I ‘hate’ interesting days…
And Thursday was one of them…
Lost power (along with another 409 people) Thursday afternoon, took 2 hours to get it back on. Temps were ‘only’ high 90s, so it was not too bad.
But…
at 0147, a bright flash, the CPAP quit, and it got really dark… The transformer across the street gave up the ghost. I grabbed my flashlight and went out to check the breakers (again), and sure enough, three were popped. Reset them but still no joy.
Came back in to have an outage notice from the power company, with an estimate of 0400 for the power to be back. Well, I wasn’t going to get back to sleep, as trucks started showing up, warning lights flashing in the windows, beeping as they squirrelled around to get in position, then clanging and banging, and the whine of hydraulics as they went up and down.
A little after 0400, another ‘update’ from the power company, saying there were ‘problems’… oh joy… At least it was only in the mid-80s at that point.
The flashing lights continued but there wasn’t any clanging and banging, or the whine of hydraulics for a while, and about 0500, it all started back up again. Finally, at 0535 the lights flickered and came back on.
So I lay back down and tried to go back to sleep. Woke up at 0830 and that was it…
So I was a ‘tad’ grumpy all day, and I’m hoping I’m still asleep when you read this. But the bright side is, both instances got fixed rather quickly, and we didn’t lose anything in the fridge or the freezer. I know a lot of other folks haven’t been as lucky this year.
But I reserve the right to be a grumpy old man anyway… Phhhbbbbtttt!!!!
Reminds me of another power outage story:
Kansas City, Missouri, January 31, 2002 – a major ice storm hit. It’s documented here:
https://fox4kc.com/news/pictures-10-year-anniversary-of-epic-ice-storm/
Five days later we were still without power, and wondering when power would be restored, and carrying on while all bundled up starts to wear on you after a few days.
Then, we hear big diesel engines. I look out my back porch, and on the street behind us, I see that a power line crew has shown up to try to restore downed lines in our neighborhood. Hurrah!
I fired up the Coleman propane double-burner stove and got a kettle of water boiling, and my wife made a nice big pot of coffee.
With coffee ready, we put together:
– Coffee in disposable paper cups and drink carriers we’d saved
– Sugar + sweetener + creamer packets
– A nice big stack of Hershey’s bars
(Did I mention we’re a bit boy-scoutish in our preparations?)
I walked all that out to the power-line crew. They were kinda blown away by this. After a discussion with the foreman, I learned that most people just complain to the crews wondering why it took them so long to get there.
The foreman called the whole crew over, even the guy who had just gotten up to the lines in the bucket (who complained about having just gotten up there, but he came down) and everyone got coffee and chocolate, and the looks of joy and gratitude on their faces as they just stood there holding the hot coffee in their cold hands. I’ll never forget it. 🙂
I highly recommend performing this act of kindness if you ever get the opportunity. It is very rewarding, both for the workers that show up to help, and for yourself.
Good job in recognizing the line workers.
I got a Lithium Ion uninterrupted power supply for my CPAP. I live in a part of KY where when the power goes out, it stays out for 6 to 10 hours minimum. They are pricey, but in my opinion, worth the price. It’s nice to not even notice a power outage until the alarm clock doesn’t go off.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B083P6BK2P?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title
We used to have regular power outages until a new substation was built near a large dairy ranch. Still, we’re dependent on a 100 mile high voltage line in serious thunderstorm country, and with interesting terrain when it gets really wet.
As a result, I built a power trailer. 1200 watts worth of solar panels, a 3600 watt inverter, plus the necessary electronics to keep it all happy. It plugs into an inlet near the trailer, and that goes to a couple of outlets in the utility room. (no connections to the mains) When power goes out, for short ones, I run an extension cord between the BiPAP equipment and the inverter. For longer ones, I’ll power the refrigerator. I could do the freezer if necessary, but haven’t needed to do so for the past 10 years.
We had to evacuate for a few days for a wildfire in August, but Pac Power only shut things down for 2.5 hours, so nothing was hurt. We have a larger solar system that runs the well and pumphouse, though I have mains power for a backup heater in winter. (A very cranky propane heater drove me to that solution.)
The batteries need attention, every month for the pumphouse, and every 6 weeks for the power trailer, but it doesn’t take that much time to do so.
We had a crossmember fail, and the arc when the lines crossed blew the top off of the power pole a transformer was installed on. It took about two hours for the crew to change the pole, and get us back on line. We were lucky, since there were some heavy thunderstorms on the way, and they finished before the weather hit. Having the power back on sure relieved the stress of a house heating up in the 90 degree weather. It took a few hours to cool the house back to comfortable.
Ah ha. The old interesting curse trick, eh?
Sucks when it’s out but I do appreciate our crews, always get it restored in a couple of hours.
Looked up local outage causes once: mostly branches in storms. Next was critters where they shouldn’t be, including 2 snakes once; didn’t say what they were doing. Most E TN thing though was the car that didn’t make the turn in a 4 lane x 2 lane intersection and took down the high tension tower that set off the road a good 50 feet.
1994, Renton, WA the power was out for several hours. When power was restored about 2 am our little neighborhood was still dark. Frustrating, the folks below me had power. Driving around I saw a power pole with a large scissors type breaker, like 6″ wide, open. Back at our house, I started taping 2x4s to make a long pole. My next door neighbor watched me, then helped. Standing in the back of my old Dodge pickup and with the neighbors help, we got the switch closed and our neighborhood lights on.
I’ve used a CPAP since 1996. That, and a pacemaker in 2014 is why I’m still alive.
One of the best investments I made at our current residence was a whole-house (20kw) generator and automatic transfer switch. We average 7 commercial power outages a year and the genny keeps us going until the REC folks get things restored.
All- Thanks for sharing your stories. And yes, looking ‘hard’ at back up power options… sigh… NONE of the decent ones are cheep. Bought a LiON battery pack today.
For those using a CPAP:
There are now 2 different internal mouth support brands designed for snoring. Both priced about $55. Adjustable for fit. (got a housemate with a really bad snoring issue.) He hasn’t received one yet, so no feedback to report.
getquietlab.com is one. Haven’t found the other one.
The original design is custom made, and runs about $2k.
I have no idea if it works for those who have intermittent breathing issues, which was the original idea for the CPAP, IIRC.
The other brand is SmartGuard. Found on Amazon.
Will- I tried a couple of different things like that, none of them worked for me.
I started on CPAP in Jan ’99 and wore out a few machines. Last year, my primary care doc said it’s been too long since I had a sleep study, and the resultant tests said I need BiPAP to deal with “complex apnea”. It does the trick, and yeah, no way I’d try the appliance. I’ve heard it works for some people, but not every one. It’s extremely unlikely it’d work for me.
FWIW, there seems to be a correlation between un/undertreated apnea and AFIB. When the body goes south, it has multiple ways to do it…
I am the last GA Power customer on the line. I have a Kohler generator w/ a LP gas tank on an ATS. I can run 11 days non-stop or a month at 30% but I have a 100 gallon backup to push out another week.
When I got hit with the hurricane 2 years ago I got power back when I was running one hour on and one hour off for 11 days. That kept the freezer at zero to plus 10 and the house reasonably cool. Afterwards I had them top the tank and I had used about a third.
TSquared- I need to look at that option. Thanks!
The other point about LP is you don’t have to worry about the fuel going bad due to age.
Just a comparison, we are off grid here in Copper Basin Alaska. High today was 47, and we have had three nights in the mid 20’s. Ran a low wood fire in the kitchen range the last two days and have had warm up fires morning and evening the rest of the last week!
Steve- Good point!
Hammer- Outstanding!