Power Outage: Residential

[HalfEatenPie]

So its been three hours since a storm knocked out electricity to my local neighborhood block. There was a temporary 10 seconds of electricity burst ten minutes ago but its down again. Besides for my cell phone, I have no internet and my netbook is pretty useless without WiFi (no I don't have tethering from my phone and no battery backup systems).


Besides for the fact that this happened at possibly the worst time ever as I am moving tomorrow, what's your residential power outage system? Do you have a battery backup system? Maybe a guinea pig wheel that generates electricity? How do you prepare for the dark age?

 

[trewq]

That sucks! Honestly I have no plan for power outages as the power only ever goes out twice a year (MAX) and is only ever our for one or two hours before it's completely restored.

 

[dmmcintyre3]

I have a UPS on my desktop but it's dead in 30 min even at idle. I also have a 400 watt inverter for the car that I can use to recharge the laptops which also can act as extended batteries for Mom and Dad's iPhones.

 

[deluxehost]

We had a massive storm here today, but my backup system kicked in both times it knocked out my power. i have a dual UPS system for my laptops, and i got tethering on my phone.

 

[HostVenom - Brandon]

It takes a lot for power to go out in my area, however we do have a generator just in case power does go out. Worthwhile investment.

 

[texteditor]

I have two full-tank diesel generators in my spare bedroom wired through the UPS to kick on if/when needed, haven't had them turn on yet

The odor kinda sucks though

 

[drmike]

Well, I use to have UPS units all over the place... The batteries - SLAs are just entirely junk and dead scrap in no time.  Run time on them is embarrassing too.  Even the large ones intended for racks.

I have one 5Kw generator that runs on gasoline.  

Also have an assortment of DC generators.  Have a bicycle that is good for topping off batteries and getting exercise, especially in the winter.  Have another bike that is a DC gen set, but distills water (although in pieces).

These are for extended outages and for when I move finally to offgrid location.  Yes, I have some solar panels and windmills too

Still shopping for a few pure sine wave inverters to convert DC generated power into clean AC (wall) power.

 

[MannDude]

Camp stove, candles, canned food and water, flashlights, guns, and a first aid kit. Power may be out 10 minutes or 10 days.

A few years ago, Hurricane Ike (I think) made it as far as Indiana. We had sustained 80 mile winds for a day, and I'm nowhere near the ocean. Long story short, lot of downed trees and power outages in my area. We didn't have electricity for 5 or 6 days. Really some of the best times I've had in recent years. Sat around a fire at night eating things my current room mate and I cooked and spent a lot of time in nature. By day 5 I'd sit on the front porch with my knife and just sit there and sharpen sticks or read books or something.

 

[MannDude]

Well, I use to have UPS units all over the place... The batteries - SLAs are just entirely junk and dead scrap in no time.  Run time on them is embarrassing too.  Even the large ones intended for racks.

I have one 5Kw generator that runs on gasoline.  

Also have an assortment of DC generators.  Have a bicycle that is good for topping off batteries and getting exercise, especially in the winter.  Have another bike that is a DC gen set, but distills water (although in pieces).

These are for extended outages and for when I move finally to offgrid location.  Yes, I have some solar panels and windmills too

Still shopping for a few pure sine wave inverters to convert DC generated power into clean AC (wall) power.

I've been looking at some of those Honda generators, the ones that are supposed to be pretty quiet. Would like to get my hands on one of those.

 

[Magiobiwan]

I have a little solar panel + battery back that I can recharge phones off of if needed, and my family is thinking about getting a solar panel system for the house. My main desktop computer is a laptop with a broken built in screen, and a mint condition extended life battery. If it loses AC power, it sleeps after 5 minutes, and hibernates after 1 hour. So whatever might have been open will be safe. We don't lose power often where I live though. Mainly just during the winter if there's a BIG storm. Advantage of underground power lines in my city I suppose.

 

[wdq]

I'm very lucky. Every year or so the power will usually go out for less than a minute (usually some sort of surge from a nearby lightning strike) so that's not a real big deal at all. Every once in a while (5-10 years) the power will go out for a longer period of time as in an hour or more. 

I've considered getting a gas generator, or some sort of battery that will temporarily power my house. But since the power rarely goes out I just see it as kind of a waste of money. 

 

[shawn_ky]

Well, I use to have UPS units all over the place... The batteries - SLAs are just entirely junk and dead scrap in no time.  Run time on them is embarrassing too.  Even the large ones intended for racks.

I have one 5Kw generator that runs on gasoline.  

Also have an assortment of DC generators.  Have a bicycle that is good for topping off batteries and getting exercise, especially in the winter.  Have another bike that is a DC gen set, but distills water (although in pieces).

