Posted on 03/27/2025 10:34:53 AM PDT by BenLurkin
There were no reports of injury due to the fire but officials offered the following safety tips for those considering purchasing an electric vehicle:
Before buying an EV, have a qualified electrician install a dedicated circuit for your charger as older home wiring may not be suitable.
When charging your EV follow the manufacturer’s guidelines and consult your dealership if needed.
Use a charging device certified by a nationally recognized testing lab.
Plug Level I chargers directly into an outlet, never use an extension cord or adapter.
Install a residual current device to detect faults and prevent fires.
Keep charging components out of children’s reach when not in use.
(Excerpt) Read more at ktla.com ...
“Truth is, there is no logical reason for why you need a prescription for an antibiotic. It’s just something that was decided so that certain folks can make billions because they make themselves “gate keepers” of this medicine.”
Stupid people take antibiotics for the common cold.
Excessive use of antibiotics results in strains of bacteria resistant to antibiotics.
Antibiotics can kill good bacteria living room for bad bacteria to flourish.
Most antibiotics, ~2/3rds, are used in livestock, not humans.
That is why the argument of antibiotic resistance and the need for prescription is bogus.
But I get your point and agree.
Better idea is to not purchase an EV in the first place.
I worked as a professional firefighter for 25 years. In all that time I never went to even one house that was burned down because they “wired up a generator without an electrician”. And I certainly never went to a house where someone killed themself by running their generator in their garage. While it is likely that these types of incidents have occurred somewhere at some time... they are exceedingly rare.
We live in an area that has very frequent power outages. This year it even went out while we were having our annual Christmas Party while we had over a dozen people visiting. It takes me about two minutes to switch over from utility power to generator power. That outage happened when it was still light out. Some of our guests didn't even realize we had lost power.
Our generator has been used over a dozen times in the past 12 months. It runs on natural gas; on many occasions we have had our generators running 24 hours straight, for more than a week with only a check once a day to make sure that the oil level is where it should be and looking for any other possible issues.
The power was out for nearly a week in the entire area this last November. Many people who do not have frequent outages were affected. The Real Estate agent we used recently came over. She was surprised that our house was warm and we were having no difficulties. She hadn't taken a shower since the outage started and they were not able to use their furnace. They have two generators, both as large as the one we use and our old one which we have kept to use as a backup for our newer backup generator. They obviously do not know how to use them very well.
We also have friends who live "off the grid" using solar with battery backup and generators powered by propane to charge their batteries during times when the sun is not enough to keep their system going. They have a lot of money invested into their system, but it works well for them.
Do you have a problem with people who use generators during power outages? Our State and Local Government officials do not like people to use generators. They tell the exact same tales that you have told. when pressed they can never seem to point to an actual incident that happened to a homeowner anywhere in our area.
We have been using portable generators for over 40 years, so I have had an acute interest in mishaps caused by them. I know of no incidents locally caused by them. But I do know there are politicians here and elsewhere who would like to see them banned... They typically claim it is for "save the planet global warming" reasons. But I think that it is more about control.
Along with being a private pilot and living on an airport, I have had a long-time interest in drones and other radio-controlled aircraft. We also have a couple of e-bikes, and we have uninterruptable power supplies to keep our internet and ip phone equipment going until I can get our backup generator going when the power goes out. This is not to mention all of the portable tools with lithium-ion batteries.
So, I have a lot of lithium-ion rechargeable batteries and equipment for recharging them that goes beyond the chargers that come with laptops and cell phones. Some of the equipment available to consumers these days would work fine with a little training and awareness. But many people unknowingly abuse their batteries and when the batteries get tired instead of properly disposing of them... they double down on the abuse. It is never that surprising to me when a n old abused high-performance lithium-ion battery catches on fire. It is the nature of the beast.
If you have an old laptop with a battery that is bulging and pushing your keyboard up in the middle or pushing your case apart... you need to get that battery out of it and properly dispose of it.
