Still no power in Spring. No generator. Gonna be a long few days.
*****2024 Hurricane Season*****
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Last: 11 days ago by tk for tu juan
They aren't that sophisticated.
Sounds to me like a handful of folks on here need to work on the hurricane preparedness.
ALWAYS be prepared. This way it won't matter where it makes landfall or how strong of a storm it is. All your shlt will be sitting in the garage ready to rock and roll if need be.
Don't depend on others because at the end of the day you've got to fend for yourself.
ALWAYS be prepared. This way it won't matter where it makes landfall or how strong of a storm it is. All your shlt will be sitting in the garage ready to rock and roll if need be.
Don't depend on others because at the end of the day you've got to fend for yourself.
FarmerJohn said:
They aren't that sophisticated.
So its not one, and never will be?
Almost embarrassed to ask such a potentially stupid question, but how do you choose which appliaces to allocate power to with these? Through the breaker box? Also, how to you know how much capacity is needed to run just a handful of predetermined things.drmwvr said:htxag09 said:
How many of them actually service and maintain them how they're supposed to, though? Especially seeing how some just ran for 100-200+ hours a month and a half ago? A generator isn't a set it, forget it, and always be covered type investment.
Also, it should be a reality and taken into consideration when fiscally looking at generators and when planning for emergency situations. The number of these things has grown exponentially. Don't expect parts or techs to be readily available
The above is a big reason why I just go with the interlock kit and portable generators. The unknowns really tip the scale to make the $20k in investment worth it to me.
~18 year old Briggs and Stratton. Ran for 14 days straight during Ike and a few more days here and there since then. Keep them maintained and they fuel drained when not in use and they will last a long time. Currently running two window units, two refrigerators, one tankless hot water heater, tv, three fans plus misc lights and chargers. Works like a champ!
Ag_07 said:
Sounds to me like a handful of folks on here need to work on the hurricane preparedness.
ALWAYS be prepared. This way it won't matter where it makes landfall or how strong of a storm it is. All your shlt will be sitting in the garage ready to rock and roll if need be.
Don't depend on others because at the end of the day you've got to fend for yourself.
Make sure you relay this message to Centerpoint because if you click on that article, they were not. And that's their entire job
Lots of extension cords! It's also 8750 starting watts, 6200 running so plenty of power. I have surge protectors at the end of the three primary feeders and then branch off of there. It has worked so far!
South Platte said:I'm seeing those as well. $15,000 essentially down the tubes in those cases. At that investment level, failure is simply not an option.BBRex said:sts7049 said:
If you have elderly parents to deal with, you should have already had a plan in place for what you were going to do during a hurricane. with consideration for the potential for extended power outages, which should be a surprise to nobody on the gulf coast.
if you didn't do that ahead of time, that's not centerpoint's problem. obviously them having their ****e together would have made it easier, but that's not the real issue here
My wife, who is on the neighborhood Facebook page, said there were starting to be messages asking about Generac error codes and the generator not staying on. Some said that callers asking about service were told it could be a while before a technician comes out. Not everyone who has an emergency now started without a plan.
Most installation companies will sell a service plan to keep up with the routine maintenance. These stand alone generators are a bit more complicated than a portable one.
Mine recommends service at 25hr to change out the break in oil, 100 hr for oil change, and 200 hr for oil change, air filter, and checking some of the electrical and battery. After that it is service every 200hr.
I also have to check my oil level every 24hr. Going up to 100hr I put in almost 1 qt of oil. After that it hasn't really burned any. But if people aren't checking their oil level or they are over filling it then they will have problems.
We all knew how incompetent they were based the last go round not but a month ago and you still thought you could depend on them?
If you weren't opening it a bunch yesterday, it won't be. Our neighbors across the street are out of town and told us this morning we could raid their 2 fridges for any food before it goes bad, so knowing one of their neighbors has a whole home, we asked if we could run an extension cord from it to their house, and he agreed. We plugged in both and when I checked the food, it was all still frozen solid. At that time, it would have been without power for 29 hours.Seanzy2012 said:randy828 said:+1BillYeoman said:Seanzy2012 said:
Neighbors have power across the street since last night, but we still don't. I get that it's not all the same, but it messes with the mind a bit.
