Getting it on with Sandy

[SVT10th]

Well, that was interesting.
Miracle -- for the 1st time in 6 years or so, I didn't lose power in a storm.

I hope everyone else made it trhough ok. (Of course if you're reading this you still have power/instrenet, or your smartphone is still charged...)

Be Well. Stay Safe.

[390gtconv]

Well I'm running on small generator & have internet because mine comes from telephone company.
Well according to PSNH web site, my town Chester, 97% of Chester is out. Also 100% of most surrounding towns are all out. Derry has ~ 50% is out. Boy what a mess.
http://outage.psnh.com/outage/outagemap.aspx

Was worried about my enclosed car trailer & trees even though my car is still in my garage.
Come on spring.

Hoping this storm took out most of weak trees now because winter yet to come is supposed to be stormy & snowey.

[chachee52]

Well, after being sent home at noon because there was a leaf that hit someone in the head, we lost power aroud 5:15. This was a great day for us because the last few storms we lost power with the first mention of storm, so we made it a ways into the storm with power. Then we went out for drinks!!!!
Woke up around 6am so Jen could double check that there was no school and right as she grabbed my phone the power came on. 13 hours without power is pretty good.
George, if you need anything let me know!
Hope everyone else is good to go.

[390gtconv]

Thanks Todd!!!!!!
A friend in Derry has power plus our gym in Derry worst case can go shower. It's like camping. Aint no big thing. Almost brought out Coleman lantern last nite & cook weiners on wood stove. lol

[chachee52]

It's like camping. Aint no big thing. Almost brought out Coleman lantern last nite & cook weiners on wood stove. lol

That's our thinking as well. We have don't the Coleman lantern and stove in the past!! Usually I just use the grill, but it was raining pretty good last night and we got a little lazy so we just went out to eat.
Good luck!

[TorchredSVT]

survived....never lost power

todd , if you need anything let me know

[chachee52]

survived....never lost power

todd , if you need anything let me know
Ian. we're good. back to work and power on. Drove past one of my friend's parents house this morning. Lets just say dad's getting a new truck. F350 was standing only a few inches off the ground with a big pine tree on top. Went through the gaae roof and three season porch too. main house was ok.

[whtmare]

made it thru the whole thing last night with no loss of power, went out at 10 am wtf???? ran on genne power for the day now power is back on mabey the kids can get to trick or treat this year!

[Jibber]

Im back on. Lost it for about 24 hours. Generator came in handy once again. If this stuff keeps up, I'm going whole house generator next. Crazy stuff.

[TorchredSVT]

im thinking i might need to invest in a generator now that I am an home owner.......i have no idea though what kind is good , bad or whatever

[ToplessPony94]

Generac. I would never buy anything else. Stingy on fuel so they run a long time. Always start on first or second pull. Very dependable and the engines are bulletproof.

That said, once again mine is in service. Lost power about 9PM Monday. Don't expect it back before the weekend. This is getting old. Everyone within 1/8 mile of us always gets power back at least 2 days before we do. Sucks! I wired up for "whole house" about 4 years ago - makes life tolerable as we have heat, hot water, a working kitchen, TV & internet when we choose to. A couple of rooms have no power, but that's not a big deal.

[390gtconv]

Bruce, "run time" is only as good as the size of the fuel tank...
My street in Chester and east Derry still out. I'm running a small Coleman gen with a Briggs engine. One pull start. I had just serviced it last week (oil & air filter change). After this week of running, another oil change and then ready for real winter storms, again. I have PLENTY of wood so heat no issue.

[390gtconv]

im thinking i might need to invest in a generator now that I am an home owner.......i have no idea though what kind is good , bad or whatever
First figure out what you'll NEED to run. Get a couple of quotes from electricians and have installed correctly. They'll tell you at least what size based on what you want to have on. I'm sure you ask 10 people, you'll get 10 diff answers.

[ToplessPony94]

Bruce, "run time" is only as good as the size of the fuel tank...

Yeah, I know. I was talking hours/gallon. The Generac engines seem to run longer than most others on a gallon. That adds up in $$$ and trips to the pump when your power is out for a week, like mine usually is.

[ToplessPony94]

First figure out what you'll NEED to run. Get a couple of quotes from electricians and have installed correctly. They'll tell you at least what size based on what you want to have on. I'm sure you ask 10 people, you'll get 10 diff answers.

Yes. In MA it is illegal to install a whole house generator unless it's done by a licensed electrician. In NH it's the same unless you do it yourself (not you cousin or your friend, but the homeowner). I have the skills to install the transfer panel and such myself and did so, but it's easy to get it wrong if you don't know what you're doing. And if you install it yourself and burn the house down or kill or injure someone, your insurance company will not help you and rightly so.

[Dennis O'Shea]

Whole house generator at the O'Shea Estate It Sucks light go out and in two minutes She kicks on had tv till the cable went out For those of you still without power I feel Bad for you guys

[390gtconv]

Lights back on this afternoon in Chester. The CAMPING is over, for now. :cool:

[rhoidahl]

We lost power/phone/cable/internet on Monday afternoon; came back on earlier this afternoon. THANK GOD for the generator. Derry and Hampstead were hit pretty hard, but thankful we weren't on the Jersey coast (what's left of it...)

