Hansey
5825
So I saw an article titled “16 shows to binge watch during the blizzard”. It’s ostensibly meant to be a list of TV shows to watch while you’re stuck indoors during the storm, but I think it’s cute they think I’m going to actually have power to do such a thing. CMP supposedly stands for “Central Maine Power” but in reality it’s “Can’t Maintain Power.”
Here on the southern coast of Maine we’re expecting 18 inches of snow and high winds. I am really hoping we don’t lose power, but CMP’s track record is not great. I have all the things charged that need charging and will probably crank the heat in the morning to make the house as hot as possible ahead of any power failures. Fingers crossed.
You know to leave your faucet running at a trickle, yea?
abrandt
5828
After losing power for several days a few summers ago(derecho blew through in the middle of the night meaning the tree in my front yard that fell onto my power lines wasn’t a priority when the power outage was that widespread) I’ve been terrified of an extended loss of power during the winter. I really should get a generator for the peace of mind alone. Anyway, I empathize with your situation and hope if the lights go out it’s a brief one!
Although my install turned into a bout of a nightmare and took months to get resolved, I’d recommend talking to Costco. While my installer was crap, Costco CS was great throughout the whole process. The price was great and even though they ended up doing considerable extra work, I didn’t pay extra (if the estimator had done their job properly, it probably would have cost more)
Yeah, same problem in Boston area. I’m assuming power will be out, and heat along with it, so my shoebox sized battery backup is charging along with all my devices. If nothing else I’ve got a big backlog of books to read and a few dogs to keep in the bed with my wife.
If we’re lucky it’ll mostly mean shoveling out 2 feet of snow in 50-60 MPH gusts of wind in 20 degree weather, which sounds like fun.
Hansey
5831
We keep meaning to get a generator installed… they’re super common here in Maine, since being without heat in the winter is pretty harsh. Additionally, lots of people have private wells instead of public water, so no power additionally means no water, since the pump can’t run. We usually have a bunch of jugs of water on hand for toilet flushing and such when the power’s out.
Anyway, our neighbor had a generator installed last year I think and said he’d hook us up with the electrician he had do his… we just haven’t gotten around to it. It’s one of those things that only ever seems important when you’re sitting around in the dark and the cold, hehe.
I’m glad we have a guy who comes and plows for us - we kind of have to since we live on a private road, so even if we wanted to shovel our own driveway (we don’t) there’s no way we’d be shoveling the entire road. There’s only three houses on our road, so he does all of us plus the road. We’ll still have to clear the walk to the front door, which I can live with.
I had the pleasure of driving into work today, the roads down here at 6am near King of Prussia / Valley Forge, were not good. (Rt 202 / Schuylkill expressway area).
DTG
5833
We bit the bullet and bought a 6000 W Honda generator this past year and had a transfer switch installed mainly for these two items. Heat and water are hard-wired so you can’t just plug them into a generator with a cord. We’re not running the A/C, electric stove or clothes dryer with it, but it get the basics done.
Wind kicking up here now in southern New England.
Yup, it’s snowing here, folks.
Need Microsoft to come in and take care of this active blizzard…
So far in Albany it is the proverbial nothing burger. Not even an inch here
orald
5836
Cooking and baking up a storm while the power lasts and it heats up the house.
Strong gusts here on the coast, snow is dry and fluffy so we will see a lot of drifting. Not quite white out conditions yet. Air temp 12° with windchill -9°
We’re taking the hit for you. Just walked the dogs a little bit outside, and checked on one of my neighbors. I made a big batch of chicken noodle soup yesterday and dropped off a big batch for her to tide her through the weekend, and she handed me a zip lock of chocolate chip cookies today. My street was completely unplowed, but due to the wind there was a section that was walkable.
It’s 16F, but feels even colder because the wind is blowing a pretty solid 20-30 MPH with much stronger gusts. There were times when I couldn’t see more than ~ 2 houses ahead of me on the street, the rest of my view was a whiteout.
My 13 year old black lab is a serious trooper, as long as he gets to see my neighbor who gives him dog treats, he’s up for anything. He’ll probably go in the back yard later today and make some snow angels.
I think the li-ion battery in the electric snowblower got wet. It’s 96 F at rest.
Maybe I have to get a metal container and put the battery in there?
Yup, that’s us, plus the septic system also needs power.
orald
5840
“Only” 1,850 without power according to Central Maine Power. Hoping the numbers stay low. Wind is howling
Hansey
5841
At the risk of jinxing myself, we have so far been fortunate enough to still have power. I think the winds are meant to be tapering off now, even though it’s supposed to continue snowing until around midnight, but we’ll see. We’re getting some gusting, but nothing too bad at the moment, thankfully.
Our plow guy has just turned up to do his first pass. I assume he’ll be back again tomorrow to do a second once the storm is fully over.
Or your plow guy could be like ours, and do a drive by salting when the storm is only 25% over , never to be seen again.
The coastline below the city and cape cod got absolutely smashed. We’re still solid.
