Forum Discussion
Oh, wonderful....
Our power goes out here when a bird burps. If I don't lose power it will be a miracle. And to make matters worse, Sunday is going to be very warm, or at least for part of the day. I'...
"Our power goes out here when a bird burps. If I don't lose power it will be a miracle."
LOL
The birds could be doing a lot more than just burping. A fellow electrician told me a story from when he had worked for a large utility company, who had just installed a brand new large high voltage transmission line that was having a lot of nuisance trips. These turned out to be caused by large pond birds roosting on the conductors. Occasionally the birds would touch beaks, and short out the whole line. They actually had to move the wires far enough apart to where the suicidal birds could no longer touch beaks.
I experienced something similar when my plant had a new 69KV substation installed which was having nuisance trips. It didn' t take long to figure out why. The charred crow carcasses underneath a large 69KV reactor were a dead give away. The reactor had to be retrofitted with wire mesh to keep the crows out.
The longest power failure I've experienced was 38 hours. I had to move the stuff from my fridge to a cooler full of ice. The stuff in my two freezers made it through it alright. Just before the power returned I was thinking about driving a hundred miles to find a motel with a working AC. I know people that were without power for six weeks after that storm.
Oooooh! I just saw the picture you posted of your kerosene heater. I thought those things were outlawed years ago! I knew a couple of guys that burned their whole house down with a similar looking portable kerosene heater.
One of the guys got trapped inside by their burglar bars and died.
I just checked out the Buddy heaters on Amazon, which look a whole lot safer. Is it too late for you to get one with one day shipping?
Well, anyway good luck! And be careful if you have to use that kerosene heater!
gaines_wright wrote:I just checked out the Buddy heaters on Amazon, which look a whole lot safer. Is it too late for you to get one with one day shipping?
No necessarily, as I don't know how long the power will be out if it does go out, but I would be dipping into funds that I need to hold onto for other things. I get paid on Friday, but by then the power would be back on, or at least I would hope so. For now I'll just use the kerosene heater if I need to, and open the windows if it gets too hot, as it nearly throws out too much heat for this small house.
These kerosene heaters are still pretty popular. A lot of heat in a pretty simple design. A Buddy heater would definitely be better, but for now the kerosene heater will have to do. With that said, I'm hoping I won't need it. And, in reality, I'm more worried about the things I may lose in my fridge and freezer, as it's not going to be cold enough outside to keep things frozen until late this evening or early tomorrow morning. If the power goes out early, I could lose everything, including all of the steaks and such I got from a Christmas gift. I've lost everything before, and I'm sure it'll happen again.
The real solution is a generator, even if it's just a small one that would run my fridge and freezer, and maybe my TV or computer.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