Excellent post.
Thanks.
Thank you very much for the compliment on the thread. The person that I was responding to went off topic about a subject that I have had a lot of experience with. It irritates me when people start parroting nonsense with almost no validity.
California's Assembly Bill 1346, was signed into law in October 2021, which mandates that newly manufactured small off-road engines (SORES) including those in portable generators, lawnmowers, and leaf blowers, be zero-emission by 2028.
This is the source of the vast majority of the negative nonsense being spread about portable generators. People hear misinformation being spread for political purposes and do not have any idea where it actually originated from.
All of our “backup generators” have been what are considered to be “portable generators”. This is because with the exception of inverter style generators, a generator which is closely matched to the expected load is much more efficient than a generator that is larger than what is actually needed. Many of our neighbors have generators that are two to four times than what actually would be the most energy efficient size for their needs.
My wife and I purchased an electric start 7500 watt generator which is rated at 5500 watts when used with natural gas from Costco about a year ago for $699. For the previous 35 years we had been using a 5000 watt Briggs and Stratton generator which I modified myself to use natural gas. The natural gas adapter that I designed and printed on our 3D Printer gave us a little more power under full load conditions than the commercial adapter that we started out with.
The old smaller generator is more fuel efficient than the new one, but the new one can handle an uneven load better than the older generator. We are happy to spend a little more on natural gas so that we can run both the microwave and toaster at the same time on the same side of a 240/120v circuit. Before we had to put the toaster in the dining room to keep the generator from bogging down. And there are a few other advantages as well.
No, I have a Honda 7500 watt inverter gasoline generator in my garage.
My house panel is wired up to a Proton ten circuit switch box. I am in southern NH.
I have this backup generator because we lose power multiple times per year.
My daughter has a propane back up generator that switches on automatically like yours in the event of a power loss.
So, I have no issues with back up generator.
Everyone here in the country has one.
They are a necessity because NH is the second most tree covered state in the country.
So, every time we get a heavy snow or ice storm trees break and cause power outages.
My personal expenses are that people die every time we have one of those power outages because PEOPLE DO STUPID things.
Like hooking up a generator directly to their panel without the help of an electrician.
Not only have they caused fires they also have shocked the lineman trying to repair the downed power lines.
In addition, multiple times people have literally killed themselves from the exhaust of gasoline temporary generators.
In one incident a guy stuck the generator under his mobile home to keep it from getting wet in the rain.
He died. Fortunately, he only killed himself.
There have been other stories of people running gasoline generators in their garage with the doors open. This garage was attached to their house.
They killed the entire family from the CO poisoning.
Another time my friend the fire chief was called to a house for a fire.
They had decided to build a campfire on the concrete floor of the basement to warm the house up. It started the underside of the floor joist and plywood subfloor on fire.
Fortunately, the fire department was able to put it out and save the house.
The fact is that EVERY time we have an ice storm and power outage that lasts more than a day someone does something like the above examples.
It is similar to people starting their house on fire because they are trying to fry a turkey with cooking oil EVERY Thanksgiving.
Cheers
Mr. mm is gifted in those areas as well and he has done HVAC and stuff.
We have generators, too. One larger one that rolls for the house during power outages that works off either gasoline or propane and the other is actually more portable and is technically an inverter.
So I actually get what you’re talking about.
This weekend’s forecast indicates a nasty wintry mix with possible icing. We lose power on good days regularly enough. I’d be surprised if we don’t for this one. I plan on having the wood rack indoors full and the wood stove set up to start on a moment’s notice.
I am sorry that I misinterpreted your post... I do appreciate your response.
You are set with your inverter generator. Except that gasoline does add some risk when you are pouring it into a hot generator. But I have been doing the same with my gasoline powered tools and tractors for decades. However, propane or natural gas is vastly more convenient, and natural gas costs a third what gasoline does where we live.
