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Hurricane Irma: What we know now

longview said:
My Hurricane kit, includes a generator and two window air conditioners.
Enough to run the refrigerator, TV and cool two small rooms.
In 82 after Alicia, we spent 2 weeks without power, I told myself then, never again.
Before Harvey, I started the generator just to make sure it still ran.
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I used to live in a neighborhood that had frequent outages (adjacent to parkland that the lines went through) and I owned a really nice generator. I actually wired a transfer switch into our panel which would send juice to specific circuits in the house. I'm leaning away from doing that again, but it did work well. I sold it all with that house.

The window AC units are something I'll need to get if I don't get a transfer switch. Fortunately this time we had decent weather during the outage.
 
Slingshot Bob said:
I lived, no major property damage, it looks like a bomb hit around town, my house started to flood. A tornado touched down 4 blocks away and ripped some roof off the fully booked Oak Park inn, some brick wall, too!

Lots of big live oaks down and blocking roads, down the road a piece, a power pole with a transformer, snapped clean in half about 8 ft from the top.

A trampoline ended up on it's side in a yard 5 houses down. My house has power again, but only half my house.

The eye passed right over me, so strange the worst of the storm finally hits, then silence and then the frogs picked up, the night of the frogs! 9/10/17
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My "pet" frog came in the front door when the storm began. It got away from me. It was one of those types that changes color based on surroundings. I say "pet" because I'd seen it out front a few times. Unfortunately, the cats found it while I was in another room. RIP, my bug eating frog buddy.
 
<alt>doxygen said:
I used to live in a neighborhood that had frequent outages (adjacent to parkland that the lines went through) and I owned a really nice generator. I actually wired a transfer switch into our panel which would send juice to specific circuits in the house. I'm leaning away from doing that again, but it did work well. I sold it all with that house.

The window AC units are something I'll need to get if I don't get a transfer switch. Fortunately this time we had decent weather during the outage.
Click to expand...
I did not loose power during Harvey, but thankfully the weather was decent afterwords for the many who did.
My Dad lost power for about a week, but stayed at my house.
 
longview said:
I did not loose power during Harvey, but thankfully the weather was decent afterwords for the many who did.
My Dad lost power for about a week, but stayed at my house.
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I really appreciate how lucky we were and the hard work of the people trying to get people back up and running. I feel the same about the victims of Harvey, the people who were hit harder in southern FL, the islands and the victims of the fires in CA. There's a lot of bad juju going on, to be sure.
 
<alt>doxygen said:
I really appreciate how lucky we were and the hard work of the people trying to get people back up and running. I feel the same about the victims of Harvey, the people who were hit harder in southern FL, the islands and the victims of the fires in CA. There's a lot of bad juju going on, to be sure.
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I hear what you are saying, I know how lucky we are.
After Alicia, we got an old ice chest and filled it with soft drinks and gave it to a light crew working the area.
Those guys are doing hero's work right now trying to get people back online.
 
longview said:
I am glad you made it through ok, I have been through too many Hurricanes, they are never any fun.
Stay safe, there is a lot of after storm activity, (Houston is still ongoing).
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Tell me about it, I have been helping friends clear downed trees, every yard in town that had many trees, has a big pile out front!
 
Slingshot Bob said:
Tell me about it, I have been helping friends clear downed trees, every yard in town that had many trees, has a big pile out front!
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In Houston we are a week ahead of you, ours was flooding. I think roughly 20% of the houses flooded.
There was a line of semi trailer size dump trucks a mile long waiting at the landfill.
I had only some wind blown rain, so I am lucky, so many lost everything.
 
longview said:
My Hurricane kit, includes a generator and two window air conditioners.
Enough to run the refrigerator, TV and cool two small rooms.
In 82 after Alicia, we spent 2 weeks without power, I told myself then, never again.
Before Harvey, I started the generator just to make sure it still ran.
Click to expand...

Three weeks after Ivan hit. Fortunately had a contractor brother-in-law who had had spare generator. Got my own after that. Been looking at a new free standing A/C like used in tents at music festivals I have officiated at.
 
<alt>doxygen said:
I used to live in a neighborhood that had frequent outages (adjacent to parkland that the lines went through) and I owned a really nice generator. I actually wired a transfer switch into our panel which would send juice to specific circuits in the house. I'm leaning away from doing that again, but it did work well. I sold it all with that house.

The window AC units are something I'll need to get if I don't get a transfer switch. Fortunately this time we had decent weather during the outage.
Click to expand...

Hope that switch takes you completely off the grid. Against the law here to tie a genetator into a house circuit without a proper and to code isolation switch. Line can get hurt or killed because some fool plugs his generator into a home recepticle and is ssending current out of the home.
 
