Around 3:30 this morning the house went silent, the sort of abrupt silence that only happens when the power goes out. After determining that it was not just our place but the whole neighborhood, I cranked up the 10 hour brown noise file on my phone and went back to sleep. It was pretty fitful sleep but I got a few Zs.
As it happens, some chick “fell asleep” on a nearby road and crashed into a pole. Local news had a picture….
Maybe she really fell asleep, maybe she was just hammered. We get lots of accidents out this way, many involving alcohol, because the sideroads are so quiet that people drive like maniacs.
Life goes on although my desktop and the internet were out until almost 2 PM. On the bright side, we did get a chance to try out the generator on the house line. If you recall we had a power outage in July of last year (see: Prepper Fail) and it took us a long time to figure out why our brand new generator that we never tested wasn’t starting. After that we made sure everything was up to snuff and bought a line to hook the generator into the house. Fired it up this morning and we had running water again and the fridge was working. Some stuff doesn’t run off of that box, I don’t really understand it, but that meant no stove which wasn’t the end of the world. I probably could have run my computer but it is an expensive rig so I figured better to just leave it off until the line crews got the power running again. Thus my absence so far today.
Maybe more posting tonight, more likely not until tomorrow, but I am glad to see we learned some lessons from last July and this power outage went a lot smoother.
At first I thought that you were going to regale us with an amusing story about breadcrumbs, foraging for spare copper at the local substation, managed to get something across two of the three phases. Or something like that.
Some stuff doesn’t run off of that box, I don’t really understand it,
That must not be your main breaker box then…If you ever need help on stuff like that don’t hesitate to reach out…
My thoughts as well. Must be feeding a sub panel with the genset. Have a similar arrangement at my Mom’s house, big weather rate inlet box outside, and a 40A 240v feed off the genny to the sub panel (where all critical loads to be on backup were homed at my direction when the load centers were replaced years ago). Pull up the generator when needed, plug it in, start, then throw a manual transfer switch that fully isolates the sub from the main panel.
👍🏻 Might be out your way next month if you want to meet up let me know…
Recommend. Lineman is a stand-up guy.
Thanks Brother and the same for you…
I just saw this on noticing the thread had a couple of new comments on the count, while battling insomnia. Yes, I’ll figure out a way to get in touch (may just have to drop an email address in a comment) and see if a meet up can be arranged.
About 5 years ago installed a 22 kw Generac natural gas backup. It’s been an awesome thing to have as we have had three major events in the last 10 years with prolonged outages.
Just prepping for outside the box things: The back up generator is fantastic as long as gas transmission continues.
But I decided to put together a couple of solar rigs to keep all my ice boxes running in a prolonged SHTF. Not horribly expensive either at Harbor Freight (I know, it’s Chink stuff, but the Thunderbolt brand works pretty well).
It’s basically 4 100 watt panels, controller, 3 lead acid batteries and a 2,000 watt inverter. Not terribly hard for a novice to figure out, I wish I had the electrical expertise the other guys do. But fairly simple to put together and operate. I have two complete rigs of the above mentioned and could definitely power my refrigerators, freezers, and a few other luxury items.
I have a 13kW natgas Generac with ATS I installed in 2008. Has been rock solid reliable, although not all that frequently used since then (go figure, once I had it put in, utility got a lot more reliable). I have a portable gasoline genset as well, as a fallback in case of loss of natgas service, or catastrophic failure of the Generac. As the saying goes, two is one, one is none.
Hell yeah brother. I have a small fleet of gasoline generators from 800 to 6500 watts and try to keep at least 120+ gallons of ethanol free on hand. It’s a bitch rotating, but gives me the warm fuzzies. Keep stacking my friend!
Those are the two I have at my place. Also have two gasoline portables (5500W and 7500W) in the shed at my mom and brother’s place (10 mins away) both with custom made interconnect cords hanging there ready to go for easy hookup; no extension cord through the window BS here.
The 7500W was a freebie Chinese knockoff Honda I was given that needed a new carb, AVR and fuel tank. Once I gave it the proper Ruckus treatment, it ran great. It will run the A/C, the smaller one will run the critical stuff (lights, outlets, fridges, and furnace blower, since heat, hot water, clothes dryer and stove are all natgas).
