The Mother 'Effin WEATHER Thread

My plan this summer is to get a direct generator hookup installed, it doesn’t cost much if you DIY. And if you have basic understanding of electric. I plan to use this web guide, and my brother in-law who set up his a few years ago when they lost power for 7 days.

As you said the lack of water (well) and for us sewer (septic grinder pump) is just too much to handle after 2+ days.

Thanks so much for this! We’ve been researching the various ways to achieve this DIY feat, but this seems like something I could probably do, maybe with a little leg up from the father-in-law. I was under the impression it would cost me way more, a great resource.

The biggest cost seems to be the 10/4 wire, depending on the length of the run from your power panel to your generator socket you install outside, I myself am looking at a 70 ft run. And I’ll probably get 100 ft of cable ($200) to play it safe.

You can never have too much wire! :D

Keep in mind you need a beefy generator for a well pump, like 8000W. Anything with a motor is going to draw a lot amps, and that means lots of watts. If you under-supply the amperage, the motor will struggle and will eventually die, which is never cheap or convenient. Do your research.

You are correct, and its good you brought it up, it depends on the HP well pump. :)

1/2 HP well pump starting surge should be closer to 3100 watts going by this chart:

I have an older generator with 5000 watt running / 6250 surge capacity.

Yeah, Honda recommends 5k-6.5k for even a small well pump. That’s surprising, but good info to have. ‘Luckily’ we have an oil burner, so it’s power needs are covered by the wells hunger.

I am an Electrical Engineer. Yes, it’s possible to build a system designed to prevent mass outages. But it’s expensive both in initial cost and maintenance, and since cheaper designs are effective in most situations, of course they go with the cheaper ones to maximize profit and keep costumer costs low enough to be competitive.

So here is Wednesday’s NAM storm forecast for snow… D:

https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/28471658_10160180280955094_819083553118019715_n.jpg?oh=fc29d1461e4a8459d88a197db67d327a&oe=5B47DA6A

This is not NAM, lordkosc, there are rules!

Sorry.

Oh my god, 3km of snow! We’re all gonna die!

STORM = BUST

…at least for me. Forecasts were 11-14 inches just this morning. We got like two or three and none of it stuck to the roads. I can’t remember the last springish snow like this that didn’t turn out to be a major bust. It’s 2018 and weather prognostication still sucks.

Yeah, we had 4-8 inches of accumulation on deck, and so far we got…some slushy snow. Which, to be fair, is what my weather app said all along, so somebody had the right data.

I firmly believe that there was a lot of overreaction based on the proximity to last week’s (legitimately very damaging) wind storm.

Yeah we have around 6" of snow , they were predicting 8-14".

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THE JUICE IS LOOSE! I’m back, baby!!!

Finally got our power back around noon today after it went out on Friday afternoon when our neighbor’s big pine tree toppled in the wind and took out the power lines and yanked the point of attachment off the front of our house. Fortunately, everything was still connected, but we had a power line drooping into our driveway right around eye-level.

My wife took the girls to her mom’s in CT for two nights and then to a local hotel. I was okay at home on my own thanks to our neighbor who still had power and let me run an extension cord through the backyard and into my window to power my devices, a space heater, and a brand new Switch I bought special for the occasion.

On Monday, a kind-hearted, potty-mouthed Con Ed worker on loan from the Bronx came by to check out my driveway problem. At first he said he couldn’t fix it but I was handing out my wife’s Valentines Day chocolates to any and all utility workers and he had a change of heart and just fuckin’ decided to fuckin’ do it himself. He rigged a fuckin’ pully and rope off a bolt in my stone wall to just fuckin’ pull it up, you know what I mean? He was awesome.

Yesterday was an emotional roller coaster because of the impending snowstorm. First, an ambulance took our elderly neighbor to the hospital with his wife. Then a tree crew showed up in the late morning to cut the tree down off the lines. The rest of the day passed with me desperately staring out the window, hoping trucks would come. Finally, at 11pm, a platoon of Con Ed trucks arrived and got to work just as the snow was starting to fall. But when I went out to talk to them, I learned they were just there to remove the tree and clip the dead wires. They weren’t allowed to restore our power. LOW POINT.

I gave up hope and figured we’d have to wait out the storm a few more days. But when I woke up this morning at 6:45 (amazing how fast this night owl adapted to rising and going down with the sun!) I saw that there wasn’t that much snow yet and the roads were still clear. Sure enough, around 10am, some sub-contractors and Con Ed workers showed up with bucket trucks and got to work. I went out to snap photos and update our neighborhood facebook group. I watched as they jumped a secondary to back-feed the 25 (I love listening to those guys) and got us powered back up JUST in the nick of time before the snow and the roads got bad.

I still need an electrician to come out and properly re-do my point of attachment. Hoping insurance will cover that! But now we’re all freshly-showered and cozy and warm and feeling renewed gratitude for the life-giving miracle of electricity. 5 days! Our longest ever blackout by +2 days. How did they ever live without it?!

I like how you turned the experience into a story. Pretty good one, too!

Every blackout is a tragic story of hardship, perseverance, suffering, endurance, and redemption! It also has an easily spotted starting and ending point! :)

I quickly remembered from my last blackout that sundown is the worst part of every day BY FAR. Usually, it’s meaningless.

Did you know that a space heater is very good for keeping a pot of mac and cheese heated to a tasty, warm temperature? Now you do!

Nothing like the feeling when power first comes back on. I remember after Sandy, I opened the windows and blasted We are the champions at max volume and people were singing along.

And knowing is half the battle!

So glad your time in the court of the Prince of Darkness has ended! We are entering day 7 ourselves, with no estimate of when we shall no longer be required in His presence. If I can just get through one more day of work, then the weekend will feel comparatively like (dark) vacation!

Sorry to celebrate whilst you’re still languishing in despair! Hope they made progress today. BRING BACK THE FORREST JUICE!!!