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Old 06-01-2011, 08:42 AM
 
Location: Pittsburgh
1,035 posts, read 1,554,803 times
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Yesterday, it seems we had some power failures across the area. Duquesne Light claims they had intermittent power failures all across their service areas of Allegheny & Beaver counties.

I'm specifically on Mt. Washington. I was out from 5 - 630 last night, then 1130 to 2 a.m this morning ... and then for about 25 minutes this morning between 935 and 10! Not to mention, a transformer blew in the early morning hours on Grandview Avenue near the Duquesne Incline.

I hope this isn't a sign of what the summer months are going to be like, power wise. Anyone else in surrounding communities / neighborhoods have any similar issues?
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Old 06-01-2011, 08:48 AM
 
Location: Pittsburgh
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I'm in Beechview, and my power went off for a few minutes a few times overnight--mostly between midnight and 2 am. It was odd because it wasn't storming or anything, and it wasn't a big power-drawing time of day.

Last edited by fleetiebelle; 06-01-2011 at 09:06 AM..
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Old 06-01-2011, 09:01 AM
 
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
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That's weird; I haven't lost my power since the Snowpocalypse. Even with as hot as last summer I don't remember hearing anything about large blackouts. I remember reading last year also Pittsburgh has a large electric capacity from the days of the steel mills that needed a lot of power to run. Apparently the article from the Post Gazette said that this area has so much power capacity it sometimes gives extra power to other grids when their demand is high.
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Old 06-01-2011, 09:02 AM
 
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Sounds like I'm on the same circuit as you, Youngabe, the power was out about the same time . . .
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Old 06-01-2011, 09:34 AM
 
Location: Pittsburgh
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SammyKhalifa View Post
Sounds like I'm on the same circuit as you, Youngabe, the power was out about the same time . . .
One of my co-workers had the same situation. I really hope this isn't going to be a summer long trend. I'm bound to lose an electronic or two if this keeps up!
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Old 06-01-2011, 09:36 AM
 
Location: Pittsburgh
1,035 posts, read 1,554,803 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bradjl2009 View Post
That's weird; I haven't lost my power since the Snowpocalypse. Even with as hot as last summer I don't remember hearing anything about large blackouts. I remember reading last year also Pittsburgh has a large electric capacity from the days of the steel mills that needed a lot of power to run. Apparently the article from the Post Gazette said that this area has so much power capacity it sometimes gives extra power to other grids when their demand is high.
"Extra power to other grids" actually makes sense. Certain neighborhoods were only out momentarily. @fleetiebelle was only out for a minutes. My office at Station Square was only out for a minutes as well. My neighborhood though--different story! As I said, Ir really hope this isn't going to be a common summer trend.
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Old 06-01-2011, 11:22 AM
 
Location: Hempfield Twp
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Infrastructure is aging and some of the transformers can't handle it any longer. Losing power then it coming back on with that big surge (with all the fridges, AC's, pool filters, drawing extra current on start-up) the transformers are bound to start failing.
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Old 06-01-2011, 06:44 PM
 
Location: Pittsburgh area
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No power outage here yesterday in my part of Beaver County. So whatever Duquesne Light may be peddling about intermittent all over their service area, eh, sounds like BS to me to justify whatever happened to you guys. It may be they had several outages scattered all over their area, but I'm guessing those are things that are localized, not something that was at the system level. Dunno, though.

All I know is our power here at the house is extremely reliable. I remember a thunderstorm a few weeks ago where the power actually was off for, oh, maybe a whole 2 minutes. I remember distinctly because I was starting a load of laundry. D'oh! I grabbed for a flashlight, started wondering what to do about the laundry, etc, and the lights came back on. They also had a scheduled outage maybe a week ago. They came around the week before and left notes on the door. I still don't know what they did, didn't say. I forgot to check if they replaced my meter. I thought maybe they were replacing a transformer out on the pole, but it looks like the same one from here. Not 100% sure that wasn't it though.

I can't remember a prolonged outage since I moved out here. Maybe it helps to be closer to the nukes.
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Old 06-01-2011, 10:32 PM
 
Location: Pittsburgh, USA
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I have Allegheny/West Penn Power. Over the weekend the electric went off from 5 to 10PM. Their recording said it was out all over their service area. Traffic lights didn't work so the cops lit flares and put up stop signs. They are getting worse but nowhere near as problematic as I experienced with Duquesne Light.

In case you don't know it they have insurance to cover your items lost due to a surge or outage.
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Old 06-01-2011, 11:05 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by youngabe View Post
I hope this isn't a sign of what the summer months are going to be like, power wise. Anyone else in surrounding communities / neighborhoods have any similar issues?
I doubt it. Our transformer isn't big enough for our street. My street blows the power multiple times each summer. We haven't blown power yet this year.

Then again, we haven't turned on our airconditioning yet. I think most of my neighbors like to tough it out at the beginning of summer.

Maybe it is a sign of the summer to come for you! Sorry! But let me assure you that it sucks much worse to lose power in the winter than the summer.
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