Black Out

[Briana]

Last Thursday, we experienced a power outage in Southern California and parts of Arizona & Mexico. If you too were "in the dark", let's here your thoughts. A common phrase spoken around town since the incident has been, "Where were you when the power outage struck?"

Personally, I found it refreshing for our communities to be forced to socialize. I have never seen so many people on their front lawns, barbequing, walking their dogs, etc. (aside from holidays). We could probably use a power outage every once and awhile to serve as a reality check, as far as I can tell.

Although I'm pretty sure generator sales have spiked :confused2:, as well as long term food sales and backup lighting purchases, I'm curious, did anyone have LMF withdrawls?

 

[noma]

Hi Briana

No black out here in Minnesota last night,But they do help people to see another side of the outdoors when there isn't any thing to do inside the house with no power.:laughing:

 

[Briana]

Haha, true... Ever had a similar thing happen where you live?

 

[JDgreen]

Haha, true... Ever had a similar thing happen where you live?

Ironic I would see this, my in-laws are 80 years old and their power went off about an hour ago, wife got home and told me, I got my genset out and loaded it into my trailer, will go over there in an hour or so if they don't get power restored. I moved to the country back in late '88, have probably undergone 20 power outages, the first one was in late fall and lasted for 3 days and beleive me, I wasn't at all prepared. Now, after being here for 23 years, I AM prepared. Plenty of extra food and water, genset, 25 gallons of gas to run it, have about 200 gallons of non-drinkable water stored in plastic drums to use for toilet flushing, etc. Since we have a well, water is a top priority. Genset can be plugged in to run the well but I would rather use it to preserve food, have some lites, and run sump pump if needed.

Scary thing about losing your power is when it happens you realize just how dependent you can be on that juice, it runs AC, appliances, TV/radio/computers, lites, etc. Cannot cook anything, have to have flashlites or night vision, etc. Friend of ours lost power one time and they gradually realized with no garage door opener power (no side door to get in) they were basically at the mercy of the power company....because their car was in there...:laughing::laughing::laughing:

Who is dumb enough to build a garage with no secondary door....???? :laughing::laughing:

 

[Briana]

Ironic I would see this, my in-laws are 80 years old and their power went off about an hour ago, wife got home and told me, I got my genset out and loaded it into my trailer, will go over there in an hour or so if they don't get power restored. I moved to the country back in late '88, have probably undergone 20 power outages, the first one was in late fall and lasted for 3 days and beleive me, I wasn't at all prepared. Now, after being here for 23 years, I AM prepared. Plenty of extra food and water, genset, 25 gallons of gas to run it, have about 200 gallons of non-drinkable water stored in plastic drums to use for toilet flushing, etc. Since we have a well, water is a top priority. Genset can be plugged in to run the well but I would rather use it to preserve food, have some lites, and run sump pump if needed.

Scary thing about losing your power is when it happens you realize just how dependent you can be on that juice, it runs AC, appliances, TV/radio/computers, lites, etc. Cannot cook anything, have to have flashlites or night vision, etc.

Wow, 20 black outs, huh? No wonder you're so prepared! I'm curious, how much did that genset run you and how much power does it generate? Some other good ideas are solar/battery powered radios. I read of someone who caught the news updates that way.

Well, it was certainly an eye opener. Luckily, we have a gas stove and were able to manually light it and cook the perishables in the fridge, but other than that, we were out of luck. Most people around town were grilling.

The outage created instant chaos - showing us just how dependent on power our systems are. Every street filled with stopped traffic; accidents at intersections as many are looking out for themselves and ignoring basic traffic laws; cars stranded at gas stations; our card-dominated culture dumbfounded at ATM's; those dependent on eating out, forced to face their empty fridge. I shutter to think how our society could have turned on itself after a week of power loss. Thank God it was only one evening!

Friend of ours lost power one time and they gradually realized with no garage door opener power (no side door to get in) they were basically at the mercy of the power company....because their car was in there...:laughing::laughing::laughing: Who is dumb enough to build a garage with no secondary door....???? :laughing::laughing:

So often, we don't think about these things until it's too late! Haha, funny story. :thumbsup:

 

[JDgreen]

Wow, 20 black outs, huh? No wonder you're so prepared! I'm curious, how much did that genset run you and how much power does it generate? Some other good ideas are solar/battery powered radios. I read of someone who caught the news updates that way.

Well, it was certainly an eye opener. Luckily, we have a gas stove and were able to manually light it and cook the perishables in the fridge, but other than that, we were out of luck. Most people around town were grilling.

The outage created instant chaos - showing us just how dependent on power our systems are. Every street filled with stopped traffic; accidents at intersections as many are looking out for themselves and ignoring basic traffic laws; cars stranded at gas stations; our card-dominated culture dumbfounded at ATM's; those dependent on eating out, forced to face their empty fridge. I shutter to think how our society could have turned on itself after a week of power loss. Thank God it was only one evening!



So often, we don't think about these things until it's too late! Haha, funny story. :thumbsup:

Generator is a Coleman 5000 watts running, 6250 surge watts model, 10 hp pull start Tecumseh, 5 gallon gas tank. Purchased in back of '94 at a Sams Club for about $550. But about a year after that, the power outages became rarer, and less intense. But we still have them now and then, and I guess the Coleman has paid for itself by now.

Agree 100%, a lot of people (me too) gripe about a $10 a day power bill, then when the power goes off they tell themselves "I'd pay $100 RIGHT NOW to get it back on".......:laughing::laughing:

 

[rer]

I am in the dark. Mabie we should not be supplying mexico with power. I bet caused the brown outs.

 

[wjjones]

Last Thursday, we experienced a power outage in Southern California and parts of Arizona & Mexico. If you too were "in the dark", let's here your thoughts. A common phrase spoken around town since the incident has been, "Where were you when the power outage struck?"

Personally, I found it refreshing for our communities to be forced to socialize. I have never seen so many people on their front lawns, barbequing, walking their dogs, etc. (aside from holidays). We could probably use a power outage every once and awhile to serve as a reality check, as far as I can tell.

Although I'm pretty sure generator sales have spiked :confused2:, as well as long term food sales and backup lighting purchases, I'm curious, did anyone have LMF withdrawls?

You can say that again it is crazy what it takes to get people to actually talk to each other. Its always email, text, or call but to actually communicate face to face is getting to be a thing of the past..What a shame.. I am with you a power outage should be made into a Holiday event every once in awhile to get people together for a change..:smile:

 

[KennyV]

Aside from freezing during a winter outage, the Rare power glitch anymore is not a big problem. Minor inconvenience...
Back when I had a business that couldn't function without power I kept a 200KW diesel rig for back up... used it a few times, definitely more than paid for itself.

Black outs are rare and usually short, for home use I have not seen the need for back up electricity...
Now in case of a long term winter outage... that could be a problem. There are areas that have had bad ice storms leaving some without winter power for wks at a time... :smile:KennyV

 

[Oddball]

I've only been without power for any significant length of time (more than a couple hours) twice. Once in 1972 (I was 8) when there was a massive ice storm that had power in the metro Atlanta area out for around 2 weeks, and then in January 1999 just a few months after we moved into our new house. We had an ice storm that, in addition to causing a power outage for almost 2 days, brought a big pine tree crashing down on our roof. Heck of a way to start off your life in a new home. As soon as I was able, I had every tree in our yard that was within reach of our house taken down, about 30 in all, mostly pines. Sure made mowing easier in addition to giving me some peace of mind. We used to get rolling blackouts in mid summer when the demand was at its peak, but they usually only lasted an hour or two. Been a couple of years since I remember having one of those though.