2014 No phone, no internet, no electricity. Bright side I got a Volt
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·You could drive to a near by L2 station, plug the car in and sleep in comfort.
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You could drive to a nearby hotel and sleep in comfort.
Don't know why sleeping in a car would be a preference, but there are some delusional people here and there.
If it happened to me I wouldn't go anywhere. Plugging in my car would not be possible either, but the rest of it would probably work assuming the local Comcast facility wasn't affected.
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http://www.generac.com/for-homeowners/home-backup-power
Seems like a good suggestion, within the theme here.
Don't know why sleeping in a car would be a preference, but there are some delusional people here and there.
If it happened to me I wouldn't go anywhere. Plugging in my car would not be possible either, but the rest of it would probably work assuming the local Comcast facility wasn't affected.
http://www.generac.com/for-homeowners/home-backup-power
Seems like a good suggestion, within the theme here.
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13,358 Posts
After a 5 day power outage I bought a generator. Not as fancy as the one posted by mr dave, instead it is a basic farm generator which runs off the PTO of a tractor’s 3 point hitch. I prefer this as my tractor is always running, so no gas to foul up, no periodic cycling to make sure the engine is lubed.
Alas, buying a generator just guaranteed that I wouldn’t have any more lengthy power outages, just like buying snow tires guaranteed no snowageddon 3. I have yet to really need the generator or snow tires.
Alas, buying a generator just guaranteed that I wouldn’t have any more lengthy power outages, just like buying snow tires guaranteed no snowageddon 3. I have yet to really need the generator or snow tires.
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200 Posts
Isn't that strange how it works? As a dealer tech if I buy a special tool for a job that may be lucrative, I'll never see another of those jobs. And then everyone ends up borrowing it. One time I bought a tool for a job I didn't like or ever want to do again just to prove the theory. It worked!
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I wouldn't want to sleep in my Volt.You could drive to a near by L2 station, plug the car in and sleep in comfort.
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13,358 Posts
Got a Generac backup generator and elderly parents to look after. Can't just take off and sleep in my car and a hotel is a logistical challenge I won't get into here. Fuel isn't free. It makes more sense to just burn some gas and let the generator take care of the essentials in the house; water pump, refrigeration, cooking, washing etc.. When the whole area is out, the charge stations aren't working either.
Using the mobile phone hot spot to get online...
Using the mobile phone hot spot to get online...
You could drive to a nearby hotel and sleep in comfort.
Don't know why sleeping in a car would be a preference, but there are some delusional people here and there.
If it happened to me I wouldn't go anywhere. Plugging in my car would not be possible either, but the rest of it would probably work assuming the local Comcast facility wasn't affected.
![]()
http://www.generac.com/for-homeowners/home-backup-power
Seems like a good suggestion, within the theme here.
Running one for a whole week isn't exactly free. Anyone running the whole house lit up and all the outside lights going is showing off. Cable in the area is out, but my satellite tv is working. It only goes out when there's a torrential rain or show covering the dish.
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Yep, this is the truth. I had 7-8 lengthy outages one summer and bought a portable generator. I think I've used it 3 times in 10 years since, but have loaned it out to others a few times.
Having the efficiency of the A/C system in the Volt is pretty great though. I can sit in the car for an hour with the A/C running on the battery and only use .5kwh of power. It makes it nice for hot days when my kids are at sports practices that aren't long enough to justify driving home.
Similarly, I bought the inverter kits for each of our Volts after numerous outages, installed them last summer, but haven’t had occasion to need to use them. But I do like that we can run the fridge, small electric heaters, laptops, router, and other small appliances off the large battery fed by the Volt Genset for a few days at a time if need be.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
My Volt would be inadequate for my backup needs. The dedicated backup generator does that job and my Volt can do it's transportation job without leaving those still at home without essential services. If the inverter method is adequate for you, great. Wish I could supplement the backup generator with the grid-tied solar that's off-line until the utility is back up.
I don’t think that the inverters are strong enough to actually run the blower on the furnace, so it would not be running our AC or our gas heat in the winter, but we would have the small electric heaters to use. If we didn’t have 2 Volts, I agree that you would not be assured one would be available to serve as a power source. Odds are with two almost always at least one is in the driveway....
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Many years back we had an outage for a week. Half the people in the neighborhood had natural gas generators installed (at least 10K a pop). The power company also did a lot of tree trimming. It's been more than 8 years and we have yet to have an outage of more than an hour since.
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I'm not sure what the point is there. No, the natgas isn't free. Neither is power company electricity, when it's working.
I guess...... is that bad? I run those lights any other day. Keeps the creeps off my lawn, assuming that creeps are out there.
No internet either? Probably not here in that case, but sometimes the internet works when the TV is out.
I haven't had that bizzarro world experience. Our outages have been fairly consistent, and have similar durations. If Com Ed is good for anything around here, it's consistency and quick repairs.
Does everything in Maryland cost double?
Can't say the same thing for here. Last one before the current one was 14 hours. 6 years ago it was over a week. That's just the ones off the top of my head... Power company was currently doing tree trimming, apparently not enough to prevent the current outage. Who knows how much it helped.
My point is running the backup generator is much more expensive than the utility electricity. It's reasonable to try and conserve. Not everyone has natural gas for backup and then has to get fuel delivered. The same reason the power is out could make refueling a problem for long outages. An extreme example would be Puerto Rico, etc.
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I see, so you'd have to use propane? I wouldn't like that. I suppose I'd go with gasoline or diesel instead.
Either of those still require refueling. Diesel generator is about twice (probably more back when I purchased) the cost of propane/natural gas. Diesel would be more efficient, perhaps more durable. Liquid fuels have their own stowage/shelf life issues...
Today it's do the dummies deliver fuel before I run out or does the utility come back up.
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5,595 Posts
For the rare times we’re without power around here for a few hours to a day, I’ll skip a $10k whole house generator and instead of plugging my Volt into the house, I’ll plug my house into the Volt. 😉
http://www.evextend.com/Inverter-Kits.php
http://www.evextend.com/Inverter-Kits.php
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