Hurricane Isaias

[JC-CT]

I will bite the bullet and get a portable one in a few weeks or whatever when they are back in stock.

Having a whole house backup would be great, my parents have one with two huge propane tanks. But just having the ability to run the fridge, AC/space heaters, and if I unhook everything else to be able to run the water heater for an hour...I think that is doable for sub $1k.

Luckily I am friends with my next door neighbors and they had their father's generator that they let me hook my fridge up to right now. Only lost the immediate perishables like meats and soft cheese and whatnot.

[BrianW]

17 minutes ago, JC-CT said:

I will bite the bullet and get a portable one in a few weeks or whatever when they are back in stock.

Having a whole house backup would be great, my parents have one with two huge propane tanks. But just having the ability to run the fridge, AC/space heaters, and if I unhook everything else to be able to run the water heater for an hour...I think that is doable for sub $1k.

Luckily I am friends with my next door neighbors and they had their father's generator that they let me hook my fridge up to right now. Only lost the immediate perishables like meats and soft cheese and whatnot.

Just get a cheap harbor freight 4500 watt portable for like $350. Mine is 10 years old and I have let so many people borrow it and it still runs great.

You can run a few cords inside and power your fridge, lights, TV, window ac etc. They don't really use much fuel. I haven't even used 5 gallons since Tuesday afternoon. I just add gas every morning and night. 

For around $600 you can get a bigger portable one to feed your whole house with a transfer switch. 

[Baroclinic Zone]

Here's a novel idea.  How about every time lines go down, we force the power companies to start burying them underground.  I live in a neighborhood with all the utilities underground.  No worries of power lines coming down.  Just the older lines outside the development.  

[klw]

9 minutes ago, BrianW said:

Just get a cheap harbor freight 4500 watt portable for like $350. Mine is 10 years old and I have let so many people borrow it and it still runs great.

You can run a few cords inside and power your fridge, lights, TV, window ac etc. They don't really use much fuel. I haven't even used 5 gallons since Tuesday afternoon. I just add gas every morning and night. 

For around $600 you can get a bigger portable one to feed your whole house with a transfer switch. 

Something like this?

https://www.harborfreight.com/4375-watt-max-starting-extra-long-life-gas-powered-generator-epa-iii-63962.html

[weatherwiz]

17 minutes ago, Baroclinic Zone said:

Here's a novel idea.  How about every time lines go down, we force the power companies to start burying them underground.  I live in a neighborhood with all the utilities underground.  No worries of power lines coming down.  Just the older lines outside the development.  

Isn't there is a huge issue with this? I feel like this has been brought up but apparently the cost to do this would be astronomical as they would have to battle the horrific "under surface" features. I think though where it is possible to do so they have done this. For example, in West Hartford I believe all of West Hartford Center has their power lines underground. 

[Cold Miser]

3 hours ago, BrianW said:

Almost all the big damage I have been seeing is from large trees well away from powerlines that came down across them. Trimming does nothing to prevent that. 

You would pretty much have to trim the trees back like 60' or so from the lines.

[mreaves]

2 hours ago, Baroclinic Zone said:

Can't justify it right now.  I think I've lost power for maybe 3-4 days total in the 16 years I've lived where I am.

I'd be looking at $5k to have one installed. 

I think I've lost power for less than half a day total in the 21 years I've lived here.  Of course, I'm around the corner from a substation so that helps.  If I was building a house and was just going to tack the $5K onto the mortgage when I was done it would be a no-brainer.  I just haven't had enough issues with power to worry about it.

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

1 hour ago, Baroclinic Zone said:

Here's a novel idea.  How about every time lines go down, we force the power companies to start burying them underground.  I live in a neighborhood with all the utilities underground.  No worries of power lines coming down.  Just the older lines outside the development.  

Same.... the issues aren’t going to be on my street... it’s the lines coming into the street.

I don’t know why we continue to play this silly game of putting the same exact poles back in that will once again be knocked over at some point.

