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you guys members of your local town's facebook page? i get a kick out of all the posts complaining when there is a power outage. they complain that the power company is horrible and should do something about it. im not sure what the power company can do to prevent trees from falling on the power lines. im pretty sure burying all the lines would be a very big and expensive undertaking and people dont want to see higher rates.
its much more entertaining now that i am not one of the people who doesnt have power.
We had a big storms and a power line running through the woods behind our house fell. (oddly, it did not cut our power, but lots of other people's). Power company came in and cut out almost the entire woods. They cut the trees to about 4' above the ground and just left a field of stumps. They threw bundles of small metal wire all over the place as well as scattering individual very small wires all over (years later those wires are still wrapping around my lawn mower blades). They lowered a cable or communications line to have better access to rise the power line back up after they fixed it, but then they left the big communications line laying in our yard.
I called them to put it back up and they said they could not tough it because it is not their line (but they touched it when the lowered to the ground). I asked who owned the line so I could call them and have them put it back up. They did not know. I called our township they said there was nothing they could do, the power company needed to take care of it, call them back. I called the power company about 15 times. Usually they left me on hold and never came back and picked up. When I got someone they played the run around game, or told me they would get back to me and didn't. After Having that line in our yard for six months, when I got the power company on the phone again, I told them they left the line right behind my throwing axe target. I would just go throw some axes and when I missed and hit the line laying in the yard behind the target, well then we would find out whose line it used to be and whomever that was could come fix it and charge the power company for leaving it on the ground. They said to wait and they would get back to me. The next day when i got home from work, the big communications line was back up on the poles. I have no idea who put it back, but I imagine it was the power company. .
you guys members of your local town's facebook page? i get a kick out of all the posts complaining when there is a power outage. they complain that the power company is horrible and should do something about it. im not sure what the power company can do to prevent trees from falling on the power lines. im pretty sure burying all the lines would be a very big and expensive undertaking and people dont want to see higher rates.
its much more entertaining now that i am not one of the people who doesnt have power.
My feeling is that they have gotten worse over the years. It isn't necessarily all the power company's fault. Years ago the telephone and cable companies also depended on the hard lines. Now the telephone companies want to go wireless and the cable companies are competing with the satellite companies - the electric companies do not have the financial help they once enjoyed. Plus we have many invasive pest that are destroying our forest. So we have many trees that are dead and dying and that complicates the problems for the electric companies. We also have townships and municipalities that now have to sharpen their pencils because the pensions are draining the tax dollars.
There are no 'easy' solutions and things will probably get worse before they get better.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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The inverter is great if all you want to do is run some electronics, and need it to be quiet. It takes a lot of watts to run much in the house, and once you get above 3,000 watts on an inverter generator the cost is more than 6,500 watt conventional. For power outages the noisy ones are fine, in fact in our neighborhood no guilt because several others will be running. We have a 6,500 watt Generac, now at about $800 new. It's loud but we have it outside the garage and run a heavy cable through the window and close it most of the way, so hardly hear it. We can run the furnace fan (forced air natural gas) along with the refrigerator and freezer, a few lights, and TV, plus charging a few devices. Only the Microwave puts it into overload, unless we unplug the fridge. I bought it for about $399 in 1998, never had a problem with it.
im not saying the power companies are so great or even right. they are for-profit entities so they need to watch their bottom line and arent going to spend more than they have to. i just think people are also unrealistic with their expectations sometimes.
also, every single thing that the power company and gas wants to do as far as adding infrastructure there are groups that get together to fight it. i understand that nobody wants anything unsightly in their backyard but its its gotta be tough being a utility trying to add some infrastructure when every project is fought tooth and nail.
in any case, i feel that ultimately its better to take care of yourself than be at the mercy of the power company complaining about how much it sucks to not have power and how terrible the electric company is to not make sure that power never goes out.
we have a Honda and a Homelite. bought them for Hurricane Fran (1996).
they were also used after Hurricanes Floyd, Isabel, Florence, and Michael...
and for the 24" snow of 2000, and the ice storm of 2002...
and after the random tornado or two.
they have been flawless.
we had a transfer box installed
which eliminates back-feed dangers
and computer/cellphone power irregularities.
we also paid $5K three years ago to take down some trees.
im not saying the power companies are so great or even right. they are for-profit entities so they need to watch their bottom line and arent going to spend more than they have to. i just think people are also unrealistic with their expectations sometimes.
also, every single thing that the power company and gas wants to do as far as adding infrastructure there are groups that get together to fight it. i understand that nobody wants anything unsightly in their backyard but its its gotta be tough being a utility trying to add some infrastructure when every project is fought tooth and nail.
in any case, i feel that ultimately its better to take care of yourself than be at the mercy of the power company complaining about how much it sucks to not have power and how terrible the electric company is to not make sure that power never goes out.
It is necessary to a degree to take care of yourself first. But that actually adds to the problems when the linemen come to make the repairs. They not only have to worry about the power company power; but also the back feed from all the generators. Lets face it; we're human and some of us will make mistakes. If somebody hooks into their electric system and they forget to turn off the main breaker; they can kill a lineman if they do not ground the line. When they ground the line they can burn out your generator; if your still connected. So you have solutions that bring other problems. From what we saw in Florida they have to have a crew come out to ground the wires, then the tree trimmers can come, and then finally the linemen can go to work.
I do have a 50 amp inlet that is connected to my house subpanel with an interlock switch.
Sounds like 240v hookup. So if you wanted a small generator that is 120v, you would need to redo that entire setup and redo the panel area too. Not a big deal, but it would take an electrician.
Next, what is your power usage during a power outage? Large power consumers are wells, fridge, stand alone freezer, electric hot water heater, microwave, etc.
If your on city water, have a natural gas water heater and furnace, your power requirements would be almost nothing.
Gotta know what you really need running during a power outage before you can pick a generator.
It is necessary to a degree to take care of yourself first. But that actually adds to the problems when the linemen come to make the repairs. They not only have to worry about the power company power; but also the back feed from all the generators. Lets face it; we're human and some of us will make mistakes. If somebody hooks into their electric system and they forget to turn off the main breaker; they can kill a lineman if they do not ground the line. When they ground the line they can burn out your generator; if your still connected. So you have solutions that bring other problems. From what we saw in Florida they have to have a crew come out to ground the wires, then the tree trimmers can come, and then finally the linemen can go to work.
yes , back feeding is very dangerous. many people do this to save money but they don't realize the dangers in back feeding through a receptacle
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