We live in the middle of a bunch tall fir trees as well in the foothills of a mountain range. Wind funneled from the mountains down a nearby pass is responsible for most of our power outages. Unfortunately, our power lines do not come from a nearby town they come down tree lined roads.
My daughter has a propane back up generator that switches on automatically like yours in the event of a power loss.
Our generator has an electric start, but I still have to flip some switches before stating it up. I also have a set of fuses in the primary shutoff on the wall near the generator that are always left unscrewed whenever the generator is not being used as one additional safety measure.
My personal expenses are that people die every time we have one of those power outages because PEOPLE DO STUPID things.
This doesn't happen where my wife and I live or there would be a very large body count.
As a retired fire officer, I have personally seen people who managed to kill themselves in idiotic ways. But as I also said I have never seen any deaths or injuries from improperly wired generators. And I have never seen anyone kill themselves or their families from using them inside.
In addition, multiple times people have literally killed themselves from the exhaust of gasoline temporary generators.
I once was on a scene where a crazy naked guy ran into a garage and started up a lawn mower after we and the police were trying to get him to come out. It is a long story... he had tried to shoot me when we arrived as part of some deranged plan. The police sergeant asked me if that would kill him. I replied that it would take awhile and he would probably get uncomfortable and give himself up long before his life was in danger.
Sure enough, after a few minutes he opened the garage door and gave himself up.
You are repeating the same type of stories that were told repeatedly here and in California when they were working on passing the ban of small gasoline engines.
Googling the question... it is claimed that 80 or 90 people are killed by carbon monoxide poisoning from portable generators. I have just never seen this myself and I do not trust this figures. But yes, don't run them inside your garage. or next to an open window or door into your house. I actually did respond to a couple of deaths from carbon monoxide poisoning including one that was a 12-year-old girl. My wife and I have several carbon monoxide detectors that we use in our house because I don't trust our old gas furnace. We also have one in our airplane because the cabin heat is provided by a muff that goes over the muffler and they often leak.
Good luck with that... Ours was out briefly yesterday when lighting hit transmission lines near here.
My parent's live 30 miles away in town. They lost their internet connection for 36 hours because of the lightning.
Losing the internet is actually more annoying to me because the internet connection in our cell phones typically goes out about the same time that our cable modem goes down. We have two towers about half a mile from our house in opposite directions. Both towers often lose power at the same time we do. And there is nothing that we can do about. I am tempted to try Starlink for a backup internet connection.
Are there special “EV” electricians?
I have two buddies who are on the volunteer fire department here in southern NH. Every time we have a power outage they always have a story of something a dumb A$$ did.
The other thing is that people will bring their propane gas grill up onto their porch and start their house on fire sometimes whenever there is an outage.
Natural gas is not readily available here in NH outside of the cities. We have it at our office here in Nashua, but not where most people live in the suburbs or country. It is by far the best way to go with heat and back up power. Unfortunately, I will NEVER have a NG line in front of my house. It is in a rural location. Even my cell service sucks.
The main issue is that trees grow like crazy around here. Especially Eastern White Pines. Only Maine has more forested land than NH. NH is 80% or more woods now. So, our power lines are all lined with trees that all eventually break and die. The electric company does not trim around the lines unless they absolutely have to. In fact the power company knows it is cheaper for them to wait until the trees break then pay for repairs as opposed to being proactive and trimming all the trees.
I was a professional firefighter for 25 years and have all sorts of "dumb A$$" stories as well. The only one that vaguely resembles a power outage story is when the crews at my fire station had gone to two burned and electrocuted guys the night before located under high voltage transmission lines, along with a ladder and assortment and tools. For some reason the two believed that the lines were not hot, and they would be able to steal the copper wire if they could get it down.
A few months later my wife and I came upon a similar operation while were riding one of our tandem bicycles at night on a bike path that parallelled a set of transmission lines. These were actually on large metal towers. We came upon a "crew" who were all wearing yellow vests and wearing hard hats which I think were meant to be a disguise. They had a bunch of bicycles and big wagons with rotating spools that they were winding the wire onto. Fortunately, these lines actually were turned off. As we rode through them, they became very quiet and were watching us closely. I realized immediately that this was not a legitimate operation.