That happened to me after Ike . Drove me insane.
I wanted to award Cemterpoint a Silver Star for Psychological Warfare.
Funny to see extension cords running across the street. One of my neighbors across the street let me use his portable generator for the extra week we didn't have electricity after they got it.
My brother is a lineman, and he and I have had this discussion before, but still drives me nuts.
We don't have a transfer switch on our power box, so no way to hook up generator. We could do the fridge I guess, but I think the food is lost anyway.
CenterPoint just messing with me now.
Get a text saying power has been restored. Neighbors all got the same text.
I wisely didn't turn my generator off, but instead, flipped the generator breaker off and main on. No power.
Not surprising since I haven't seen CenterPoint around here, but why get people's hopes up.
At least Xfinity isn't bothering to tell us anything.
Get a text saying power has been restored. Neighbors all got the same text.
I wisely didn't turn my generator off, but instead, flipped the generator breaker off and main on. No power.
Not surprising since I haven't seen CenterPoint around here, but why get people's hopes up.
At least Xfinity isn't bothering to tell us anything.
William Foster said:Almost embarrassed to ask such a potentially stupid questuion, but how do you choose which appliaces to allocate power to with these? Through the breaker box? Also, how to you know how much capacity is needed to run just a handful of predetermined things.drmwvr said:htxag09 said:
How many of them actually service and maintain them how they're supposed to, though? Especially seeing how some just ran for 100-200+ hours a month and a half ago? A generator isn't a set it, forget it, and always be covered type investment.
Also, it should be a reality and taken into consideration when fiscally looking at generators and when planning for emergency situations. The number of these things has grown exponentially. Don't expect parts or techs to be readily available
The above is a big reason why I just go with the interlock kit and portable generators. The unknowns really tip the scale to make the $20k in investment worth it to me.
~18 year old Briggs and Stratton. Ran for 14 days straight during Ike and a few more days here and there since then. Keep them maintained and they fuel drained when not in use and they will last a long time. Currently running two window units, two refrigerators, one tankless hot water heater, tv, three fans plus misc lights and chargers. Works like a champ!
Assuming you have an interlock, yes, just switch off breakers you don't want to supply power to.
If you google generator appliance wattage requirements, or something similar, most generator manufacturers have charts that show sample starting and running watts for most appliances. You can add all of what you have up.
Any guesses on how long it is going to take the city to pick up all the branches and yard waste?
Parent's Generac came on for 6 hours yesterday and then shut-off. After the boatload of money and year and half wait for install, not sure they are worth it.
It was about 10 days after the derecho for my house. I got another pile sitting out there for them again.
Look, I'm not going to defend CP for much, but if these crews were a few hours away at hotels, I'm fine with that. I'd much prefer them to be at hotels with power relaxing and pulling their puds than here in Houston riding it out without power. Once the storm passes, drive in well rested with full bellies to get to work.The Porkchop Express said:
Centerpoint admits all those extra repair personnel weren't actually in Houston on Monday. And that they were taken by surprise by the storm's intensity.
https://www.khou.com/article/news/investigations/centerpoint-power-outage-crews-not-staged-in-advance/285-24aa531a-9bb6-4e5e-b793-b7a1a0601340
Hou-Ag said:
Parent's Generac came on for 6 hours yesterday and then shut-off. After the boatload of money and year and half wait for install, not sure they are worth it.
Wow. I'd be pissed.
This is where I am at. CP said they weren't local. Totally cool if they were camped in San Antonio, CS, etc. To get here in a few hours. I'm assuming not being local doesn't mean they started driving from North Dakota this morning.
we live in Texas, is there ever a lawn equipment off-season?Ag12thman said:My opinion is you can use gas with ethanol as long as you use it all and don't let it sit in your generator for months after use. But, I would run ethanol-free gas through it on it's last use before you put it up for storage. The reason is ethanol-based gas will go through a separation phase while sitting for long periods and the ethanol will sink to the bottom of the gas tank. This usually occurs within 6 months of sitting, I believe (someone please correct me if this is wrong). When starting the engine after the separation phase has occurred, only ethanol will be drawn in, clog the carburetor, and the engine will not start. I'd also recommend changing out the ethanol-free gas at least once a year. I believe ethanol-free gas will last several months (8 minimum). It would be even better to run your generator until it runs out of gas totally before you put it away for storage.CAR96 said:
Why is ethanol free gas so important for the generator?
