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No Power For 7 Days, Millions In Shelters, My Car Wash Is Open

12K views 98 replies 30 participants last post by  SD330i 
#1 ·
I'm at 163 Hours 27 Minutes without electricity. My son has strep-throat. My daughter is going stir-crazy. It's 40 degrees in the bedroom at night.

Worst of all is that my F30 is dirty, hasn't been washed in 10 days. The car wash that I trust just re-opened. No line. I want to wash Luxy but feel guilty.

What should I do?

BJ
 
#2 ·
I'm at 163 Hours 27 Minutes without electricity. My son has strep-throat. My daughter is going stir-crazy. It's 40 degrees in the bedroom at night.

Worst of all is that my F30 is dirty, hasn't been washed in 10 days. The car wash that I trust just re-opened. No line. I want to wash Luxy but feel guilty.

What should I do?

BJ
If there's no line, negotiate a lower price. I can't believe you had to ask.
 
#3 ·
I'm at 163 Hours 27 Minutes without electricity. My son has strep-throat. My daughter is going stir-crazy. It's 40 degrees in the bedroom at night.

Worst of all is that my F30 is dirty, hasn't been washed in 10 days. The car wash that I trust just re-opened. No line. I want to wash Luxy but feel guilty.

What should I do?

BJ
Why feel guilty? Everything else is completely out of your control.
 
#4 ·
Take your kids and make the "Washing of Luxy" a family event.
Then evey year celebrate the anniversary of the First Car Wash after the Event :)

At least it will signal to your kids that things are slowly going back to normal, after this long without their video games, phones and other power eating gizmos they might find the field trip exciting.
 
#5 ·
I'm at 163 Hours 27 Minutes without electricity. My son has strep-throat. My daughter is going stir-crazy. It's 40 degrees in the bedroom at night.

Worst of all is that my F30 is dirty, hasn't been washed in 10 days. The car wash that I trust just re-opened. No line. I want to wash Luxy but feel guilty.

What should I do?

BJ
what happened to your plan of going to hotel? I thought you had that setup BJ. Man I can't even imagine being without electricity that long. Compared to you my issue is actually minor.

My CA is in NJ he was suppose to get the plates for my car by now. He just called he said he has the plates but not sure if he can get them to me by tomorrow. Temp plates expire tomorrow. :yikes:
 
#6 ·
Hand wash it yourself. It's good exercise and mental therapy.
 
#9 ·
+1. I did that Saturday, not least to give the neighbors an opportunity to have a much-needed laugh at the expense of "that nut who's always washing his BMW."

I am at 161 hours without electricity myself (and the mayor lives across the street, so you know it's serious ;)). A fireplace and a gas-fired water heater have, thankfully, kept the whole experience classifiable more as "substantial inconvenience" than "hardship." I am however eyeing the dwindling supply of clean clothing (or growing backlog of laundry, if you prefer) with increasing concern. In a few more days, steps must be taken, if only for the benefit of those downwind. :)

(Speaking of fireplaces: Are there none in the BJ estate? Is the hot water heater electric? Given recent temperatures I would have hoped you'd be a bit warmer. I hope service is restored to your area soon--I know some folks in Ramsey who came on line Saturday but the grid is such a patchwork right now, proximity is almost meaningless.)
 
#10 ·
I'm at 163 Hours 27 Minutes without electricity. My son has strep-throat. My daughter is going stir-crazy. It's 40 degrees in the bedroom at night.

Worst of all is that my F30 is dirty, hasn't been washed in 10 days. The car wash that I trust just re-opened. No line. I want to wash Luxy but feel guilty.

What should I do?

BJ
You should not feel guilty at all. Spending money and consuming is an important part of the economy. If nobody goes to the car wash then the owner won't have any money to spend on the things he normally does. Its a vicious cycle.

If you have the means to get your car washed and they have the means wash your car then go for it.
 
#11 ·
On Sunday morning, we called the house from our hotel and found out the power was back up, since the phone machine started working. We checked Con Eds online listing, and it still showed outages in our area. We checked out of the hotel and came home, and it was a real pleasure just having electric and heat and stuff. Then, this morning, while my wife was out checking the mailbox, a ConEd guy in a van asked her if we had power.

My wife was not excessively polite about telling him that yeah, it came on sometime while we were away.