I also keep a cabinet full of spare parts for my Generac: controller board, charger, starter, ignition coils, gas regulator assy, flexible fuel supply hose, hard copy of the factory service manual, plus all the regular routine maintenance parts. Also keep a set of spare transfer switch solenoid coils, in case they burn out rendering the ATS inoperative (which can happen very easily in a brownout if the transfer switch gets hung up partway through it’s travel due to under voltage)
Of course all of this is useful only in a typical “civilized” power failure scenario where there won’t be roving bands of marauders around trying to loot and sheeeit. But in those circumstances, it’s probably best to just bug out to a less diverse locale instead of trying to keep the lights on.
Forgot to mention, get PRI-G as a gasoline stabilizer additive. Stuff is way better than STA-BIL, I treat all my stored gas with it and have and nearly 2 year old gas (with ethanol even) still run fine in both small engines and vehicles. There is also PRI-D for diesel. I buy it in gallon jugs, it goes a long way at the proper mix ratio.
Concur Pri D and G are great…
“Maybe she really fell asleep, maybe she was just hammered.”
THIRD POSSIBILITY: A “Died Suddenly” scenario causing an MI (heart attack) in a young, apparently healthy woman.
Who was, invariably, COVID vaccinated.
Yea starting to see it more and more and everytime it happens I think yep the vaxx got another one… Nothing will ever be said about it though and so it doesn’t happen… Finding dead people in your workplace will become the norm…
The insurance industry knows (but aren’t telling); morticians also know but are curiously silent. Probably have been threatened.
Insurers are paying out massive dollars in death benefits for the 21-40 year age brackets; this is a 40X (not 40%, but 40 TIMES) expected death rate in these white collar, low-risk-of-death, workers.
Yet, nobody will connect the dots…..
As the human immune system progressively attenuates the death rates will accelerate. Watch late 2024-2025.
Where else did Deagel get their 100M U.S. population figures from?
Yeah, I keep wondering where the threshold is at for this to become a major issue amongst the proles. The denial is strong and deep so far, as is the willful suppression of the data from the public consciousness, but if the acceleration in death rates continues to pick up pace (and appears not to be abating at all), I have to think it will finally “click” at some point.
I really don’t know what happens then, as I’ve stopped bothering to predict when – or even if – an angry revolt will take place. Obviously my standards are way too high, because I think it should’ve happened 20 years ago, and yet here I am still fucking around wondering when.
Stove is 220v and i would bet your generator is either only 110v or your only feeding power into one leg of your panel.
Generator and fuel mandatory for rural.
Back from Pineland area study best yet.
Found a hidden rusty deer stand two story no planks/boards at top level tied to tree and brackish swamp.
Now I know where the thorn bushes are as well.
Been a while since we had power go out for very long. Good network here.
The Ass’t Admin for FEMA during Katrina was asked what lessons he took away; he said that “Katrina taught me to always have two things: a generator and a gun.” (paraphrasing).
A libtard reporter, aghast at the word “gun” asked why he’d need one.
“To defend the generator,” he said.
Dumbasses.
That’s why my backup is battery/solar. I’m not advertising to the world that I have power.
It takes a pretty big generator to run both a well pump and an electric stove. When we used a whole-home emergency generator years ago we were not able to run both off of a 16k kw generator. Ground up solution is propane powered gennie for the well, and then propane stove/hot water heater on a separate propane tank and wood stove for heat. Although we used our huge wood stove-top to cook a good bit during outages when we lived up in the Idaho panhandle years ago. Our current situation strives to eliminate the need for macro-grid through various means none of which include solar which we believe is not a real solution. That said, if you’re using a generator, the transfer panel is definitely the way to go.
if you’re using a generator, the transfer panel is definitely the way to go.
Yea keeps us safe from back feed out here when we are getting your power back on😉
That’s the route I took. The panel was fitted with an interlock plate such that the generator breaker couldn’t be closed unless the main breaker was open.
👍🏻