Note: This all applies to lawn equipment as well - mowers, string-trimmers, chainsaws, edgers, blowers, etc. especially before you put them in storage for the winter.
Hou-Ag said:
Parent's Generac came on for 6 hours yesterday and then shut-off. After the boatload of money and year and half wait for install, not sure they are worth it.
That's infuriating, do they know why? Wondering if so many whole-home generators are stressing the natural gas supply.
AgLiving06 said:
CenterPoint just messing with me now.
Get a text saying power has been restored. Neighbors all got the same text.
I wisely didn't turn my generator off, but instead, flipped the generator breaker off and main on. No power.
Not surprising since I haven't seen CenterPoint around here, but why get people's hopes up.
At least Xfinity isn't bothering to tell us anything.
Happened to one of our medical housing units at the office too. I went to share the good news with the residents and it was still off.
Haha mom got off the flight in Austin and immediately got notification that her power was just turned back on
When the power is out and it's hot, little things are more annoying than usual.
A while back, I had a garage door opener with battery backup installed. I hated not having any light in the garage when the power was out, and if I needed to leave, sometimes opening the door was a struggle.
Well, fast forward to today, my power has barely been out 24 hours - not only does the light not work at all, the stupid opener beeps every few minutes - I can only assume it's to tell me that the back up battery is low on power (duh).
A while back, I had a garage door opener with battery backup installed. I hated not having any light in the garage when the power was out, and if I needed to leave, sometimes opening the door was a struggle.
Well, fast forward to today, my power has barely been out 24 hours - not only does the light not work at all, the stupid opener beeps every few minutes - I can only assume it's to tell me that the back up battery is low on power (duh).
There needs to be some significant changes in leadership at CenterPoint. They are clearly showing they have no idea how to be a utility provider for a big city like Houston.
I can remember after Ike when they talked about how they had done all these upgrades to the grid to make repair so much faster. Now we are just hoping to get power back in that same timeframe.
We've allowed them to normalize the idea that getting power back in 7-10 days is acceptable and that needs to stop.
Why we allow this kind of thing to happen is beyond me.
I can remember after Ike when they talked about how they had done all these upgrades to the grid to make repair so much faster. Now we are just hoping to get power back in that same timeframe.
We've allowed them to normalize the idea that getting power back in 7-10 days is acceptable and that needs to stop.
Why we allow this kind of thing to happen is beyond me.
StringerBell said:
Haha mom got off the flight in Austin and immediately got notification that her power was just turned back on
It might not be
I think this is where I'm going to end up. Right now, I just have a small 3000W generator to run portable AC, fans, chargers, and a couple of lights - enough to not make it miserable. But I'm not sure I want to drop $15K to make it so that we go from not miserable to comfortable for a couple of days every few years. Spending less than that for a generator that will power something like central AC, fridge, internet, etc. seems like the way to go.Sea Speed said:htxag09 said:
How many of them actually service and maintain them how they're supposed to, though? Especially seeing how some just ran for 100-200+ hours a month and a half ago? A generator isn't a set it, forget it, and always be covered type investment.
Also, it should be a reality and taken into consideration when fiscally looking at generators and when planning for emergency situations. The number of these things has grown exponentially. Don't expect parts or techs to be readily available
The above is a big reason why I just go with the interlock kit and portable generators. The unknowns really tip the scale to make the $20k in investment worth it to me.
For sure this. I'm in to my backup power about $1700 and should be able to power our garage apartment plus select circuits in our house or fewer circuits in the house and one home HVAC system. Really hard to justify an extra $10-$15 grand for the auto start generac.
For your backup power, how long does a tank of gas last? And how much gas do you keep on hand? That is the one benefit I see to a Generac with NG - I don't have to wake up in the middle of the night to refuel.
Hate those. What is the point of beeping to tell you that it's low on power? Pretty obvious when you try to use something and it doesn't work. No need to rub it in by being annoyance in top of it.