Stinger said:
Three weeks after Ivan hit. Fortunately had a contractor brother-in-law who had had spare generator. Got my own after that. Been looking at a new free standing A/C like used in tents at music festivals I have officiated at.
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Most of the free standing units are evaporative coolers, also be careful about the size of the AC vs the size of the generator.
It takes a lot of generator to start even a small AC.
 
Stinger said:
Hope that switch takes you completely off the grid. Against the law here to tie a genetator into a house circuit without a proper and to code isolation switch. Line can get hurt or killed because some fool plugs his generator into a home recepticle and is ssending current out of the home.
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That's what extension cords are for.
 
Stinger said:
Hope that switch takes you completely off the grid. Against the law here to tie a genetator into a house circuit without a proper and to code isolation switch. Line can get hurt or killed because some fool plugs his generator into a home recepticle and is ssending current out of the home.
Click to expand...

I'm an EE, but I'm not cocky. Anything on the incoming side of the house breakers will be done by an electrician with the proper certs. I'm not sure if I'll go that route again. If not I just need to buy a couple of window units to go with the generator. A place I live at in MD was a great location, but we did lose power several times a year. In the middle of the summer or winter, that's a problem.

The upside, which is big in FL, is that you can run your home AC unit that way.

This is the kind of thing I'm talking about. I had one in my last house in MD and it had no inspection issues when we sold it:
Reliance Controls 50 Amp 10-Circuit Manual Transfer Switch-A510C - The Home Depot
 
longview said:
In Houston we are a week ahead of you, ours was flooding. I think roughly 20% of the houses flooded.
There was a line of semi trailer size dump trucks a mile long waiting at the landfill.
I had only some wind blown rain, so I am lucky, so many lost everything.
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My house was a two car garage built in the 60's, converted into a house in the 90's, so it's kinda low. I started to flood, even had sandbags on the front door, an inflated bicycle tube under the side door (big gap) Had about 5 gallons come in. If it kept going, I would of flooded, if 50 some odd inches? Most definitely!
 
<alt>doxygen said:
I'm an EE, but I'm not cocky. Anything on the incoming side of the house breakers will be done by an electrician with the proper certs. I'm not sure if I'll go that route again. If not I just need to buy a couple of window units to go with the generator. A place I live at in MD was a great location, but we did lose power several times a year. In the middle of the summer or winter, that's a problem.
Click to expand...

Those free standing units do pretty good too, take a look.

My brother was working for Home Depot back during Katrina and Ivan, Guys would come into to buy a generator and they get one and then ask for "one of those cords you can just plug it into house and run the whole house", they would then tell that not only would never sell you one, we won't sell you the generator now!

The upside, which is big in FL, is that you can run your home AC unit that way.

This is the kind of thing I'm talking about. I had one in my last house in MD and it had no inspection issues when we sold it:
Reliance Controls 50 Amp 10-Circuit Manual Transfer Switch-A510C - The Home Depot
Click to expand...

Yeah that's nice. I just run an big cord into the center of the house and run extensions from I got a 3600 can run the fridge 24 hours , computer, Small TV (through a power conditioner). Some LCD lights and even a hot plate but I have propane and charcoal for that.

Gosh reading about the fools in FL running generators inside the house..........but people do it.
 
Stinger said:
Those free standing units do pretty good too, take a look.

My brother was working for Home Depot back during Katrina and Ivan, Guys would come into to buy a generator and they get one and then ask for "one of those cords you can just plug it into house and run the whole house", they would then tell that not only would never sell you one, we won't sell you the generator now!



Yeah that's nice. I just run an big cord into the center of the house and run extensions from I got a 3600 can run the fridge 24 hours , computer, Small TV (through a power conditioner). Some LCD lights and even a hot plate but I have propane and charcoal for that.

Gosh reading about the fools in FL running generators inside the house..........but people do it.
Click to expand...

"Never run a generator inside your house." Sage advice - should be obvious.

I carefully calculated what my line in could handle at 208(240) and 120 and then looked at what the house had inside on each breaker I wanted to use. It was a mess, because it was built in 1973. Solid as a rock, but it had been retrofitted more times than I could figure, so there were already overloaded circuits. I got a contractor I knew & respected and watched what he did. We talked it through a bit and when he was done, I was happy, he was happy and the inspectors were happy. You're right that most people have no idea what's going on behind an AC wall plug.

Make a mistake, best case your generator is toast (backfed from the line)- worst case, your house burns down.

Unless it's really small, you cannot power your house off a (reasonable example) 7500W generator. Don't even try.
 
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