[Jibber]

im thinking i might need to invest in a generator now that I am an home owner.......i have no idea though what kind is good , bad or whatever

Honda generators are the best. Big bucks though. Run very quiet. Easy start up, Engines run forever etc. etc. Most brand name generators are OK. I would say your looking at about $1500-$2000 for a portable option with proper wiring/permit fees installed. (I paid $1300 about three years ago.)

Whole house you looking at 4 to 8k+ depending on the size of generator you want/need, permits, Electrician etc. What fuel source would you use. LP gas or Natural gas from street? Sounds like a large nut to swallow, however, it would help your house in resale value as well so you can at least feel good about that.

I keep losing power every time there is a storm. My house is one of the last ones on the line. If the line gets broken practically anywhere around me I'm down. I don't like having to go outside every 7 hours to add gas. Sometimes it's cold outside. LOL. Plus you need to have them covered when it's raining so i built a Wooden teepee type cover to put over it while its in use.
Bottom line. Go Whole house. I would if I was doing it all over again.

[chachee52]

Ian, HAve you lost power since buying the house? You are on such a main road and with the retirement home across the street I wouldn't think that you have lost it much and you get it back fairly quickly, right? You are on a grid that is priority to fix. Consider that if/when you buy a generator. you'd be able to get away with a small generator to power the firg and maybe the heater and a couple lights. No need in my mind to get a wicked expensive one to run the whole house for a few hours once a year.
Just my two cents.
I just bought a 8 breaker transfer box kit for a little over $300, now I'm lucky that my brother-in-law is a electrician but I figer a 5500 gen to be able to run my water heater when everything else is off is going to be enough. If it wasn't for my water heater, that size is an over kill for me. The last few years I've been running a 2000W to run the frig, heater, and a few lights and that's plenty for us (and a lot cheaper because that 2000w runs all day on about 1/2 gallon!!!!!!)

[SVT10th]

I agree with Todd. If you're on a priority circuit, just get a small generator, power the few vital circuits you have and rough it for the few hours that you'll be using it. Probably really only need Fridge, heat, a few lights, TV.

I have a Briggs and Stratton 8000 watt generator. (up to 13.5k surge) It's great and I can power pretty much anything I want. (I backfeed -- I'm having the electrician at work install a xfer switch though.) It's got electric start, and I'd HIGHLY recommend that option, especially if you expect the wife to be willing to start/stop it.
Downside is, it's thirsty. I burn 5 gals of gas/day if I'm home.

I could easily have gotten away with a smaller one, but this one was on sale when I bought it several years ago -- I got 8k for the price of a 6k. I wasn't thinking about gas prices though....

[TorchredSVT]

Ian, HAve you lost power since buying the house? You are on such a main road and with the retirement home across the street I wouldn't think that you have lost it much and you get it back fairly quickly, right? You are on a grid that is priority to fix. Consider that if/when you buy a generator. you'd be able to get away with a small generator to power the firg and maybe the heater and a couple lights. No need in my mind to get a wicked expensive one to run the whole house for a few hours once a year.
Just my two cents.
I just bought a 8 breaker transfer box kit for a little over $300, now I'm lucky that my brother-in-law is a electrician but I figer a 5500 gen to be able to run my water heater when everything else is off is going to be enough. If it wasn't for my water heater, that size is an over kill for me. The last few years I've been running a 2000W to run the frig, heater, and a few lights and that's plenty for us (and a lot cheaper because that 2000w runs all day on about 1/2 gallon!!!!!!)

Good point, we only lost power for two days last october and thats been the longest since we have lived there. I would assume with the old peoples place across the street that you are right about being on the priority circuit. My furnace and hotwater heater are gas powered, so I guess a small generator would work best for the essentials like Jim mentioned.

Thanks for the advice guys, I feel a little bit better now about what direction to go in. I guess I never really knew or understood how little gas those things used. I for some reason thought that guzzeled gas

Also glad to hear people are getting power back

[ToplessPony94]

Yes, Ian, I would agree with Jim C, Todd and others. If your situation is as described, you don't need a big deal generator. I have a 4000 watt with gas heat, hot water and stove and it's plenty. It never gets much of a workout unless I try to do a load of wash at the same time as both refrigerators are running. I eventually decided to install it as a "portable whole house" generator, meaning that it isn't normally connected, but when power goes out I move it from the garage to the front porch and plug it into a big socket in the side of the house. What I originally did was just run it on the porch and run extension cords in a couple of windows. It got to be a pain taking the screens off, storing them somewhere and putting towels in the windows in the winter to keep the cold out, and I couldn't make the hot water work well that way, so I installed the socket on the house and the transfer panel in the basement just to make it less of a nuisance to set up. Two days isn't bad, but last time we were out for 6+ days and I was glad to have the easier arrangement.