Power loss - Generator Needed? - S. A'Ville (Asheville, Weaverville: house, refrigerator)

[garth]

I understand that power can go out from time to time during the winter. Perhaps it's due to trees falling on powerlines as the result of freezing rain. Maybe it's due to drivers taking out poles or power boxes. Is this something that can be a problem in WNC?

If this happens to be some to be of concern, I would guess that the farther out from town in the more rural areas that someone is located, the longer it will take to get power back. Is that right?

Since I expect that most will tell me that it can happen, will it remain an issue in South Asheville? It's not "rural" by any means. I think most would describe the general area as suburban, more or less. Is this area still prone to losing power during the winter and, if so, is it more likely to be restored more quickly than other surrounding areas? If you had to guess, on average how long can someone expect the power to be out in this area?

Finally, what do you think of a permanently installed supplemental power generator for use when the power goes out? Do you think it is needed or if it would be a good idea? We have natural gas service to the house, so we would have an unlimited supply of fuel to run the generator.

I'm asking because I've been forced to consider it. My "better half" has been . . . uh . . . nagging me for one. Even though I told her that we could just fire up the fireplace when the power went out and have a toasty romantic picnic in front of it until the power came back , she didn't go for it.

I told her I'd even make the cold balony sandwiches or roast hotdogs and marshmellows over the fire. However, that didn't do anything to make her change her mind. She still wants a generator for the house - the one that automatically turns on when the power goes out.

So, what do you think of a Generac generator running on natrual gas, especially if you've already had a generator installed? We're thinking a 14KW or 17KW whole house generator would be sufficient. Again, do you think it's needed or have any special advice?

TIA

[motordavid]

We have a Generac, (maybe 12kW or 14 kW; can't recall & I'm not there now), installed when we built the house in '00/'01. It is hard connected to our ~1000 gal propane tank. At our altitude of 5,000 ft, it is a must. 90% of our ~30 homes on Eagles Nest Mtn have one. We lose power very frequently; sometimes for 20 mins, sometimes for a few days.

It runs like a top, powers aprox 80% of our house, (overkill as when does one have that much circuitry on?), and literally saves our 'bacon', and heat, etc.

Ours is air cooled so it does shut itself off after about 10-12 hrs for half an hour, to cool...

Where we are it is a must; hard to know if yours would be as useful. They are pricey and the install isn't cake, unless one has a nice flat spot at house level. Ours is downslope, below our daylight basement. I change the oil/filter once per year, get a new battery every 4 years, and have a service guy look at every 5 years or so. Marvelous 'invention'.
GL, mD

[Cofga]

We live near Weaverville and over the last year have had about 4 outages. Typically these last a few hours at the most and are due to tree limbs falling on wires. The worst was the 3 day outage last December 18-20 when we had the 12" snowfall. The Progress Energy crews are dispatched fast and get the power back on fast enough that we don't see it as anything more than a minor inconvenience. S. Asheville/Arden should be about the same. As you suggest and David, shows the further out and up you go the worse it will get. After the big snow last year one of our neighbors had the natural gas line extended to his house and added a generator but I just don't see the cost being justified in and around the Asheville urban/suburban area. Its a lot cheaper to stay out of the refrigerator and keep a few flashlights handy when the lights go off. I suggest you live with it a year and see if its too much of an inconvenience for you.

[The Mule]

We've lived in the Arden area for over 4 years now. The biggest problem is not power outages. We've had a few over the years, the worst lasting maybe 10-12 hours (came back on about 3am, if I remember right). That outage was not in winter, so it was a relatively minor inconvenience. Most have been a matter of minutes with a few lasting 2-3 hours. Like the rest, I suspect the outages are due to trees taking out lines. I'm sure once in a while one of our fine drivers takes out a pole despite the fact that they are fully focused on the act of driving .

Anyway, the biggest problem is periodic momentary undervoltages. Typically, that is followed by a surge. The moral of the story there is keep your electronics on surge suppressors or have a whole-house surge suppressor installed. If you do anything with your computer that is not tolerant of the risk of an unexpected power down, put those on UPSes.

Early on we talked about a generator but just have not found the problems to be frequent or long enough to justify the expense. Outages were worse in northern Virginia for us.

[saucystargazer]

I "stole" a small one (5000w) from my parents after last year when we went days without power in frigid temps several times. We can plug a few space heaters and electric blankets in WOOHOO!
If you are anywhere outside of the city of Asheville I would consider it a must if you can afford it especially if you don't have some kind of backup like a gas fireplace. It seems like our power goes off at least once a month for several hours. Our house has propane heat but uses forced air to distribute it so it is rendered useless if the power goes out and we don't have any alternate source.

My parents installed a whole house one a few years ago and haven't used it except for a few hours at a time. Go figure. We had several bad ice storms in a row and then they buy a generator, bam no more storms. haha. They have several tropical reef and fish tanks though so if they were to lose power for even a few hours they could loose $20k+.

Maybe you could start off with a small one to see if you would use it first before investing in a whole house one?

[Cofga]

Mule--have the Progress crews check your power line for squirrel gnawing damage. Believe it or not this is a major issue around here that causes voltage surges. They replaced my line from the road to the house a few months ago because of it. He showed me the old wire and sure enough there were all kinds of places where they gnawed through the vinyl covering exposing the aluminum wires. Charter had to replace the cable to the house for the same reason--we've had great internet and TV signals since then

[garth]

Thanks for the ideas, suggesitons and experience everyone. I'm gonna' read your posts to my "better half" and see if there's any effect. As always, I'll just end up doing what she wants , just so I can keep the peace.

[The Mule]

Originally Posted by Cofga

Mule--have the Progress crews check your power line for squirrel gnawing damage. Believe it or not this is a major issue around here that causes voltage surges. They replaced my line from the road to the house a few months ago because of it. He showed me the old wire and sure enough there were all kinds of places where they gnawed through the vinyl covering exposing the aluminum wires. Charter had to replace the cable to the house for the same reason--we've had great internet and TV signals since then

Our mains are buried, but I'd bet somewhere in the overhead lines between the pole where the lines into our neighborhood head underground and the power plant there has been some snacking done!

Thanks Larry.

[Cofga]

I'll probably jinx myself with this but here goes. OK, so we've got about 8" of snow on the ground right now and it looks like it's stopped. We had one power outage last night for about an hour. Now we get to sit back and see what happens when the winds hit. They are predicting wind speeds of around 25-35MPH with gusts hitting 60! I'm hoping the big blows will be up on the high ridges. The really good news is that the wind is blowing in ahead of a warm front with highs the rest of the week near 50 so most of this stuff should melt off. I've shoveled the walk but I'll just sit here and wait for the drive to melt off. Good luck up on the hill bburl

[Jenn AVL]

If you are without a gas cook stove when the juice goes out, a propane camping stove for a backup is useful. Just be sure to use it with lots of ventilation and get extra propane canisters.

A few other things to have on hand: candles in candle lanterns, stick matches, powdered milk, "instant foods", gallons of drinking water, long underwear, extra blankets, flashlights, a supply of alcohol etc., firewood stacked on the porch for the wood stove Consider cheese, fruits, beef jerky (for the carnivores), and crackers for simple survival foods.