So the big question everyone’s mind where I live right now is “Do I buy a generator?”. (By that I mean a gas-powered generator that provides electricity to the house when there’s a power failure). The question is theoretical for me cuz there aren’t ANY left anywhere around here anyway. But today’s my 4th day in a row without heat or electricity so I’m certainly pondering the questioin. We had to dump all our food in our fridge and freezer.
And if I buy one, what kind? The kind that powers the whole house? Or just enough to power the heating system and refrigerator? Are they hard to maintain? Is it worth getting it for those few times you need it?
What kind of heating system do you have?
Short answer, if you’re in danger of going five days w/o heat in New England, buy one.
Most of these questions really depend on what you are willing to live without.
First question is: How often do you lose power on average?
If it’s upwards of 2-3 times a year, get one. An addendum to taht question is, when it goes out what time of year does it go out most often? Given the prevalence of ice storms in New England, I’d say definitely get one.
As for what kind…again this depends on what you can live without, very minimum you want the heat & refrigerator to work.
Our house is heated by Natural Gas. It’s weird. The gas comes in just fine even though the power is out. So you wonder, why can’t I still get heat. And the reason is because it’s electronically controlled—and I suppose it also depends on fans in the system the move the heated air around.
It has been nice having Natural Gas and a gas stove, but because that meant we could at least cook and heat water on our stove. If we had an electric stove we would haven’t been able to do that.
Yeah, without the blowers, you’re just heating the furnace. Which can become problematic.
Sounds like a smallish generator that can power the furnace and fridge is all you really need. Get some LED camping lights to find your way about at night.
Meanwhile, you can run the oven with the door cracked for a couple hours if it gets really nippy inside.
I can think of 2 ways to bring this thread down here (the gutter). one involves a word ending in -or and the other natural gas.
3! pike said blower
How often do the power outages happen? If your use of a generator is going to be rare, you have to be ready to keep to a maintenance schedule. A generator is somewhat akin to an automobile engine so if you leave it sit for too long without use strange things are possible
Is relocation possible? The weather mix has not been too bad here in Nevada. Arizona and Utah are in a similar situation.
My answer to your question is a qualified yes. Picking up a generator is worthwhile investment but it requires care and attention. Think Marley and Me.
Generators are like an insurance policy…you shell out alot of money for one, and probably never use it, or maybe use it only a few times. (If you’re lucky!)
What you want to do comes down to what you want to spend. If you do get a larger, ‘whole-house’ type, you’ve also got to add the cost of the electrical work to wire it into your home lines (there’s a few special feinbergers you need, and if you’re not handy they might have to be installed by an electrician (cha-ching!). You also need a place to store it, and a handy gas supply, and proper venting so you don’t asphyxiate yourself, unless you set it up to be brought outside if you need it.
A smaller gen. could be used in a pinch, throw it out on the driveway, with just a couple of heavy duty extension cords, to alternately keep your fridge/freezer going, power a couple of lightbulbs, and keep the furnace going. Still a better quality of life than the Little House on the Prairie thing you had going this weekend !! Still need a secure place to keep some gas on hand though. A smaller gen. can also be brought on camping trips, tailgate parties, etc., so you might actually get some use out of it !
My father in law bought two big generators for Y2K, and squirrelled them into his basement. He never, ever used them, and sold them a few years later.
Okay, here’s a serious question - you guys live in the richest, most developed country in the world. A 4-day power outage? What’s the story behind that?
There was a huge icy rain that heavily coated every tree in that region with a thick sheet of ice. Hundreds and thousands of trees, or tree limbs, came crashing down across roads, yards, etc throughout a large region of Mass and New Hampshire. Hundreds, maybe thousands of wires were pulled down, ripped out, etc. The trees need to be cut up, hauled away from the power lines, and the lines need to be repaired. A huge job that will take help from electric services all over (which is why the electric suppliers all have reciprocity agreements, because it takes more than one region’s workers to handle a problem of this nature.)
It’s a big, big mess.
Wow
Is that like a thing that happens often or global-warming induced or are you guys headed towards an ice age?
Mother Nature must be going thru Menopause. One moment she i having hot flashes and thus we are having global warming…the next she is having cold flashes and we are in the middle of the ice age.
Its crazy down here in North Florida. One night we will get down to 30 F then the next day we will having a high of 85 F. then plummet back down to the high 20’s
In New England it happens now and then----not often.
This sort of ice-related power outage hasn’t happen in 25 years.
Sure we get snow storms and sometimes one or time power lines get knocked out, but nothing to this degree.
It’s a pretty odd unlucky coincidence and the rapid change in temp is to blame.
Heavy rain like we had on Thursday would have been fine if the temp had stayed above freezing.
Or, if it had been colder that rain would have been snow instead—we would have had a typical blizzard—roads would need to be plowed, maybe school would get canceled but not a real emergency. We’re used to snow in winter—we expect to deal with it.
But it was the combination of heavy rain one day followed by extreme cold the next that caused the ice to freeze all the trees and branches.
And now here are on Monday and the temp is actually up to 60 degrees right now?!! Saturday morning it was 18 deg. F outside my house, and 42 inside the house.
Just got the call—school is closed again tomorrow because of so many downed power lines.
I’m gonna tell you something, but you’ve got to promise to keep it a secret: We aren’t really the richest nation in the world. We’ve been borrowing massive amounts of money from China for years now.
Please don’t tell anyone…especially not France. We’re kinda embarrassed about it.
So my wife just called me from her cell, she’s just drove through our neighborhood.
And she says that all the houses on one side of the street have their electricity back, but our side does not.
What the fraak? What is this, Jets vs. Sharks? East vs. West? Human versus Cylon?
Man vs. Machine? 'Tis not fair.
Ever see the classic Twilight Zone episode “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street”? :eek:
I think you know what you have to do. 
Yes. In the parlance of our times, man, this aggression will NOT stand dude.
I am quite familiar with this phenominon! What it boils down to is you are relying on a different transformer on the grid.