Power Outage

[DLANDINO]

I have just had the fear of God put into me. It is 12:30am and the power just went out. I have my tank wrapped in a comforter now to maintain temp. Luckily it is not a cold night. I think that after much debate on the gift I want this year for Christmas my mind is made up. I am headed for Cato's link from a few days ago and looking at generators. Glad I have internet on my cell. This may be a long night. Anyone else affected in the Middlesex County??

[DLANDINO]

CT Light and Power say that it could be a few hrs until power is restored. I have wraped the tank i a quilt Starting temp is 79. We'll see how this night plays out. Guess I am up for the duration.

[argi]

No power loss here and I am about 25-30 minutes from you, but I have a generator already. Are you looking at getting a portable one or one that automatically starts up?

[DLANDINO]

Hi Keith,

The power ended up coming back online at about 2:35 am. It was enough to make me want to get a generator. Now, talking myself through it this morning made me lean toward a total house system. I was lucky last night and was home, but, if it were today and the power went out now I could potentially have an all day outage and no recourse. I have had my eye on one that will turn on automatically, runs on my existing propane feed and automatically tests the lines every 2 min. then, when power is stable for 2 min, it switches off and you are back on the grid. Big dream for now I just hope I am ok while we save up a bit. I think the model I saw was nearly $4000 and that didn't include the electrician bill.

This was my generator last night :-)
http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/8088/poweroutagedec2008qf0.jpg

Dave

[argi]

I got mine for a little less than that 3 years ago, but it is a smaller unit (7 kw). Hindsight I should have gone bigger and run more items in the house. But the 7 kw runs the pump on my tank (it did run my sequence pump when I had the big tank running), two fridges, water pump, furnace and the master bedroom. Well worth the investment, especially when you are gone on vacation...it has saved my tank a few times.

[DLANDINO]

Thanks Keith you certainly made a wise investment! There was a funny scenario at play in my house at the time. Lets just say, when you live in the sticks like we do, nothing runs without power. So, the toilets were out as well. Which is why I was up in the first place at 12:35 and witnessed the power go out. It was a dark 10 minutes....! I would like to run the well pump, two fridges, one light on each floor main hall and foyer, the entire tank and a microwave.

[argi]

You don't have to worry about running the lights on the tank during an outage, even if power is out for a few days the tank will be fine. Just keep the water circulating and warm.

I meant well pump, not water pump, LOL (what was I thinking). We can take showers and flush the toilets during a power outage, well worth the investment right there, LOL.

What size generator were you looking at?

[DLANDINO]

Hahah, yeah, I meant my house lights but now that you mention it what if the lights were off for more than a few days. I guess food for thought. I was looking at this model, it may be overkill but I am no electrician. http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100628964&N=+524797+876+90401

[argi]

Only 10kw more than my system, LOL. No such thing as overkill, better to have more protection needed than not enough. That is the size I probably should have gone with, but that darn hindsight thingy.

[DLANDINO]

Yeah, so, that is my thought, the wife I am sure has a different thought. Two sides to every story... you know the drill. I am going to have some time myself as a stay at home dad when the new baby comes. 3 1/2 months and internet connection and a credit card can be interesting....

[epstein]

You jinx.......Wife just called I lost power this am........lol......But generator is in shed.......LOL......

[DLANDINO]

Hahahah, you made me call my answering machine to see if I had power. You are close to me. I am still up and running.

[pammy]

Hi Delandino. Glad your outage was short. I live in NH and lost power around 5am on Friday morning, and didn't get power back until early Monday morning. Lost every fish, 3 corals, most of my snails, etc. Have an Anemone and a bunch of coral that are now struggling to recover, and I think they will. Couple crabs and my Crocea don't appear to even have been phased. I'm gonna shop for a generator too!

Here's my thread if you are interested:

My thread on the Power Outage (http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1531495&highlight=power+outage)

Pam

[DLANDINO]

Pam, that is terrible! I am sorry for your loss! Are you going to get a generator? This is a terrible feeling to have to constantly worry. Good luck in rebuilding. I am headed to your thread now.

Dave

[mikelaubach]

A friend of mine in the hills of Fitchburg, MA lost power Friday and still does not have it!! They are looking at a few more days.

I bought a generator Sunday afternoon because of the MA ice storm. It is a Honda 3500W, used. New they are $2000+, got this one for $300. :D The gas tank needs a serious cleaning as it is solid crap at the bottom. Once I get that set up, hopefully the carb will be ok and not need a rebuild or replacement. But even if it does, it is cheap enough to be worth it. Honda's are dead reliable. Not enough to run my whole house, and maybe barely enough to run the furnace, well pump, and tank, but I could not drop a load of change like this on one right now. Get rid of the MA house and it might be a different story.

I just cannot image it being Tuesday, not having power since Friday, and no hope of getting it until a few days from now. Ouch.

[pammy]

Thanks Dave!! I really am thankful that I didn't have a 100% loss.
And I am definitely going to buy a generator!! I don't see a way around it. Pam


[QUOTE]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13954047#post13954047 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DLANDINO
[B]Pam, that is terrible! I am sorry for your loss! Are you going to get a generator? This is a terrible feeling to have to constantly worry. Good luck in rebuilding. I am headed to your thread now.

[sploke]

Are you guys taking actual power measurements when you look to size generators, or just guessing? We have a 10kW diesel generator for our farm. That runs our 1000sq ft house (with 15 fishtanks), a second 3500 sq ft house, plus a 12 stall horse barn. It will carry everything but the 10x400w HPS lights in the indoor arena. Maybe its just me, but 17kw for a single house seems insane.

[DLANDINO]

Hi Sploke, I am just guessing and appreciate your input! I will look into the less expensive 10kw. Thanks!

[argi]

How many circuits can your generator run? Does the generator take over everything in the houses for you (every socket, switch, etc...)?

[mikelaubach]

Personally, I got what was for sale used locally. :) If I could have gotten a good branded 5K or better, i would have.

Definitely good to know a 17K can all that! Holy cow.

I'll still have to look into a transfer switch, which looks like it is going to cost more than my generator did!

Just ran out for a sub, and the radio is saying 1-3" tonight with an ice storm. Great.

[saltyfishy123]

A generator is a VERY good thing, about 2 years ago when there was a turnado here in Ridgefield, a fellow reefer had a 120 SPS reef, with an amazing bellus angle, all fish died and 60 % of his rare SPS colonies, gone... Thousands of dollars of livestock gone. So you maybe spend a couple hundred now on a generator but I would say that its a must in this hobby!

[sploke]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13955011#post13955011 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by argi
How many circuits can your generator run? Does the generator take over everything in the houses for you (every socket, switch, etc...)?

Yes, the farm is far enough back from the road that we have our own transformer smack in the middle of the property. The generator shed is right next to it. When we lose power, the circuitry in the generator switches the mains feed from the transformer to the generator, and there are feed lines that go to the breaker boxes in my basement, the in-laws' basement, and the barn.

[sploke]

Oh eyah like I said the only thing that it doesn't run are the 10 HPS lights in the arena, they have a separate breaker that trips itself whenever the power goes out, so when the generator kicks on and takes over, even if they were switched on, they stay off until someone resets it. That is 4kW of light right there, so we don't use them when the genny is on obviously.

[argi]

Matt...How large is the actual generator?

[epstein]

GOT POWER AGAIN......phew

[DLANDINO]

Perfect Brain

[sploke]

It is pretty large, takes up maybe a 3x5 footprint I would say? Like I said, it has its own shed, there's a big diesel tank in there as well.