[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by itscolduphere

I'm in NC... (CT move-back-to hopeful) Yep, it's a national embarassment. I watch News 14 Carolina sometimes when I'm having my lunch. They roll the clip of trees laying all over the place and guys with chain saws every day still, and tell us how many are still without power. Same for the weather channel.

(And of course the thought crossed our minds of our business/livelihood potentially being at the mercy of CL&P if/when we move back? And for over a WEEK? WTF?!)

Damn, I'm feeling so sorry for you guys!! People STILL showering at the Granby Y? What a pain in the @ss.

Yeah - friends of mine in California told me the same. Said that even on their local news, Connecticut and CL&P is in the national spotlight for its incompetence with regards to the latest storm/power outages. Granted the damage was widespread but it's really over the top now.

[Cambium]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

Yeah - friends of mine in California told me the same. Said that even on their local news, Connecticut and CL&P is in the national spotlight for its incompetence with regards to the latest storm/power outages. Granted the damage was widespread but it's really over the top now.

Maybe it's their way of advertising the name. LOL. Bad Advertising though. CrappyL&P?

[JViello]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

Yeah - friends of mine in California told me the same. Said that even on their local news, Connecticut and CL&P is in the national spotlight for its incompetence with regards to the latest storm/power outages. Granted the damage was widespread but it's really over the top now.

Is it really though? If over 2000 crews from other states and CLP can't get it done in a week, and the national guard is out STILL clearing trees doesn't that say something too?

What I find a bit perplexing is driving by a public works project in Unionville on my way to a house with a basement full of water in Avon where town workers are putting in a sidewalk. Shouldn't they be out cutting trees? My only guess in situations like that, is union by-laws. "Not my job".

Same for the DOT guys just picking up brush laying on the medians that has no impact on anything. And paving work etc all going on. I would think critical storm cleanup would be priority one.

[JViello]

Originally Posted by itscolduphere

(And of course the thought crossed our minds of our business/livelihood potentially being at the mercy of CL&P if/when we move back? And for over a WEEK? WTF?!)

Damn, I'm feeling so sorry for you guys!! People STILL showering at the Granby Y? What a pain in the @ss.

Get a generator (A real one, not some portable construction site deal.) and you won't skip a beat. A few thousand dollars is cheap insurance against such things.

[htfdcolt]

Happy to report...power's back on in our neck of the woods in WH--only 8 days and 23 hours later. What's funny is that just 20 min before, I asked one of the kind utility contractors from Alabama as to when our street would get turned on. He said, "hopefully today, but it's all up to CL&P".

Now I wish the best for other brethren, especially in Bloomfield & Farmington...

[AnonChick]

Originally Posted by hans1976

Up in northern CT, we rely on WFSB. On Friday night, they were saying nothing about planning on 14" of snow and to plan on being without power for days. They were saying "The early snow could cause problems for motorists out on the roads and bring down tree branches with the possibility of power outages." That is a far cry from what we got.

Northern CT under winter storm warning - WFSB Channel 3

Actually, that's exactly what you got.

You got problems with motorists on the roads, you got tree branches down, and you got power outages. They said it was possible, and they were absolutely right.

[AnonChick]

Also, regarding the linemen cutting back trees: There's an old law on the books, from 1919. In this state, it is illegal for anyone to cut back trees unless they are a licensed arborist. They can cut a tree down, but they can't cut only the branches back.

This law isn't enforced, but it -is- a protection measure to ensure to the homeowner, that some unskilled, chainsaw-happy freak isn't going to kill a tree by cutting it improperly.

It's possible that the unions are using this law as justification for not doing what needs to be done, since most of those linemen aren't licensed arborists and you can bet your left butt cheek that if someone demanded that they did the work, they'd force an extra fee to bring in a licensed arborist in the "licensed arborist Local 742" to do it.

[itscolduphere]

Originally Posted by JViello

Get a generator (A real one, not some portable construction site deal.) and you won't skip a beat. A few thousand dollars is cheap insurance against such things.

Yes, JV, I've had my eye on Kohler Power's units...
Kohler Power: Kohler Home Generators and Residential Generators

There are local dealers as close as Canton and Bloomfield. My question is will these things run non-stop for a whole week and more?? (I would call one, but I'd get a sales pitch most likely).

The other "if" is we really wanted to rent before buying again (we bought in a bad location first time around in CT because we didn't know the area, and it's the reason we're still in transition), and I doubt many rentals will have a generator panel.

I love CT... I hope to end up back there. This CL&P issue is something that really needs to be resolved. I have my ear on it and it will be interesting once the many aftermath stories start coming out about how it impacted people with health issues, etc. Just very disappointing to see this going on in the 21st century.

[toddb]

Originally Posted by itscolduphere

The other "if" is we really wanted to rent before buying again (we bought in a bad location first time around in CT because we didn't know the area, and it's the reason we're still in transition), and I doubt many rentals will have a generator panel.

My advice - hire an electrician to run a dedicated line to a covered area (not your garage). If you really want reliability, bring in a whole-house UPS to feed between your inbound power and the panel (this will protect against those short hiccups, and can even run for 10-12 hrs without the massive engine noise). You can also have him install an intelligent transfer switch which will fail over to the UPS and kick on the generator automatically when the UPS gets close to needing a charge. The generator will kick on for a few hours, charge up the batteries on the UPS, then turn off for another cycle.

[JViello]

Originally Posted by itscolduphere

Yes, JV, I've had my eye on Kohler Power's units...
Kohler Power: Kohler Home Generators and Residential Generators

There are local dealers as close as Canton and Bloomfield. My question is will these things run non-stop for a whole week and more?? (I would call one, but I'd get a sales pitch most likely).

The other "if" is we really wanted to rent before buying again (we bought in a bad location first time around in CT because we didn't know the area, and it's the reason we're still in transition), and I doubt many rentals will have a generator panel.

I love CT... I hope to end up back there. This CL&P issue is something that really needs to be resolved. I have my ear on it and it will be interesting once the many aftermath stories start coming out about how it impacted people with health issues, etc. Just very disappointing to see this going on in the 21st century.

It all depends on your fuel supply, but yes they can go for weeks if needed. I personally would get a diesel generator that runs off the oil tank. BUT if you have a gas furnace a propane generator would make sense too. lol

As for a rental, an 8600/10K surge portable will work just fine. Just backfeed through the dryer plug with a 10/4 wire and be sure the main is off. Your dryer breaker on the panel will now be the generator main. It will work just like a whole house panel. No difference.

Yes it's technically illegal, but so is driving 70mph.