My wife and I rode about half a mile further up the bike path and called the police. The first policemen who met us at a parking area a little further up the trail had bicycles that were kept in their police vehicles. They stopped to talk to us first before approaching the criminal operation. I worked in a different municipality, but they were aware of our fairly recent fatalities.
This group actually turned out to be an organized copper theft ring who had managed to figure out that these transmission lines were no longer being used. The lines and the bike path went through an industrial area. Who would have guessed that the lines were not being used at that time? We didn't stay to watch all the fun, but a lot of police showed up as quietly as they could, and I believe that they managed to apprehend the entire bunch.
At that time the price of copper had gone from around $.65 a pound to nearly $4 a pound in the previous couple of years. This caused the number of copper thieves to explode. Drug addicts everywhere found a new source of income. It has become a national problem but our area was at the leading edge. New laws were passed to try and curb this activity but many years later it is still a problem.
I am not sure why there is a discrepancy between what you are being told by your friends and my firsthand experiences. It is likely the opposite of what one might expect. The level of stupidity where I am at is probably so much greater that the stories of a few people doing stupid things during a power outage, just become lost in the tidal wave of stupidity that takes place in our area. I don't know...
I was a leader on our hazmat team, so I was responsible for helping to coordinate classes put on by outside agencies and groups such as utilities, the military, railroads and others. So, I am not unfamiliar with the hazards caused by people who hook their generators up to their house wiring and do not take precautions to make sure that they are not feeding back into the power grid.
It is possible that this can create a hazard for linemen, but it is unusual for a portable generator to not immediately trip its own internal protection when this is done. If it didn't you would be providing power to your own home and the surrounding area which most small generators are not capable of doing. If the generator is hooked up to live wires connected to the grid it also should trip the generator's own protection circuit immediately. So, the question has been raised at various classes that I have been at... how much of a problem that this really causes in real life.
And there have been linemen killed by voltage being back fed into the grid. This is extremely rare and there typically has to be very specific set of circumstances that can cause this. From what we were told real culprits tend to be solar systems with battery backups and standby generators which automatically cycle on and off when the power goes out because they are defective or were improperly installed usually by "professionals" but sometimes by homeowners.
These systems tend to be fairly complicated and can be difficult to troubleshoot when they malfunction. They will cycle on and off when there is something wrong with them and a wire that was safe a moment before suddenly is capable of killing or injuring someone. The utility's own equipment is more often to blame for this type of hazard, but if proper precautions by the crew have been taken this typically can be mitigated. But a malfunctioning backup system from a home or business back feeding into the grid can be less predictable and thus more dangerous.
And I agree that carbon monoxide can be a killer which is why my wife, and I have several CO detectors in our multi-story home. I feel like the stories that your buddies have told you have caused your assessment of risk to be somewhat skewed. I am sure New Hampshire is a beautiful place to live as are the foothills in the Cascades. But there is a price to be paid. The trees that are all around our home were planted by the Weyerhaeuser company and meant to be harvested after about 30 or 40 years. They are fast growing and when they get too tall their root systems do not hold up well against strong easterly winds that happen here because of our unique topography. I have cut down about 30 of them (I had to climb and section about half of them.) over the years after they have gotten too tall. (anything over 120 feet can be a real problem) In our last big storm two of our neighbors' trees barely missed our house and the power and internet was out for a week. Sorry for the long post. I worked for a long time in a family lumber reman plant turning rough wood into finished products, so your pseudonym woodbutcher always brings back memories.
There were three young ladies from a suburb of Boston killed in Belize on vacation a few weeks ago. At first they thought they died of drug overdoses. After the autopsies it was determined they died from Carbon Monoxide poisoning from a water heater in the hotel they were staying.
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