[Cold Miser]

...I think it was said 5 or 6 years ago when we were nailed with a tropical storm, but I will attempt to reiterate it more eloquently.

...Connecticut is F*CKED if even a Cat 1 rips through the whole state. 

[tamarack]

3 hours ago, Baroclinic Zone said:

Can't justify it right now.  I think I've lost power for maybe 3-4 days total in the 16 years I've lived where I am.

I'd be looking at $5k to have one installed. 

Our 13KW Generac install was twice that, though 40% was for purchase, installation and filling of 2 hundred-gallon propane tanks, whereas you would only need a couple hundred if there's natural gas.  We finally coughed up the cash after 6-7 outages Oct-April, longest 31 hours in April with others 2-20.  Heat was never the issue with the big Jotul in the living room, but food and other things plus our no longer being young led to the decision.

[powderfreak]

Just saw Ryan’s post on FB about the CT cell phone towers starting to go dark as many only have two days of emergency battery back-up.  Yikes.  Society without working cell phones is like anarchy.

[Ginx snewx]

12 minutes ago, powderfreak said:

Just saw Ryan’s post on FB about the CT cell phone towers starting to go dark as many only have two days of emergency battery back-up.  Yikes.  Society without working cell phones is like anarchy.

Can we just mandatory that Celltowers have generator backup? What is this 1989

[CoastalWx]

And from a TS, folks. This is a larger problem though. This country needs to get its shit together with infrastructure. 

[ice1972]

17 minutes ago, Ginx snewx said:

Can we just mandatory that Celltowers have generator backup? What is this 1989

I would have thought they would have done this 9 years ago when literally the same thing happened.....BTW when I went to Home Depot today saw this....some sort of transmission line running parallel to new park avenue along the busway to Hartford.....gone.....you can see where they stop....turn around and for as far as you can see gone....so boned....so boned

See below lol

[ice1972]

[weatherwiz]

Horrific road work on 84 in West Hartford between 39A and 41 so got off in West Hartford and drive around the old stomping grounds....holy shit at the damage. Certainly nothing like the October snowstorm but definitely worse than Irene and Sandy. The size of the trees down too is quite impressive...not just West Hartford but everywhere. Just imagine what another 20 mph would do  

[powderfreak]

29 minutes ago, Ginx snewx said:

Can we just mandatory that Celltowers have generator backup? What is this 1989

Yeah I would’ve though cell towers would last at least a week if there’s a power outage.  I mean losing cell service and data in two days after a big storm/event seems like a terrible idea.  So many people rely on that, it’s almost life and death as landlines disappear.

[ice1972]

11 minutes ago, weatherwiz said:

Horrific road work on 84 in West Hartford between 39A and 41 so got off in West Hartford and drive around the old stomping grounds....holy shit at the damage. Certainly nothing like the October snowstorm but definitely worse than Irene and Sandy. The size of the trees down too is quite impressive...not just West Hartford but everywhere. Just imagine what another 20 mph would do  

It’s a lot of damage dude and if it’s not as bad as Oct 2011 it seems pretty close....I keep telling myself it’s not but then just keep seeing more and more.....I don’t remember the signals being down so long for some reason.....But maybe that’s because I wasn’t holed up in my basement for work which means I’m making more trips around town than back then as I did return to the office in Cheshire the next day....

[weatherwiz]

1 minute ago, ice1972 said:

It’s a lot of damage dude and if it’s not as bad as Oct 2011 it seems pretty close....I keep telling myself it’s not but then just keep seeing more and more.....I don’t remember the signals being down so long for some reason.....But maybe that’s because I wasn’t holed up in my basement for work which means I’m making more trips around town than back then as I did return to the office in Cheshire the next day....

