NEPA ~ Off Topic ~ Chatting Thread ( New ) (electrical, fireplaces, system)

[Gerania]

Originally Posted by okaydorothy

Small world ; I am heading to Temple tomorrow with our younger son. He did visit last year and applied and got into the university. But this week, he was awarded a 4 year ROTC scholarship at his choice of either Pitt, Penn State or Temple. Penn State is out as he got into the Altoona campus and he wanted the main campus. He got into the Johnstown campus of Pitt, and again would really like the main campus. So we are meeting with the ROTC guy at temple tomorrow and the ROTC guy at Pitt Main campus on Monday. The deciding factor will be if he can transfer to the Pitt Main campus or not. Otherwise, he will go to Temple. It is more or less a free ride as they also pay most of the housing.
its been a whirlwind week.

I'm glad he won't accept Altoona or Johnstown. He'd survive and make some good friends, but that's not where a young guy wants to be.

[cremebrulee]

deleated by Creme

[Gerania]

Did anyone lose power during these recent storms?

[fisheye]

Originally Posted by Gerania

Did anyone lose power during these recent storms?

We were without power for three and a quarter days. We have a generator that I hook up for heat and hot water. That makes it survivable; but it still is no fun.

[jimazee]

We haven't lost power since we bought a generator...reminds me of deciding to carry my umbrella in case it rains

[fisheye]

Originally Posted by jimazee

We haven't lost power since we bought a generator...reminds me of deciding to carry my umbrella in case it rains

With the big ice storm, we had almost a decade ago, we ran out and bought a generator after five days in the cold. I got it hooked up and we had heat and hot water one hour before they turned on the lights! This last power outage was only the second time we have used it since the ice storm. It is a pain to use since you have to completely drain it of gas after each use and there is no quick way to drain other than pulling off the fuel line or siphoning the tank down and then running until dry. Either way you have to run until dry so you leave no fuel in the carburetor. While they sell fuel stabilizing additives, since you have no idea how long it will be until the next blackout, it is still best that you run dry.

That said; it is miserable to live in a cold house and have no idea when the power will come back on! Many of our rural houses also have sand mound septic systems. With those systems they only hold about fifty gallons of waste before they start backing up in the house. Most of the 5,000 or 6,000 watt generators are more than capable of powering water, sewage pump, and furnace. Our house has the conventional septic system and we do not have to worry about the limitations of the sand mound.

There are still about 2,600 PP&L customers without power in our County. That is a very long time to go without heat. Even after the electricity is restored there could be problems with broken pipes if they were not drained.

[cremebrulee]

Originally Posted by fisheye

With the big ice storm, we had almost a decade ago, we ran out and bought a generator after five days in the cold. I got it hooked up and we had heat and hot water one hour before they turned on the lights! This last power outage was only the second time we have used it since the ice storm. It is a pain to use since you have to completely drain it of gas after each use and there is no quick way to drain other than pulling off the fuel line or siphoning the tank down and then running until dry. Either way you have to run until dry so you leave no fuel in the carburetor. While they sell fuel stabilizing additives, since you have no idea how long it will be until the next blackout, it is still best that you run dry.

That said; it is miserable to live in a cold house and have no idea when the power will come back on! Many of our rural houses also have sand mound septic systems. With those systems they only hold about fifty gallons of waste before they start backing up in the house. Most of the 5,000 or 6,000 watt generators are more than capable of powering water, sewage pump, and furnace. Our house has the conventional septic system and we do not have to worry about the limitations of the sand mound.

There are still about 2,600 PP&L customers without power in our County. That is a very long time to go without heat. Even after the electricity is restored there could be problems with broken pipes if they were not drained.

Boy do I remember that storm, was living up there then, and it would snow, and warm up, rain and get cold, and we ended up with one foot of ice on our roof, (without exaggeration) we actually had to get up there with a little axe and chip it off, taking care not to hurt the shingles...

Both my sisters, and my brother, live in the country, and all of them, finally bought generators, while it is a pain and expensive to run them....I bet your so thankful you have it when that power goes out in the cold..

I don't have one, and always worry, about what I'd do during a storm, if the power goes out...b/c the roads are by then, too bad to drive in and all the hotels, motels are full.

Believe it or not, people are still out of power from the first storm we had over a week ago, then we got hit again yesterday....and another might be on it's way Sunday evening? They're not sure yet.

[fisheye]

The old roof ice chipping; it brings back 'fond' memories and I hope they stay memories! Did you ever have to shovel a five foot drift off your roof - more fond memories! I actually used my roof rake yesterday. I like to just pull off the snow over the unheated eves and especially off the two valleys on my roof. I try to prevent problems before they become problems. The roof rake is so much easier than getting up on the roof and shoveling down!

[cremebrulee]

Originally Posted by fisheye

The old roof ice chipping; it brings back 'fond' memories and I hope they stay memories! Did you ever have to shovel a five foot drift off your roof - more fond memories! I actually used my roof rake yesterday. I like to just pull off the snow over the unheated eves and especially off the two valleys on my roof. I try to prevent problems before they become problems. The roof rake is so much easier than getting up on the roof and shoveling down!

Wow, 5 foot drift on the roof? Just Wow!

Indeed fond memories, maybe you'll remember this....there were so so many people up there that had a lot of water damage, b/c the warmth from the heat of the house, would thaw out the snow during the day, but on top it was frozen, so the water had no place to go but to back up under everyone's shingles. I remember speaking with our insurance about it, and there were tons of insurance claims that year.

so, right afterwards, some company came out with some kind of heat tape for roofs....it was installed like a squigely snake down the roof, which would prevent that from happening again. However, it never did to my knowledge.

We literally had water pouring in our newly installed front door...b/c the water backed up from the gutters...
awful....

[fisheye]

Originally Posted by cremebrulee

Wow, 5 foot drift on the roof? Just Wow!

Indeed fond memories, maybe you'll remember this....there were so so many people up there that had a lot of water damage, b/c the warmth from the heat of the house, would thaw out the snow during the day, but on top it was frozen, so the water had no place to go but to back up under everyone's shingles. I remember speaking with our insurance about it, and there were tons of insurance claims that year.

so, right afterwards, some company came out with some kind of heat tape for roofs....it was installed like a squigely snake down the roof, which would prevent that from happening again. However, it never did to my knowledge.

We literally had water pouring in our newly installed front door...b/c the water backed up from the gutters...
awful....

We have two valleys that give us headaches whenever we have abundant snow on our roof. We have even had a new roof put on after that ice storm and we still have problems. I made sure they applied Weather Guard under the shingles and we still had problems. I think they only ran the Weather Guard up four feet and we should have had it up six or eight feet? The next new roof we will go higher so we do not have to worry.

Perhaps we should just get a metal roof?

It's always something; at least our driveway is clear!

I think the five foot drift was in 1994. I also think that is the year we ended up shoveling the whole four hundred feet of driveway and 300 feet of it had a three to five foot drift! I had a better control of my weight back then (whether I wanted to or not)!

Not this snow, but the one before, I barely managed to plow because of the blowing snow and drifts. I have a heavy duty Silverado with a contractor Western plow and I barely made it down the driveway on my first pass. The snow actually stopped me going down my 18% grade hill. But I raised the plow a little and managed to continue to the bottom. Then I chained up to make the pass back up. That wind was blowing so hard that it was impossible to keep the road open for the whole length of the storm. This last storm, because the wind was not as strong, was no problem.