Gonna be cold this weekend

[LCHIEN]

Going to have a cold Norther come though Friday Night, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday with temperatures down to the 21-22°F at times.

In Feb 2021 we had a deep freeze that lasted 3 days and put much of Texas without electric power.

Well, the grid operator ERCOT has said their forecast shows we have sufficient power margin. THis will be OK with limited outages due to falling iced-over trees and such.

However what killed the grid in 2021 was not insufficient planned plant operations but unexpected loss of power plants due to extreme weather - one of the big ones was the natural gas supply being cut off because heaters for the gas water condensation filters either failed or worse, were disabled by localized rolling blackouts. Gas companies did not know that they could apply for no rolling blackout status if they simply filed a form stating they part of the critical energy supply.

Anyway, we hope they learned the lessons of 2021.
Anyway stores are out of bottled water and a lot of other staples.

[leehljp]

I'm tired! I spent the day getting my 8000+ watt generator prepared and in position; and a number of other things.. I have a 100 ft 10 gauge extension cord and hunted up a male and female connector. I cut my 10 gauge cord into a 60 ft and a 40 ft. Then I put a grommet through the wall of the back bedroom so that the 60ft heavy cord could go though - and another 12 gauge wire with numerous outlets every 8 ft. Both cords will fit through the "hole in the wall" doored on both sides grommet. The back bedroom has a covered 12ft patio and the generator is stationed there about 10 ft from the door and wall.

I dawned on me that the blower fan for my central gas heater had a 120v fan (installed 2 years ago) on its own circuit and instead of a direct hook up, someone installed an outlet next to it and a 12 gauge wire going to it. With this in mind, it also dawned on me that if the that were true, IF the ice storm tears the electric lines like it did in '94, I could run the 40ft cord directly to it (the attic has a door to the roof right above the patio cover.) While I might not have electricity to my lights, but I can use my lamps, I can have my central gas heater running. I also have a gas fireplace in the living room, so we can handle the cold if the electricity is out.

In 94, our home town was without electricity for 3 to 4 weeks as was all of N. Mississippi and most of Arkansas too. (I was in Japan at the time) This time we are on the boarder of all forecasts for sleet/snow versus predicted very heavy ice storm with trees and lines down over a huge area in Arkansas and MS.

My generator has 2 different 30amp 120V lines and a 220 line also. I thought about running a line to our electric stove/oven, but I wasn't going to pay the price for a female plug and an 8 gauge wire for a 220 cord through the house. I have a two burner camper stove, an air fryer that we use often, and an electric frying pan, toaster and other items that we can run a 120v (12 gauge) cord to them. I believe in heavy duty wire gauges!

I also got my four 5 gallon cans filled with gasoline to run the generator as needed. We are going to have 8 straight days with the low temperature at 20° or lower each night and 2 nights forecast down to 9°. I have my lawn tractor under my garage to use it as my "snow blower" if we get snow of any depth.

[capncarl]

Do you have a propane tank for your house use or do you have city gas? If you have propane or natural gas consider changing your generator to gas. I do not have gas at my house but have a dozen 20 lb propane cylinders that I keep full. When I replaced my 5000 w generator with a 8000 w ELECTRIC START unit I converted it to propane and never put gasoline in its tank.

As part of our disaster preparedness I wanted to have a transfer switch installed for the generator. Instead I found a GenerLink device that our local utility co installed between the electric meter and the meter base. The GenerLink is capable of handling 50 amps and came with a generator cord that plugs directly into the bottom of the device. Its transfer switch disconnects the utility power when it detects generator power… so the utility Company is happy. The GenerLink was a bit pricey but a LOT less than a conventional transfer switch, and no additional large cords are required. I do have to flip breakers of large devices I don’t want to try to operate with the generator.

I would be suprised if your generator would power your electric stove, maybe one eye. I tried it one time with the generator powering the refrigerator and 2 freezers and some lights and when 1 electric eye on the stove was turned on it about stalled the generator down. I didn’t realize at that time that the shop air conditioner was operating and possibly the electric water heater, so a more organized test to see if it would operate the stove would be required. The GenerLink also allows the well to operate, whereas before I had to roll the generator half way across the yard and wire it into the pressure switch.

Having an all electric house might seem like a good idea to a realtor but in cold weather it does present a problem heating during a power outage.

[leehljp]

BTW, Mine has electric start also.

Our house is on city, well Atmos gas (covers 8 states), but I seriously considered getting it changed to propane in a large tank last year. Last year in February, when we had 3 to 4 day cold spell down in the lower teens at night and mid 20s in the day, - in the mid afternoon of the first night, I told LOML that is sure was getting cold. I checked my fire place heater (gas) and the pilot light was out. I went outside and noticed the gas was cut off. (My payments are automatically deducted from the bank) A call to the gas office gets me someone in a different state every time, but the one I got said, "We sent the gas sensing truck through your town today and it noticed a gas leak at your house. They cut your gas off and left a note on the front door. While talking I was outside and there was no notice, nor on the side door. It took till the next night to get them to turn my gas back on. The leak was discovered at the connection of their meter to my house! I got very mad and posted a complaint to the MS Public Utilities the morning after the leak was discovered stating that 2 elederly (above 75) had their gas shut off on the eve of the coldest spell of the winter, and without any warning as we were both home the whole day as I was recovering from a knee replacement two weeks earlier. Within a couple of hours I began getting Atmost people calling me and sending guys to work behind my licensed plumber to find the source of the leak and getting it stopped. (There was more to it but that is the gist.) FOR THAT REASON, I almost considered getting off of a big company utility!

AS to the GENERLINK transfer switch- I considered the "Generlink" or even something similar when I bought the generator about 4 years ago. However, Entergy which covers MS, AR, LA and TX. said they do not allow it. I called the company and I called a couple of guys who worked their lines locally and they too said they were not allowed to do that and they were not permitted in MS (But I know some who have Generacs). I am sure if I pushed it, that would be illegal for them to forbid hooking up a generator of some sort with a licensed contractor or electrician with their oversight. I found a loop hole of sorts in the process with Entergy's denials in another matter with a church that I worked with when they were adamant that we could not do what we wanted to do. After about 5 phone calls, I got a person who was a bivocational pastor. HE told me the process and what we needed to do, how to do it and the right questions with the right words if I needed to call back. He told me that basically unless unless I asked the right words and questions to others, they would not help.

SO, I am sure if I pushed it, I could find the way to get it done, but the cost may be more than I want to pay for using it once every two or three years for no more than a couple of weeks at the most, and then a couple of days because of a spring or summer storm once every 5 years or so.