Welcome to the China Club
"Here's the pitch...POPPED it up! Oh man, that wouldn't be a home run in a phone booth."
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"Here's the pitch...POPPED it up! Oh man, that wouldn't be a home run in a phone booth."
-Harry Carey
aTm2004 said:If you weren't opening it a bunch yesterday, it won't be. Our neighbors across the street are out of town and told us this morning we could raid their 2 fridges for any food before it goes bad, so knowing one of their neighbors has a whole home, we asked if we could run an extension cord from it to their house, and he agreed. We plugged in both and when I checked the food, it was all still frozen solid. At that time, it would have been without power for 29 hours.Seanzy2012 said:randy828 said:+1BillYeoman said:Seanzy2012 said:
Neighbors have power across the street since last night, but we still don't. I get that it's not all the same, but it messes with the mind a bit.
That happened to me after Ike . Drove me insane.
I wanted to award Cemterpoint a Silver Star for Psychological Warfare.
Funny to see extension cords running across the street. One of my neighbors across the street let me use his portable generator for the extra week we didn't have electricity after they got it.
My brother is a lineman, and he and I have had this discussion before, but still drives me nuts.
We don't have a transfer switch on our power box, so no way to hook up generator. We could do the fridge I guess, but I think the food is lost anyway.
Stuff in my freezer stayed frozen for I think 3 days last summer when we had an outage. Stuff in the door had defrosted a little, but pretty much everything still had ice. Just don't open it.
My fridge is definitely warmer today, but I've opened it quite a few times (moved what I wanted to save to a neighbors). By tomorrow, it will be the same temp as the house.
But you've got some time with the freezer. If I don't have power by Thursday, my plan is to remove the meat and start cooking it.
Charlie Murphy said:
Hate those. What is the point of beeping to tell you that it's low on power? Pretty obvious when you try to use something and it doesn't work. No need to rub it in by being annoyance in top of it.
Exactly! It's like it's taunting me at this point!
Ag_07 said:
Sounds to me like a handful of folks on here need to work on the hurricane preparedness.
ALWAYS be prepared. This way it won't matter where it makes landfall or how strong of a storm it is. All your shlt will be sitting in the garage ready to rock and roll if need be.
Don't depend on others because at the end of the day you've got to fend for yourself.
Or, hear me out, some of us can't use a generator because we live in an apartment complex and can't use them. I did the best I can with what I could do. Unfortunately I don't have family here. We're all struggling. I don't see the point in calling out people for not being prepared.
I'm not sure how but everything in my freezer was completely defrosted by last night. Everything has already been thrown out.
If your Generac has stopped, open the lid and google the fault code, 9 times out of 10 it's a simple fix. Oil level might be a little low and need to be topped off or changed, too much load and it shut off, weak battery and needs to be put into manual start, etc. We've had a 22kw since January '21 that's been flawless outside of operator error. I waited too long to replace the battery and it didn't want to auto- start earlier this summer, and we've overloaded it a couple times and it shut itself down. Once you figure out the code and how to clear it, it's very easy to keep going.
my brother tried to use my parent's generator after the derecho. Dad said he ran it empty when he last used it years ago. He couldn't get it started.Cepe said:
I usually run my generator to empty before long term storage. Is that the wrong way to think about it?
When I brought it out to mine I opened it up and could barely get it going with starter fluid but couldn't keep it going. Took it to the small engine shop a few weeks ago but he was still backed up for months from the dercho. Said even if you're running them empty still leaving junk in thr carb.
I tossed a new carb on there and it started right up.
Friend of mine has worked for Alabama Power for 20+ years. She's spent most of her career going all over the country to restore power after weather events.
She's not coming for this one, but AL Power is sending 300+ people…they will be here tomorrow.
She's not coming for this one, but AL Power is sending 300+ people…they will be here tomorrow.
texasaggie2015 said:
I'm not sure how but everything in my freezer was completely defrosted by last night. Everything has already been thrown out.
Oh wow…that sucks. I'm sorry! When I opened mine last summer, I expected to find a melted mess. I didn't end up having to throw anything out.
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