeping food spoiling is nice.

Anything more than that is extravagant imo.

One thing about losing power is it gets really dark at night. And quiet.

Basically all you hear are generators humming along.

The family down the street with the whole house generator- with all the lights on during power outages- conspicuous consumption - literally. Not my style.
 
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