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

Originally Posted by thegandalf

Good to hear you guys have power again before the northeaster hits! Good luck with the cold

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

I envy you guys that got your power back. In some part of the Bronx we are still waiting. But at least we are ok.

Originally Posted by boltjaM3s

I've been looking into natural gas powered generators as it's my natural gas that's worked perfectly throughout the storm keeping one room warm and allowing us to have hot water and a stove.

BJ

Thats all well and good until they shut off the power and GAS like they did in our shore home to prevent possible fires. Good luck
cheers
vern

Originally Posted by boltjaM3s

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.

Originally Posted by 86hawki

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

Change everyone's toothbrushes and toothpaste too.

Thank you, will do.

BJ

Originally Posted by boltjaM3s

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

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.

Originally Posted by ish

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

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-R....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-EF2000i...onda+generator

Originally Posted by voip-ninja

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-R....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-EF2000i...onda+generator

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

Originally Posted by boltjaM3s

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

Is the boiler powered by electricity?

CA

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.

Originally Posted by captainaudio

Is the boiler powered by electricity?

CA

Originally Posted by voip-ninja

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.

The boiler is powered by gas, but electricity is needed to move the damper and air circulator. One of my frustrations for the 10 days we were out of power was that the boiler was warm and the pilot light was lit, just couldn't manually crank it up and get it to provide strong steam.

The hot water heater functioned as if there were no blackout at all during the blackout. Had unlimited hot water, powered by gas as well.

BJ

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.

Originally Posted by ish

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.

These types of storms are so rare I'd rather not spend $6K if I don't have to.

The $1800 Honda still requires gasoline....is there a version of it that runs on natural gas or are the only natural gas models very large and thus very expensive?

BJ

Originally Posted by boltjaM3s

These types of storms are so rare I'd rather not spend $6K if I don't have to.

The $1800 Honda still requires gasoline....is there a version of it that runs on natural gas or are the only natural gas models very large and thus very expensive?

BJ

BJ did you get in to see your summer home yet? We are going in this coming Saturday to see ours. From the pictures I don't see any damage. They cut off the Electric and Gas so we have to winterize. Good luck
cheers
vern

The Honda runs on gas, but is so much more efficent that all the other, I didn't mind.
3-1/2 gals for 20 hours of run time, I keep the tank full + 3 5 gal cans and I'm good for a long time.
I also now keep a siphon hose in the barn in case I need to take fuel from one of my cars.

I'm not sure about the propane or Nat gas, but google it and see what comes up!

Originally Posted by boltjaM3s

These types of storms are so rare I'd rather not spend $6K if I don't have to.

The $1800 Honda still requires gasoline....is there a version of it that runs on natural gas or are the only natural gas models very large and thus very expensive?

BJ

BJ and all 'Festers,

Glad to hear that most , if not all of you are getting back your power. And life is returning back to somewhat normalcy Just saw on our Local San Diego News, that our local Power company San Diego Gas and Electric sent crews back East to New York and I am assuming New Jersey. They have an agreement with ConEd to provide extra techs to help out in disaster situations. They just got back last night. They had no time off , and were working 16 hour days In fact, I will be in New Jersey from Novemeber 28 to December 14th for Sales Training at my Pharmaceutical Company. We are located in Bridgewater NJ. Fly into Newark. I don't know NJ well, am I anywhere near you guys ? Did that part of NJ have much damage or power problems. I was back there 2 years ago, I am looking forward to a couple weeks on the East Coast. Good luck with all the issues you are all dealing with

Originally Posted by SD330i

BJ and all 'Festers,

Glad to hear that most , if not all of you are getting back your power. And life is returning back to somewhat normalcy Just saw on our Local San Diego News, that our local Power company San Diego Gas and Electric sent crews back East to New York and I am assuming New Jersey. They have an agreement with ConEd to provide extra techs to help out in disaster situations. They just got back last night. They had no time off , and were working 16 hour days In fact, I will be in New Jersey from Novemeber 28 to December 14th for Sales Training at my Pharmaceutical Company. We are located in Bridgewater NJ. Fly into Newark. I don't know NJ well, am I anywhere near you guys ? Did that part of NJ have much damage or power problems. I was back there 2 years ago, I am looking forward to a couple weeks on the East Coast. Good luck with all the issues you are all dealing with

What Pharm. Co.? My daughter inlaw works for Merk.
chees
vern

Originally Posted by vern

BJ did you get in to see your summer home yet? We are going in this coming Saturday to see ours. From the pictures I don't see any damage. They cut off the Electric and Gas so we have to winterize. Good luck
cheers
vern

My Summer home is up on the coast of Maine, and the people who handle it for me and winterize told me that it came through without a scratch. Storm was just weaker up there.

Hope all is well for you on Saturday. What town? We almost bought in Lavalette last summer.

BJ

Originally Posted by ish

The Honda runs on gas, but is so much more efficent that all the other, I didn't mind.
3-1/2 gals for 20 hours of run time, I keep the tank full + 3 5 gal cans and I'm good for a long time.
I also now keep a siphon hose in the barn in case I need to take fuel from one of my cars.

I'm not sure about the propane or Nat gas, but google it and see what comes up!

