Blizzard of 2010

Townhall.com ^ | February 12, 2010 | Linda Chavez

[Renegade]

When you are the only one with a gen. in your neighborhood its not long before you are the ONLY one in your neighborhood!

[1_Rain_Drop]

"Fourth lesson: You can heat your house with snow. "

I steam potato(e)s instead of snow. Keeps at least the kitchen warm.

[almost done by half]

When you are the only one with a gen. in your neighborhood its not long before you are the ONLY one in your neighborhood!

lol! Well, I have had neighbors asking me to offer extension cord service to their homes too. It is also good idea to chain the things down too! :-)

[almost done by half]

Wow is that thing great!

[almost done by half]

if you feel you need to throw the snow out of the county

ROTFL!!!!!

[Eye of Unk]

Yeah what would be really cool is one with a Volkswagen Rabbit diesel that runs on leftover McDonalds french fries oil, you mow your snow on the go with the aroma of fries as you go!

[woodbutcher1963]

You should have an electrician install a GENTRAN switch box. The biggest problem power companies have during electrical blackouts are generators feeding electricity back into the mainlines.
A GENTRAN switch box makes this impossible. They are only $250

Also, make sure you run your generator once a month throughout the year. This will ensure it will start when you actually need it.
The most important thing to remember is to run your generator outside atleast 20’ from your house and preferrably down wind. Everytime we have a power outage here in NH, somebody dies from CO poisoning because their generator is too close to their house or they ran it in the garage with the door open.
I am not lecturing you specifically. Just giving years of experience dealing with blackouts. People think they can buy a generator and just hook it up. Sadly , some of
those people end up DEAD.

[almost done by half]

I was a little surprised it didn’t show a mower like platform for the operator to ride along on.

[almost done by half]

I remember one snow storm as a kid when the snow was so deep and hard people actually bought and use pitch forks to move the stuff!

[almost done by half]

Good point about the fumes. I wouldn’t be able to stand the noise of it running in the garage but I could see how that could be a problem.

[almost done by half]

I keep some around as well. I also keep a siphon around to access the car tanks if necessary.

[fatnotlazy]

I don’t think my local stores stock pitchforks...could probably find them in the country though.

[almost done by half]

I never cease to be amazed at people who attempt to buy things when they are needed instead of before they are needed. When you need it, so does everyone else.

People also think they can buy generators and return them after the need has passed. Not so anymore!

[almost done by half]

They probably have them. It is about the last thing left on the shelves in a major storm event! lol

[OregonRancher]

Small diesel generators (12.5kw) use about one gallon an hour under a constant 9.3 kwh load.

[TSgt]

LOL! My neighbors know when I’m running mine and I live in a rural area!

[TSgt]

It felt like a lecture but okay.

FWIW I use to work for our local power company and worked with much higher voltages in the military.

Safety first.

[EEDUDE]

I get it! The water will just stay in the ball fields and the parking lots when it melts.

Very clever! ;O)

[EEDUDE]

You, sir, have a bad attitude! ;o)

[firebrand]

Some urban friends went to live in Vermont for the winter one year so they could ski constantly. When the first big snow came, they were outraged that the snowplow skipped their driveway but was plowing everyone else's. They found out soon enough that everyone else had hired a private snowplow. They felt stupid but the people there were very nice.

We went up to visit them one weekend and had trouble finding the house. The local store owners told us where it was and than said, "If they're not home, go on in. The door's open." They had learned that much at least.