There I sat, broken hearted...........

You probably know the rest of the famous saying. Well, here's today's version of it: There I sat, broken hearted, had to wire but couldn't see.

I've lived in my current house for about 24 years. Once in a while we'll have a 1-5 minute power outage. The longest we've had before today was we once had a 3-day outage due to a massive snow storm people refer to as snowmageddeon. It was actually twin storms that paralyzed the area - took me 12 hours to get home from work - 8 mile drive and most people, including the bus system did not make it home in their vehicles.

Today, normal day, the power when out at about noon and is still out at almost 7pm. The power company expects it back by 10pm. This is due to a car wreck.

It really makes it had to work on the wiring job I'm trying to get done with no lights.

I'm keeping my phone charged via my computer and my phone is providing a hotspot so my computer is on the internet. I'll be completely dark in less than an hour - hope it comes back on by then. Not fun keeping myself company with no technology

Handy to have around for many situations.

We are lucky here in Aus very rare we get power outages but I am well set up if it did happen, we do a lot of bush/beach camping and are fully set up for long stays away, I have a 40ltr gas fridge as well a 60ltr gas freezer that was given to me as the owner said it wasn't working no more was the thermostat and my fridge mate converted it to just a freezer, I also have a 12v fluro lights as good as a house fluro, I have just set up my Land Rover for solar power and have a new 12v fridge, if I lose power at home I just run the fluro light to the Landy which is parked beside the window of the house, we have gas stove and hot water so all good there.
I would have no problem living off grid, in fact I don't mind roughing it, I can live without luxuries, TVs, phones or the internet, my house also has solar but its goes into the power grid, but haven't paid a power bill in 12 years in fact we are in credit on our power bills.
Always good to have a back up plan and here in Aus we have plenty of sun and gas.

Ashley

Ash,

You can justify an e-start, I can't justify a generator that I would not have used in 24 years. That one long outage would not have been saved by one, and today's outage is otherwise the first time one would have been of use in 24 years.

That said, it's just after 9pm and still no power and this laptop is down to 15% remaining

Slightly paraphrased: And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And Greg saw the light, and it was good!

Came back on at 9:46PM. It's VERY dark with heavy cloud cover and no street lights! Computer got down to 13%. At least I don't live in Maryland - they have lots of outages.

Connect a Joe Hunt to a bicycle ... and let there be light ... Lol !!

IMO… get used to it… power outages are going to be the new normal in the not too distant future.

Our needs are growing faster than our new generating capacity, and renewables simply do not have the same level of supply reliability.

We are electrifying EVERYTHING.

Which means, during an outage we’ll have NOTHING.

Stock up on food, water, candles and good books…

Fast Eddie said:

IMO… get used to it… power outages are going to be the new normal in the not too distant future.

Our needs are growing faster than our new generating capacity, and renewables simply do not have the same level of supply reliability.

We are electrifying EVERYTHING.

Which means, during an outage we’ll have NOTHING.

Stock up on food, water, candles and good books…

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No doubt. But this one was 100% stupidity. The powers to be made the choice long ago in this and many counties in Virginia to keep almost all power above ground in this area. The stated reason was ease of repair. The unstated reason was income from telephone and cable providers. One out of control car and thousands were out of power for about 10 hours. In general, there are redundancies in my area which prevents outages for more than a few minutes - this is due to all the military and government requirements. Of course, that greatly increases the number of lines above ground.

The year before I moved into this house, a squirrel climbed the power pole in front of my house, touched the wrong thing and was set on fire, It fell down next to a parked van, and somehow set the van on fire. The van "burned to the ground" and greatly damaged the asphalt and destroyed the pole which had to be replaced. It also caught the tree that was in my front yard on fire and it has to be replaced. Some tar and gravel was thrown over the asphalt and rolled. 21 years later the asphalt was properly replaced. Last year, all underground gas lines were upgraded - perfect time to put the power from the pole to the houses underground - the trenches were dug - nope! On top of that all the houses now have fiber from the cable/telephone company and that was put underground - all those old wires are still on the poles and only the electricity is active. It's a cul de sac with five houses served by two poles. When the houses were built, would have been almost zero cost to put the lines underground since things were already dug up. It wasn't that it was unheard of. A big private development 30 miles south in a different county that was being built at the same time has all power, phone, and cable underground. Most of it never to be seen again. They did have to upgrade the cable, but since it is in conduits I suspect the cost of replace one pole here is more than cable to LOTS of houses there.

Does it sound like I live in a third-world country? The bent and overloaded poles you see everywhere certainly make it look like it!

Make electric great again .... Lol !! ... Sorry couldn't resist

After a winter storm in 2005 I was without electricity for 3 weeks. Mobile net down a fortnight. Telephone line down 6 weeks. 700 tons of timber down on my farm. With a small portable generator moved around to get water, fridges and freezers working, managed to keep things going. Another storm in 2007 just a week without electricity. Nowadays with underground power and fibre, power fails are very rare.
Funny thing. In many places in Europe underground power lines are common, leading to Americans believing we don't have electricity.

Mike40M said:

Funny thing. In many places in Europe underground power lines are common, leading to Americans believing we don't have electricity.

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When I lived in Germany and travelled around Europe, I definitely saw the difference. In my village and in many parts of Germany, the power went on short poles roof top to roof top. It was not really noticeable and was underground when not around houses. Of course, using 220 volts meant smaller wire was needed than in the US.

In other countries, I often wondered where the services were - in some I didn't even see them come from underground to the side of the house - did they come in the house underground?

I was there from 1993 to 2001 so things were more modern long ago.

Grandad said:

Make electric great again .... Lol !! ... Sorry couldn't resist

Click to expand...

I see no hope for electric, I would like to make my investments great again!

Companies keep coming by offering solar electric and promising no cost. Not doing it for a few reasons:
1) No cost is only if you are poor and get the tax credit - no tax credit for me.
2) They don't offer Tesla Roofs (electric tile roofs that replace the shingles) - still offering last century systems that don't last as long as shingles and you have to have pretty much a new roof first.
3) the power companies have strong-armed the Govt so battery systems aren't allowed. So the chance of "selling back" which is legal is unlikely.

Solar, same here mostly.

I'd first of all need a new roof.

I'd then need my house to be fully rewired.

and all before generating a single amp / watt

The " selling tariff " is tiny.

and then of course we have my electricity consumption, last year it was only 1176 KWh

Did I say the old tech panels are pig ugly and expensive and ( to me ) devalue / make property harder to sell.

Fast Eddie said:

IMO… get used to it… power outages are going to be the new normal in the not too distant future.

Our needs are growing faster than our new generating capacity, and renewables simply do not have the same level of supply reliability.

We are electrifying EVERYTHING.

Which means, during an outage we’ll have NOTHING.

Stock up on food, water, candles and good books…

Click to expand...

The "not too distant future" is 5 years ago.

In the 35 years of our marriage in the desert (Laredo, Tx) we had 2 power outages for a few minutes, 1 due to an exploded pigeon on our pole-mounted step-down transformer.

In the 5 years of our marriage here in the north Austin area, we've had 10-12 power outages PER YEAR, increasing in frequency and duration every year, ESPECIALLY during snowmaggeddon.

marshg246 said:

Of course, using 220 volts meant smaller wire was needed than in the US.

In other countries, I often wondered where the services were - in some I didn't even see them come from underground to the side of the house - did they come in the house underground?

Click to expand...

Can't tell about all of Europe, but in many countries usually three phase 400/240 V into houses.
In Sweden last time I saw air lines into houses was decades ago. Might still exist in very remote areas.