Lessons learned

JRHill

Here's one that I'll start with sharing:

Our family had transitioned from city life to ranch land in north central Nebraska in 1996. It was raw land so everything from scratch. The Ex-DW was all wound up in Y2k: massive pantry and storage and on and on. I was in mechanical, electro-mechanical and software as a career. I silently doubted the elevatable crash of society. But we prepped+ anyway. It all came and went but I figured its all good as we are prepared whether it was a tornado or a Nebraska snow storm.

We didn't have RE, it was just too early. But I did get a killer deal on a Onan 12k gas/propane genset that was retired from a rural fire station. So once a month our family did a Y2k run. I shut the power off at the pole transfer switch for two days and we practiced the "what if.' It was a curious time with six kids. They really had fun. I watched the fridge and deep freeze. Heat was a wood fired Central Boiler. Y2k came and went. Blah.

Then I got lazy about test firing the generator. After a while I thought it was time so I fired it and warmed it up. I threw the transfer switch and the world caved in. One leg had 77vac and the other 160+vac. Before I could shut it down the damage was done to many things. I still to this day well remembering opening the control box of the generator and peering in with a flashlight. There inside were a bunch of little eyes staring back up at me. The mice had pissed and crapped all over the voltage control board. In addition there were more nests built between the cylinder fins under the most inaccessible covers.

So now in a different place in a different project, generators have been one expense, batteries another. But mice and rodents in general are right up there as well.