We are still awaiting the robo call that our power was back on.

Con Ed really dropped the ball up here in Westchester.
 
#19 ·
On Sunday morning, we called the house from our hotel and found out the power was back up, since the phone machine started working. We checked Con Eds online listing, and it still showed outages in our area. We checked out of the hotel and came home, and it was a real pleasure just having electric and heat and stuff. Then, this morning, while my wife was out checking the mailbox, a ConEd guy in a van asked her if we had power.

My wife was not excessively polite about telling him that yeah, it came on sometime while we were away.

We are still awaiting the robo call that our power was back on.

Con Ed really dropped the ball up here in Westchester.
Maybe I'm dense, but I'm not quite understanding how they "dropped the ball". You, along with millions of other people just went through the storm of the century, leaving billions of dollars in damages, millions of trees downed, floods and all other sorts of mayhem. In spite of all of this, they got your electricity back in something like 6 days. That strikes me as nearly miraculous. We had a week long power outage here last summer caused by a 5 minute long severe thunderstorm accompanied by a strong microburst. It took crews from 8 states almost 2 weeks to fix all the damage. I can't imagine what they're dealing with on the east coast right now.
 
#12 ·
Why would you take a BMW to a car wash? Free swirl marks with every wash??

I've got a CR Spotless Water system, it deionizes the water. Just use a microfiber mitt, horizontal directional motion, one-way, like as if you were painting. Wash mitt while you're making passes, so no dirt buildup on mitt. No soap, just water to get dirt off with mitt, then the deionized water to spray off "dirty" water. It air dries with no water spots, any spots are from the "dirty" water that wasnt deionized, or you missed a spot cleaning.

I bought the system from Costco, but you can buy it straight from the company, as with the refills. Easily cheaper than going to a carwash, and I know some buffoon didn't scratch or **** my car up in the process.
 
#16 ·
Trust me, I'm going to give tonight's 28 degrees a try and make a decision tomorrow.

We own a beach house in Maine, can be up there in 5 hours, nice and warm, no charge. Problem is that the electric company keeps promising "tomorrow" as the restoration date and the kids go back to school on Wednesday.

Might do the Mahwah Sheraton if we can't take another night.

BJ
 
#15 ·
This is why it is important to get the cold weather package. You can just sit in your car, turn on the seat warmers and heated steering wheel. Problem solved. hah

Hope you get your power back soon!
 
#17 ·
Living in florida I have been hit with many hurricanes and without power for days in 80-90 degree weather with the humidity high, we have never had the gas shortage or having to go on a certain day to fill up.I hope all gets better for all of you living without power in this cold weather.stay warm guys

Sent from my PG86100 using Bimmer App
 
#26 ·
I'm right there with you OP. I live in central NJ and we're still without power. No kids yet but my wife is 9 months pregnant and is due next week. We're lucky to have a generator that can power the whole house but we're running the bear minimum to conserve gas. Thankfully the lines have eased up a bit now that more stations are getting power. But it's really going to suck if my wife goes into labor and we have to bring the baby back to a powerless house. Both of our parents' are out of power too so we're really hoping things can get back to normal asap. I try not to complain with the coast getting pummeled beyond recognition , but this is really starting to wear on us. Not to mention the F30 hasn't been washed in over 2 weeks :doh:
 
#39 · (Edited)
If my family had no power I would readily drive 2+ hours each way to get a generator and at least get some electricity working for essentials. If I was a man of BJ's means I would post an ad on Craigslist and offer a $200 delivery fee to anyone willing to pick up a generator and deliver it. You buy the generator on a credit-card and pay someone to bring it to your door along with a few 5 gallon gas cans.

Better yet, make the manservant do it.
 
#41 ·
+1 Seems like some will always find a excuse.
cheers
vern
 
#49 ·
Good to hear you guys have power again before the northeaster hits! Good luck with the cold
 
#51 ·
My power was restored last night but it's been on/off/on/off for the past 6 hours. Either they're getting more people online or the weather's taking out more trees. I've got the steam heat cranked so that if it goes out again we'll make it through the night.