Thanks, will do.

The one blessing that we had during the 10 days we lost power is that we didn't have to wait on any gasoline lines. Just not something I want to do if this ever happens again. Most everything else ran on gas during the blackout, hoping to find a generator that can do likewise. Hopefully they make one that's pretty small.

BJ

Originally Posted by SD330i

BJ and all 'Festers,

Glad to hear that most , if not all of you are getting back your power. And life is returning back to somewhat normalcy Just saw on our Local San Diego News, that our local Power company San Diego Gas and Electric sent crews back East to New York and I am assuming New Jersey. They have an agreement with ConEd to provide extra techs to help out in disaster situations. They just got back last night. They had no time off , and were working 16 hour days In fact, I will be in New Jersey from Novemeber 28 to December 14th for Sales Training at my Pharmaceutical Company. We are located in Bridgewater NJ. Fly into Newark. I don't know NJ well, am I anywhere near you guys ? Did that part of NJ have much damage or power problems. I was back there 2 years ago, I am looking forward to a couple weeks on the East Coast. Good luck with all the issues you are all dealing with

Thank you for the kind words, and while no one is talking about it much the effort that was given by the people from out-of-state to repair our problems was fantastic.

I am up in Northern New Jersey, about 30 minutes away from Bridgewater. Bridgewater is a really nice area but inland, I don't think the storm affected it that much down there.

Have a great visit, if you're lonely I can come down and give you a ride in my Luxury liner.

BJ

Originally Posted by boltjaM3s

Thanks, will do.

The one blessing that we had during the 10 days we lost power is that we didn't have to wait on any gasoline lines. Just not something I want to do if this ever happens again. Most everything else ran on gas during the blackout, hoping to find a generator that can do likewise. Hopefully they make one that's pretty small.

BJ

Pretty much all of the generator backups that can run on propane and natural gas are pad units that look like an air conditioner, they are typically piped directly in to specific circuits in the house, so that when an electrical interruption is detected they turn on and take over.

Cheaper ones are $1500-$2000 and the more expensive ones can run upwards of $10K. Look at it this way, you are going to spend $500-$1000 or more having it installed (more than likely)... it might not make sense to cheap out on something, that even while it doesn't get used often, you expect it to work even if your next big electrical problem does not happen for 10 years.

Lower end units may or may not provide enough power for the entire home. Your electrician should be able to help you get an idea of your max draw, and ideally you simply get a generator that can handle everything other than really high usage appliances (electric clothes dryer, etc). The bigger/heavier units can put out upwards of 10,000 watts and some of them can also provide power on your 220V circuits so that even electric ovens and clothes dryers continue to operate during an outage.

Worst thing would be to get something with a poor reliability record, go through all of the trouble and then when you have another episode, find out that the unit is no longer functional. Another factor to consider is noise level, some of the cheaper units are quite noisy (think lawnmower engine)... so you might want to get an idea of the relative noise level... your neighbors won't be too happy with you if you have a super loud generator cranking during an extended power outage.

To put it another way, someone in your neighborhood probably has the higher end generator backup and feels, after this storm, that it's the best money they've ever spent.

We were very lucky on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. We were surrounded by devasatation but the storm had very little impact on our area.

We are now at our winter escape at The Boca Raton Resort and Club until Christmas.
We will be in NYC for the holidays and will return to Florida after Jan 1st.

CA

Originally Posted by boltjaM3s

My Summer home is up on the coast of Maine, and the people who handle it for me and winterize told me that it came through without a scratch. Storm was just weaker up there.

Hope all is well for you on Saturday. What town? We almost bought in Lavalette last summer.

BJ

Lavalette. A friend took pictures from a helicopter and they showed little or no damage. So far our main concern is the rotten food in the refrigerator.
cheers
vern

Originally Posted by voip-ninja

Pretty much all of the generator backups that can run on propane and natural gas are pad units that look like an air conditioner, they are typically piped directly in to specific circuits in the house, so that when an electrical interruption is detected they turn on and take over.

Cheaper ones are $1500-$2000 and the more expensive ones can run upwards of $10K. Look at it this way, you are going to spend $500-$1000 or more having it installed (more than likely)... it might not make sense to cheap out on something, that even while it doesn't get used often, you expect it to work even if your next big electrical problem does not happen for 10 years.

Lower end units may or may not provide enough power for the entire home. Your electrician should be able to help you get an idea of your max draw, and ideally you simply get a generator that can handle everything other than really high usage appliances (electric clothes dryer, etc). The bigger/heavier units can put out upwards of 10,000 watts and some of them can also provide power on your 220V circuits so that even electric ovens and clothes dryers continue to operate during an outage.

Worst thing would be to get something with a poor reliability record, go through all of the trouble and then when you have another episode, find out that the unit is no longer functional. Another factor to consider is noise level, some of the cheaper units are quite noisy (think lawnmower engine)... so you might want to get an idea of the relative noise level... your neighbors won't be too happy with you if you have a super loud generator cranking during an extended power outage.

To put it another way, someone in your neighborhood probably has the higher end generator backup and feels, after this storm, that it's the best money they've ever spent.

Agreed.

I'll know more later this week when the generator guys come to my house.

BJ