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http://www.weather.gov
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Posted on 01/11/2015 12:30:17 PM PST by rdl6989
Agree.....very nasty. Back in 98 such a ice storm killed power in our small town for 8 days....:o) If not for a wood stove, lots of cordwood and 100 gallon bed tanks on my trucks it could have been miserable. At least the house was toasty and we didn’t have to worry about getting to and from work etc.... Ice storms are a SOB !
Our portable generator is 12.5kw and i have a electrical cord I made that hooks up from genset 220 to dryer plug outlet in the garage. Feeds the house and absorbs the surges from hvac, fridge etc just fine. Its a diesel genset so in an emergency I can feed it from the bed tanks on my diesel trucks if we run short of fuel if outrage is long term.
Fill containers with water. You have tap water now so use it before you have to use prepped water. Make sure your tech stuff is charged, flashlights are charged and place extra batteries nearby and set out candles and matches. Make sure your outside water faucets are insulated. Get the dishes and laundry done before the ice hits. Doesn’t hurt to clean the bathroom and kitchen so you don’t have gunk and germs to deal with. Cook whatever can be eaten cold the next. Bake up some cookies or a cake because those can be eaten at room temperature.
Fill up the freezer with jugs of water now so they’ll be frozen to help keep the cold if the power goes. Keep the fridge and freezer closed when the power goes. Day 1 is ice cream day! Day two, eat whatever is perishable in the fridge. Day 3 use the grill to cook up whatever is thawing in the freezer such as meat.
Just drove through 40 miles of I-70 at the beginning of it.
Good thing we decided to leave the party at half-time. It’s gonna suck in another half-hour, especially when you add in all of the Colts drunks...
That should be a 10k generator and a transfer switch.
Most home generators have a few 110’s or a 220.
Common sense would tell you plugging 220 into a 110 would not be prudent.
Pulling the Meter costs nothing, it unplugs like any other device. My brother in law is a Master Electrician and he showed me that little trick. That’s what they do.
Those big switches are expensive, just for convenience, and I question the reliability. Most generators don’t put out the smoothest power. Nothing is safer than pulling the meter. If you have a digital meter that may be another story.
Unplug everything you have no exceptions, then plug 110 into an outlet that side will be energized, then repeat the process on another outlet on the other side from another 110. Your amps will be limited of course by the quality of your extension cord and the outlet you plugged into. These days you’d be surprised by all the little power eaters you have in your home.
Of course you still have to watch you amp usage. No 2000w hair dryers, garbage disposer, and microwaves. In a crisis only the women worry about that. That is the one big advantage of gas like I have, the stovetop, water heater, and furnaces ect. are all gas. The refrigerator and furnace blower are my biggest ongoing amp users and that is periodic.
Most generators will zap many electronic devices. I’ve found generators that vary voltage and phases by 10%. Sometimes because they don’t run the correct RPM.
My first and best generator was a Honda 3000w inverter. Perfectly clean power, and it kept my household(4+2inlaws) humming for a week. It was quite an education for the clan, figuring out their electrical footprint.
A 10K generator for a once in a decade experience? I’d rather spend my cash on a few new guns, food storage, and water purifying.
You’re right, the Colts drunks are going to make this pure mayhem.
Running 5 KW through a receptacle fed by #12(if you’re lucky, some houses are wired with #14) is NOT advisable.
That would be because 5KW is about 40A single phase at 120V, and the wire in the receptacle is rated from for a max of 20A.
As the load goes up past 20A, the wire WILL heat up to the point where it will start a fire or more likely just burn through and need to be replaced.
Of course if your total load is below 20A it would be OK.
“...electrical cord I made...”
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From your description that sounds like the cord
I made for hooking up my Christmas lights one year.
Is it a male plug on both ends?
It worked, but it scared hell out of me just to look at it.
I cut it up into pieces and threw it out after one season!
Running 110 solves that. They are only rated at 20a each
To add, a moron which you are not or a liberal, would likley find a way to burn his house down.
OK, so you are talking running 2 extension cords into 2 receptacles.
That would take care of the overurrent issue.
Potential backfeed issue still there unless the meter is pulled, but all utility workers assume there is some backfeed going on, and wear safety gear to handle it.
It’s not like you’re shooting 15KV their way.
One connection to each side, yes. Not ideal but....it works.
I am an electrical engineer explain please.
ps: The game was played in Colorado.
I have run my house off of a 10K generator many times. I just open the main breaker and back feed thru the dryer 220v outlet. The only appliance you can’t use is the dryer but who dries clothes in an emergency. Don’t’ listen to idiots telling you opening the main breaker is not safe. You will not be energizing lines outside your house. That is crazy talk. I have done the half dozen times. The only down side is when power does come back on line you will not know it. You have to rely on neighbors to let you know or look at street lights.
Doh, I knew that. I wasn’t thinking.
The Main Circuit Breaker WILL not provide this function.
I am an electrical engineer explain please.
Short Answer: Insufficient Air Gap in Breaker to prevent arcing and causing a shock hazard to Power Company Repair personnel.
Long Answer:If you do not use some sort of mechanical means of preventing power to be sent out to the gird, you may injure or kill a linemen. The 120 and 240 volts you have in your homes comes from a transformer that steps down high voltage, anywhere from 2400 up to 4100 volts typically in a residential area. If close to a commercial area the voltage can be as high as 13,000 volts.
The power you send out onto the grid will get stepped up to that higher voltage. A linemen working on those lines, fortunately they work on dead lines as if they were live, may come in contact with that voltage.
Linemen are constantly checking for power coming back at them on a line that should be dead. If they see voltage for no good reason, they will track it down, and cut the lines to your home.
You will be the last person to get power back, and they will have the local inspector with them, to inspect your system. And you will effect any repairs or eliminate any code violations before power is restored.
This is assumes no one gets hurt. Then criminal charges are in order.
There are manual transfer switches, automatic transfer switches, and devices that are simple interlocks between the two input breakers from utility and generator.
Either one must be used when connecting a generator to a system.
Look up your utilities website and look for their service requirements and it will explain about using these devices.
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