Finally got our power back

[Tim]

We lost our power last Saturday during this freak snow storm, got 12 inches of wet heavy snow. The trees still had all the leaves on and didn't stand a chance.

What a pain in the ass that was.

 

[porterjack]

lose much frozen food

 

[AUFred]

glad you got your power back. We are really dependent on that stuff.

 

[Tim]

We made due...

First we did without and didn't open the fridge to keep the contents cold as long as possible. Then we borrowed my brothers generator and ran a few cords to the necessities.
Then I found a place that was getting in new generators (everyone was sold out) and bought one.
I hooked it into my main breaker box and was able to run just about everything. A hot shower was long over due

 

[Darrell]

Glad to see you back, Tim.

Losing power in the snow sucks.

 

[Alien Allen]

If you have an air conditioner there is an easy way to hook up the generator without having to run cords all over.

This is if you have a main breaker on top of your your circuit panel.

You turn off the main breaker. That way no power can go back on the grid.

Then turn off all the other individual breakers in the panel.

Go outside to the fuse box for the air conditioner. You disconnect the wire that goes to the air conditioner. Put the fuses back in and turn on the generator.

You now have power going back to the circuit box panel. Turn on the breakers to the things you need to run. That depends upon the size of the generator.

FYI.......... Don't blame me if anything gets ruined. Also be sure you have full power when power is restored. Turn off the generator and check the voltage in the top of the circuit panel to make sure full power is restored. I fried a couple items back a few years ago when power came on. It was not full voltage yet.

 

[freakofnature]

Losing power when it's cold especially sucks. I'm glad you were able to get a generator to get by. I always think that if we lost power here when it's cold it wouldn't be too bad because I have a little space heater I could use so I wouldn't freeze. Then I remember that it's electric.

 

[Tim]

If you have an air conditioner there is an easy way to hook up the generator without having to run cords all over.

I am the son of an electrician.

The first generator was just a band-aid, so cords to keep the fridge going was fine.

When I bought the new generator it was big enough to run most things 6600 watts.
So I ran a 240v line from the generator to the main breaker panel and clipped it in with 30amp spring clips. I turned the main breaker off and all of the house breakers and after I started up the generator I could just flip on the breakers as I needed them.
It was nice being able to use all of the lights in the house. And each morning I would turn the hot water heater on by itself for 45 minutes to heat up. I was surprised how much draw it has. 4500 watt upper element and a 4500 watt lower element. But both elements are never on at the same time, so a 4500 watt max draw.

 

[darkcgi]

losing electricity sucks big time
Im a game aholic its my main source of entertainment beside movies and tv.

 

[Alien Allen]

heating does use a lot of juice. A hand held hair dryer and a little tiny electric heater can not run at the same time as they use too much amperage.

I only mentioned the A/C because means you don't have to run much of any wiring. If you went into the main panel then one has to run a wire down to the basement.

Or do like I did when we had that massive midwest black out around 5 years ago. I just pulled off the electric meter and wired into that.

 

[hart]

Doing without hot water that I would hate the most....I love my hot baths.........

 

[Veronica]

I cant imagine losing electricity in a snow storm! Glad you got it fixed.

 

[Panacea]

What a pain, it's way too early for bs like that, glad it's getting better now.