At 11:00 last night, the electricity went out. The supplier started at having it on at 5:30 am. As time went on, the time moved to 11:00 am this morning. That didn't happen.
At 1:00 this afternoon, after waiting way too long, I uncovered the generator, pulled out some extension cords, and started heating part of the house with a space heater. I was kicking myself in the ass for waiting so long, since the house had reached 46 degrees, and it was just barely above freezing outside. I could have avoided some misery, if I hadn't had so much faith in the power coming on sooner.
The power did come back on at about 2:00 pm. It blipped after a few minutes, and shut down again. After about 15 minutes, the power came back on, and has remained on for over 2 hours. The house is warming, no pipes froze, the hot water heater is full of hot water, and a hot shower is soon to be undertaken.
Tonight, the forecast is for a temperature of about 28 degrees, and freezing rain. Hopefully the power stays on, and I can get some sleep. The last three days allowed only cat naps, and it's starting to catch up with me.
How big is your generator Jess? And how many space heaters are you running?
ReplyDeleteMy generator is 6500 watts, and I was only running one 1500 watt space heater...and my Keurig.
DeleteI was only heating a small section of my house, and since it's well insulated, the temperature was rising. Luckily, the main power came on after about an hour, so the heater only had increased the temperature about 8 degrees in that time.
Depending on your generator, fuel consumption is probably similar for one space heater or for several. Just make sure you use a heavy enough extension cord for the load so it doesn't overheat and so you don't blow a fuse.
DeleteIs your normal source of heat electricity or gas?
ReplyDeleteI have electricity. If I had gas, it would be propane, which I really an not real fond of. It's overpriced, and dangerous.
DeleteI use electricity too but I don't understand why you're not fond of propane. It's no more dangerous than any other kind of gas.
DeleteAt lunch today we saw that Houston was colder than Anchorage.
ReplyDeleteThat's about right. They found a way to have Amazon send it south.
DeleteMy grandson is stationed in Anchorage. He texted me sunday and said he is ready for summer to hit.
ReplyDeleteI really can't imagine living in an area where the temperature can stay below freezing for months, or having to deal with frozen precipitation for long periods of time.
DeleteMake sure to open your main breaker when your generator is running. If the outage is due to a downed tree and a lineman is working with the lines, your generator can hurt him.
ReplyDeleteI don't have it hooked to the main. With my infinite wisdom, I neglected to buy a 220 plug to fit my new generator.
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