Is Northern California going to be really shut down for Power?

Discussion in 'General foundry chat' started by OMM, Oct 9, 2019.

  1. OMM

    OMM Silver

    I was just reading that it is possible that 800,000 might be affected. If this happens and you’re in the zone, I hope you are prepared!

    God bless and hopefully you get through this.

    I went through a 3 day black out.... it is not fun!

    This black out could lead to five or six days(, as reports state). If it happens keep your freezers open to a minimum... and to keep your back up minimum. Gas stations will be without power.
     
    Last edited: Oct 9, 2019
  2. Jason

    Jason Gold

    Yup... I saw that too. Something about preventing fires. Let's not forget PG&E's infrastructure is shit. I could turn this into a political thread in two shakes of a lambs tail, but I'll bite my tongue.
    If they do this, I hope it doesn't last long. Being without power is no fun EVER! Longest I went was 2 weeks. (hurricane)

    Drink ALL the beer first!
    BBQ all the meat on day 3.
    Straight liquor day 4 and beyond.
    Freezing big gallon jugs of water is always a good idea, full freezers and refeers take longer to warm up.
    Lastly>>>>>>>>> I bet buying that tesla POS wasn't such a good idea hmmmm????:rolleyes::p:D
     
  3. I gave my generator a test run 6 months ago and found the carburetor barely worked.....looked around online for a rebuild kit and found a complete carburetor for $11 delivered: sold!. My home state government said that the California model for electricity generation was to be admired and got about halfway through selling generation and working towards selling distribution before they had a riot on their hands and backed down. We currently have the most expensive electricity on the planet thanks to years of Federal policy game playing. In South Australia, the $90 million Tesla battery has saved $50 million in the first year by preventing the gas turbine generator operators from gaming the system and driving the spot price to $14K / MW hour down to $270 / MW hour.
     
  4. Jason

    Jason Gold

    We have a town here called Georgetown in Texas. You should see the shitshow the city council made of going to an all green city. Remember, we have more natural gas than we know what to do with it.:rolleyes:
     
  5. Peedee

    Peedee Silver

    "I bet buying that tesla POS wasn't such a good idea hmmmm????" That just made me LOL

    We are starting to get full electric cars through the garage and there is very little beyond wheels and brakes you can touch! We have plenty of fuel pumps but no charge point for such things so you are at the lap of the gods (owner) to make sure it comes in with some range left in it!

    Bets of luck to those caught up in this outage.
     
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  6. FishbonzWV

    FishbonzWV Silver Banner Member

    This is just PG&E covering their ass. A couple years ago their power lines started the wildfires, they got sued.
    So now it's retaliation...you want to sue us...how about no power as an alternative.
     
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  7. DavidF

    DavidF Administrator Staff Member Banner Member

    Shutting down the power in CA will likely be known to cause cancer and an increased risk of pregnancy.
     
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  8. PatJ

    PatJ Silver

    I keep a 2kW Honda quiet genset on hand at all times.
    I can plug it into a cord that I keep in a box on the side of the house, and by flipping a breaker, I can run all the 120 volt loads in the house (I have to open the 240 volt breakers first).

    So we run the refrigerator, and the air handling unit fan.
    The air handler is natural gas, and so we can do well in the winter with operating heat.
    For a summer power outage, we have a 120 volt window unit in one room that we can run.

    You can do just about anything with a working refrigerator and heat.
    All of my lights in the house are LED now, and so the genset hardly gets any load from lighting.

    The Honda is extremely quiet and very portable, but the tank only lasts about 10 hours, which is a fair trade-off.
    When I am in the house, I can't hear the genset outside running.

    Power outage?
    No problem.
    Be prepared.

    .
     
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  9. Jason

    Jason Gold

    That's a good idea Pat. I've got a small generator, I should drop a plug on my cb panel the next time I'm in there. Correct me if I'm wrong, but before hooking up the genset, I throw the main breaker isolating it from the grid, flip the 220 breakers and let her rip right?
     
  10. Tobho Mott

    Tobho Mott Gold Banner Member

    We have a small generator for power outages, not a huge one though. I use it to keep the sump pump running in my basement to keep the floods at bay for the most part, and maybe keep the fridge/freezer going. If we ever lose power for days or weeks, I will wish I went bigger; the one we have has already paid for itself in less than 2 years by preventing floods that would have submerged the motor on our new home heating furnace.

    Best wishes to anyone here who may be affected, hopefully this doesn't happen... or at least doesn't last too long if it does.

    Edit - you guys are fancy, I just run one extension cord in through the basement window and another through the back door.

    Jeff
     
  11. Petee716

    Petee716 Gold Banner Member

    I've got a similar setup. It's like money in the bank. The plumbed in natural gas backup generators (Generac for example) are quite popular around here. They're pretty pricey and not without their issues. For now I'm okay dragging my generator out when I need it. Furnace, fridge, and some lights are enough to get by. The configuration in the panel requires the main feed to be disconnected before generator power can be connected.

    Pete
     
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  12. PatJ

    PatJ Silver

    I use to run cords in through the doors and such, but it is not safe to have a door open in this town.
    I have a 12 gauge cord in a box on the outside of the house, and can run all the 120 v in the house from that, assuming that I don't exceed about 12 amps continuous at 120 volts.
    My panelboard has a main circuit breaker that I can open to get isolation from the utility company when I am running on the genset.

    I am not going to describe exactly how to do it on a public forum, because if you don't pay attention to what you are doing, you can shock yourself or others.
    The safe way to connect to a panel is to use a transfer switch, but a 200 amp transfer switch is expensive and difficult to wire in.

    I do have a way to run all the 120 volt in the house without having to make any wiring connections other than plugging in the genset (after opening the main). All the 240 volt breakers have to be open when you are doing this.

    .
     
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  13. Jason

    Jason Gold

    A few years ago, I had to kill power to my house with a quickness. That's when I discovered the main breaker no longer worked!:eek::eek::eek: After throwing all the breakers, I pulled the friggen meter out myself! I replaced the main and called the company. No harm, no foul. The guy shoved it back in and hung another tag on the latch. No charge. Lesson learned. Throw the main once a year! When you need it to work is not the time to find out it's fkd!;)

    I know what your saying Pat. It's important to not attempt to power the grid. :eek: Pretty sure my little generator would lose that one. :D
     
  14. FishbonzWV

    FishbonzWV Silver Banner Member

    I don't piss around, 8.5kw genset, 800Ah battery bank in the garage.
    Run the gen in the daylight, switch over to the battery bank at night. The weak point is my inverter, only 1500 watts and I switch the fridge and freezer every 4 hours. The way to beat the inrush current is to use a 100 foot extension cord on the reefers.
     
  15. Jason

    Jason Gold

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