These are for extended outages and for when I move finally to offgrid location.  Yes, I have some solar panels and windmills too

Still shopping for a few pure sine wave inverters to convert DC generated power into clean AC (wall) power.

You are my hero!!  I wish we could have these around here... Neighbors would not be happy with a windmill going up...

We lost power last year for about 2 weeks and my house was one of the only ones that did not. We are on the same grid as a high school that's about 1/4 mile down the road. Thankful for that. BUT that means everyone ends up here.  I would like to get a generator sometime soon, but keep having outages everywhere around us and everyone buys them up quickly or the costs are up so high it's just not worth it...

 

[Eric1212]

I have two full-tank diesel generators in my spare bedroom wired through the UPS to kick on if/when needed, haven't had them turn on yet

The odor kinda sucks though

This can't be safe ^

---------

The power has been concerning this week with all the storms in Ontario Canada.. especially the flooding in Toronto area. 

I have UPS battery backups on all my equipment.. allowing for about 20minutes of use... or less at full load.

Some petrol generators could be pulled out of storage and hooked up to the home. 

With 4G tethering... assuming the antennas don't go offline, I should be good for many hours

 

[Dan]

Got a few pet dingos running a treadmill out back, we don't have power lines in Australia.

The DC's smell like a zoo.

 

[maounique]

Here power goes off many times a year, sometimes a couple of times a month, but now is good, used to be much worse, daily a few years back. Once took 18 hours and i think also more than a day, but not sure, could have been back for an hour inbetween.

Now the generator is gathering dust ont he balcony, I am not sure will start if needed, is 900 W, enough to recharge UPSes and run the fridge every 18 hours for an hour or two (18 hours can hold if not opened).

No solar power, no windmills, I live in an old area where buildings are supposed to be historic and no modification is allowed, the AC I had to hide in the balconies.

Power failures are very annoying to me, thank god are much fewer now.

 

[drmike]

I've been looking at some of those Honda generators, the ones that are supposed to be pretty quiet. Would like to get my hands on one of those.

Honda makes good everything.  You'll pay for them though   As far as quiet, well, no such beast exists.  All gen sets are fairly noisy.  

Me, I am saving up for when I have time to convert my gas guzzler to a tri-fuel setup (adding natural gas and propane as a fuel option).

I have a little solar panel + battery back that I can recharge phones off of if needed, and my family is thinking about getting a solar panel system for the house.

Good ideas   Not too terribly expensive to pick up a 25 watt panel and charge/top off a 30A+ 12V battery.  Good low cost introduction to this stuff.   30A isn't going to get you far, but with a small PMA generator could top that off from near dead in little time  (working on such a project).

ou are my hero!!  I wish we could have these around here... Neighbors would not be happy with a windmill going up...

 

I have two windmills and neither is up currently. Wind power is very hard to deal with, with traditional designs we've all seen.  When it gets really windy, the windmills aren't usable.  In low wind, not usable.  Basically good for kite flying breezy days and there aren't many of those in most places.

I do have a vertical windmill, a Savonius (sp?) design   It's hanging out waiting for me to repair it.  Something broken / jammed internally.

Mostly, I have random small watt pannels (15-50W) on various buildings on my property.  Nothing very exciting.   A garage with no electric now has some light on demand and an outside light when needed.

I have two full-tank diesel generators in my spare bedroom wired through the UPS to kick on if/when needed,

Those should be outside and ventilated.  Yeah people use kerosene (similar) in their homes for heat.  But it isn't "healthy".   I'd build (if you own) a generator building outside and sandbag it for quietness.  Add an additional muffler  to further silence it and get the fumes out of the generator building.

keep having outages everywhere around us and everyone buys them up quickly or the costs are up so high it's just not worth it...  

Look for one online  Harbor Freight has cheap import models, Ebay has random ones, Craigslist has random options.

 

[earl]

Similar thing happened to me yesterday.. the whole city had a power out for about 6 hours and I'm doing renovations on the house.. even the hotel i'm staying in did not have power in the rooms!!

Supposedly we had a months worth of rain in one day so lots of flooding around the city..

 

[texteditor]

People in my family have a genetic high tolerance for carbon monoxide, it's no big deal

 

[rds100]

I have two full-tank diesel generators in my spare bedroom wired through the UPS to kick on if/when needed, haven't had them turn on yet

The odor kinda sucks though

Does the fire department know about it?

 

[drmike]

Does the fire department know about it?

I'm not sure what is worse, his belief that his people are highly tolerant of carbon monoxide or that we expect the fire department to babysit and nitpick everything in everyones homes....