Hope all the Mass and CT residents are doing well after the freak Halloween storm. Now that the snow has melted, the cleanup begins. I lost a beautiful twenty year old Crimson Queen and part of a split rail fence. All the Oak trees in this area took a real beating because they are one of the last to loose their leaves. We lost power for about 48 hours and it looked a little like a war zone here. As bad as it was, Connecticut was worse. I never realized how much I depended on the internet. Having it out for four days was worse than losing our phone service.
My deepest sympathies. We lost power for 2 hours last week (high winds and tree branches) and I was climbing the walls. It was night and my husband was at work. W/O power, we have no phone, no heat (even though it is gas), no water, etc. I just went to bed and lay there making up a list that I need to buy — more flourescent lanterns — one for each floor of the house. A battery operated radio. Of course a supply of candles and matches (I had those, but didn’t want to use them.) Had plenty of wood for the wood stove, but didn’t want to make a fire, either.
I have 2 generators, but neither is convenient to use. Have to figure out what to do about that. Been saying that for more than 20 years, and we’ve made no progress on it.
The problem with generators is that you cannot use them indoors. Therefore, I have to tackle the puzzle of running the generator on the porch outdoors and how to get the electrical connection that the generator is powering indoors, while keepiing the exhaust fumes out. That is so a freezer or refrigerator or other appliances can be connected to it.
Just as I was writing this, WE Energies called to notify me that the electricity was reconnected and to tell me the cause for the outage. Well, the electricity was reconnected last Sunday night! It’s a good thing that I’m not on a breathing machine!
Anyway, the serviceman and I got into a discoussion on the use and problems of home generators. He suggested that I get an exhaust pipe from an auto store to direct the fumes away from the house. Then my husband (the resident engineer) spoke up and said that if I had an OUTDDOOR 220 plug (dedicated to the generator) that I could plug it in and that it would power much of the house. At least until I ran out of gas.
Add that to my list — an adequate supply of gas to survive a power outage.