BJ
 
#56 ·
We live in Ramsey and were w/o power from Monday to Sunday night. Since my office in NYC and our local HS were also powerless, we made the decision to bail on Wednesday morning and head for our beach house in NC.
Our house is an 1890 Victorian, steam heat also, but I have a small 3000kw, very quiet & efficient Honda generator that will run for 20 hours on 3-1/2 gals of gas. I ordered it after last Octobers storm and it is the perfect fit for my needs.
The biggest problem a lot of my neighbors had was finding enough gas for their gen that burned 1/2 gal per hour.
 
#57 ·
We live in Ramsey and were w/o power from Monday to Sunday night. Since my office in NYC and our local HS were also powerless, we made the decision to bail on Wednesday morning and head for our beach house in NC.
Our house is an 1890 Victorian, steam heat also, but I have a small 3000kw, very quiet & efficient Honda generator that will run for 20 hours on 3-1/2 gals of gas. I ordered it after last Octobers storm and it is the perfect fit for my needs.
The biggest problem a lot of my neighbors had was finding enough gas for their gen that burned 1/2 gal per hour.
Very glad to hear you made it through okay.

I joyride through Ramsey at least once a week, nice town. My house is from 1910 with great steam heat which I couldn't get going. But the gas fireplace kept us warm, the gas stove let us cook, the gas water heater let us wash.

Question: Is your 3000kw generator enough to get the boiler to heat the whole house, keep the refrigerator going, light the rooms, and give you at least 1 TV to watch? In the end, those 10 days without power it really boiled down to those things- whole house steam heat, lights, fridge, 1 TV. Would have been just fine if we had that minimum.

BJ
 
#54 ·
I'm at 163 Hours 27 Minutes without electricity. My son has strep-throat. My daughter is going stir-crazy. It's 40 degrees in the bedroom at night.

Worst of all is that my F30 is dirty, hasn't been washed in 10 days. The car wash that I trust just re-opened. No line. I want to wash Luxy but feel guilty.

What should I do?

BJ
Wipe down EVERY touchable surface in your house with antibacterial wipes. Strep is REAL catchy.

Change everyone's toothbrushes and toothpaste too.
 
#58 · (Edited)
An LCD TV needs about 100-150 watts. High efficiency light bulbs are 10-15 watts each. Newer refrigerator is about 60-150 watts when the compressor is running, which is not all the time.

I can't speak to your other items, but 1000 watt cheap generator from Costco (a good Honda, etc) should be able to provide more than enough power to "live on" for at least several days assuming you have enough fuel to operate it.

//update

This looks like exactly what you need. Runs on natural gas and produces more than enough power to run your entire home for an extended period of time as long as gas lines are still operable... and if those go down it can run on light propane, which should be very readily available at lots of places.

http://www.costco.com/Cummins-Onan-...tomatic-Transfer-Switch.product.11628795.html

For a man of your means this should be a no brainer.

However, this little Yamaha puts out up to 2000 watts which is more than enough for the "essentials".

http://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-EF2000...id=1352868464&sr=8-1&keywords=honda+generator
 
#59 ·
Awesome, thanks so much.

I've got a plumber and an electrician coming later this week to size up my needs and strategize a solution. Must be natural gas, not interested in any gasoline lines. As ish pointed out, not interested in my neighbor's situation where he had to conserve generator usage because it swallowed gasoline so quickly. To your point, I may not need much power because really it's just the boiler to get the radiators warm, a couple dozen lights, and a FiOS DVR/HDTV setup.

Thanks again.

BJ
 
#61 · (Edited)
If boiler and water heat are electric, it will use a LOT of power. A boiler could easily pull 3-5,000 watts or more if it was electric.

The big natural gas genny that Costco is selling is actually a bargain. It puts out 50 amps and provides seamless switchover when utility power is interrupted. It is tied directly into the house mains so its like nothing even happened when the power goes down. That's what I would do if I was concerned about periodic storm outages.
 
#63 · (Edited)
BJ - the 3000 was enough to run 2 ref, 1 LCD tv. Cable Fios box, Internet router, gas fireplace controls and therm and a couple of lights. ( I also ran a toaster, lol ) I didn't connect my boiler because we left town before it got really cold but it could easily handle it as it is just control equip, damper etc.

This unit can also be set up with an ATS, but for now I was running 2 12ga extension cords from my barn to the cellar.

If you have the money for a whole house genset than do that instead, but the Honda was $1800, it has suited my needs, and I can set it up at either house.
 
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