I didn’t go around a large part of West Hartford...went from New Britain Ave off 39, took a right, then down Ridgewood Rd, a right into Sedgwick Rd, left on South Main, then right on Boulevard...was trying to catch 84 off west Boulevard but a huge tree blocked the street so I went down Prospect to Sisson Ave. I don’t think it was anything like the Oct snowstorm though...of course maybe there was a ton of cleanup already but that storm literally every single side street was littered with trees and limbs and it was crazy widespread. What was peak power outages in WeHa for this? Wasn’t it like 95+% in Oct?

I went to my Facebook and I found my albums from that storm! 3 albums totaling 407 pictures taken..and that was all within maybe a 3-4 mile radius? Maybe Ryan could chip in but I would say oct 2011 had much more damage overall...but like I said perhaps there was a lot of cleanup already.  

[ice1972]

I don’t know what it is about west Hartford but it’s weird that twice a big power event happened and CL&P/ES response was pretty meh initially.....that’s weird....maybe the same town liaison from 2011....

[radarman]

Two days worth of battery is a lot.  They often take up like half of the collocated equipment shed.  But many if not most cell tower sites do have gennys I think.

[RUNNAWAYICEBERG]

11 hours ago, Ginx snewx said:

Luke lives in Southington right? Yikes. Perfect example of trimming N side and not S . If they only had leadership that understood the nature of tropical storms in Ct

Nah. I’m in Southbury but we have damage that looks like that. I think Wolfie and ThunderBlizzard live in Southington.

[RUNNAWAYICEBERG]

2 hours ago, CoastalWx said:

And from a TS, folks. This is a larger problem though. This country needs to get its shit together with infrastructure. 

Yup. America’s infrastructure is awful in general and CT is at the bottom of the list. 

[RUNNAWAYICEBERG]

2 hours ago, weatherwiz said:

Horrific road work on 84 in West Hartford between 39A and 41 so got off in West Hartford and drive around the old stomping grounds....holy shit at the damage. Certainly nothing like the October snowstorm but definitely worse than Irene and Sandy. The size of the trees down too is quite impressive...not just West Hartford but everywhere. Just imagine what another 20 mph would do  

Yea. Great idea closing lanes at 6pm. Had to go down 9 and on Corbins Corner to get to WeHa. 

[Whineminster]

1 minute ago, RUNNAWAYICEBERG said:

Yup. America’s infrastructure is awful in general and CT is at the bottom of the list. 

The richest state.....with the shittiest roads.  Except for maybe RI. 

[Skivt2]

2 hours ago, powderfreak said:

Yeah I would’ve though cell towers would last at least a week if there’s a power outage.  I mean losing cell service and data in two days after a big storm/event seems like a terrible idea.  So many people rely on that, it’s almost life and death as landlines disappear.

The internet is also out all over in CT and that means no landlines either so pretty much once the cell tower goes dark you can’t even report a fire or call an ambulance because all mode of communication are gone.

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

8 minutes ago, Whineminster said:

The richest state.....with the shittiest roads.  Except for maybe RI. 

Roads are absolute trash in mass too.... at least around here.

Infrastructure in general in this country is severely lacking. It takes forever to finish any project so no real progress can be made.

If we’re looking for ways to stimulate America after Covid... an expansive nationwide infrastructure overhaul wouldn’t be a bad idea.

[RUNNAWAYICEBERG]

36 minutes ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

Roads are absolute trash in mass too.... at least around here.

Infrastructure in general in this country is severely lacking. It takes forever to finish any project so no real progress can be made.

If we’re looking for ways to stimulate America after Covid... an expansive nationwide infrastructure overhaul wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Roads, bridges, power grids...but also our mass transit. We’re an ancient society. But as long as the oligarchs keep cashing in, it’s all good apparently. 

[Amped]

 

1 hour ago, Whineminster said:

The richest state.....with the shittiest roads.  Except for maybe RI. 

Fairmount, West Virginia has   1 lane 2 way dirt roads with weeds overgrown with 10 foot jungle weeds so you can't see around corners.   Also they connect on google maps but end in the driveway of a house  that been there at least 30 years in real life.  

 

[BrianW]