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Supposedly there were two separate storms hitting more or less parallel. The worst of one came through Huntington/Northport/Smithtown/Commack and the other one went along the south shore from Bay Shore/Islip/Oakdale/Patchogue. We're in the first area.
My neighbor across the street said her grandmother who lives in Sayville had a tree come down on her roof. My son and DIL had scheduled some landscaping-type tree removal work on Monday morning and I was surprised to hear that the tree guys did NOT cancel that job because of emergency calls; however, the owner told my DIL that as soon as they finished up there, they were heading to Patchogue to remove half a tree from someone's car (or what's left of someone's car, I suppose.)
No generator, for a couple reasons: (a) no place to store a portable one, and not physically able to haul it around anyhow; (b) no natural gas line to the house [because we don't want it]; (c) don't want to mess with propane, been there done that back in the 1980s when I had a gas heater in a hobby greenhouse, never again. We once bought a house that for some odd reason had a propane powered stove (everything else was electric) and the first thing I did was get that thing out and replaced with an electric one. Just not at all comfortable with "gas" anything, whether large or small. My car is the only exception, LOL.
Maybe worth looking into. If we didn't have a gas stove, we would have been limited in eating options during Sandy. And for boiling water to take baths for us and the kids.
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Maybe worth looking into. If we didn't have a gas stove, we would have been limited in eating options during Sandy. And for boiling water to take baths for us and the kids.
Wow, I didn't know about these! Absolutely I will look into them. I have a south facing patio (the one that my neighbor's oak tree USED TO shade until three weeks ago, LOL!) that is the same wall as the basement where the electric panel box is located so the location would be perfect. 50% of that patio is in full sun all day from sunup to sundown.
To be honest, the main thing that bothers me about no power is the refrigerator. I can deal with using flashlights and candles, or bundling up in layer of clothes and blankets if the weather is that bad, or sweating if it's summer (my ac is set to 76 normally anyway, lol.) So if one of those solar generators can keep the refrigerator/freezer going, and power a few outlets (microwave, computer, recharge phone, plug-in electric kettle for hot water or a single portable induction burner) I'd be fine with that.
Wow, I didn't know about these! Absolutely I will look into them. I have a south facing patio (the one that my neighbor's oak tree USED TO shade until three weeks ago, LOL!) that is the same wall as the basement where the electric panel box is located so the location would be perfect. 50% of that patio is in full sun all day from sunup to sundown.
To be honest, the main thing that bothers me about no power is the refrigerator. I can deal with using flashlights and candles, or bundling up in layer of clothes and blankets if the weather is that bad, or sweating if it's summer (my ac is set to 76 normally anyway, lol.) So if one of those solar generators can keep the refrigerator/freezer going, and power a few outlets (microwave, computer, recharge phone, plug-in electric kettle for hot water or a single portable induction burner) I'd be fine with that.
No way anything less than the biggest one would work for all that unless you used them one at a time. And you’d likely need an extra battery or two. Note the watt hours capacity as well as the charge rating. 200w charging means you will fall behind quickly.
Fridge/freezer needs at least 1000 watts to start the compressor, maybe more. And you would need to run it at least every 3-4 hours for an hour to keep safely cold.
Microwave is 1200 watts or so.
Kettle is 1200 watts or so.
The other things are less.
You would honestly be better off with one of these - cheaper, not too heavy or loud, and efficient. Under 50 pounds, about the size of a sewing machine, and sips gas. Around $1000.
You guys should get a Tesla powerwall, they are great with solar in a blackout
For the basics that will work. Expensive though.
The new Powerwall 2.0 has 13.5kWh, so if you’re pulling 1,350 watts across your house you have 10 hours. If it’s really cloudy after a storm how well does solar charge the battery?
But if it’s automatic it’s a better option than hauling out a generator.
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