Help with my generator needed.

crewzer

Re: Help with my generator needed.

niel,

Glad to hear you got your generator running!

We've buried here as well... but we still have power, and RE system is all charged up.

Anybody want to help me dig out my truck?

Regards,
Jim / crewzer

niel

Re: Help with my generator needed.

crewzer,
i know it's just about done snowing down there by now so what's your running totals so far? how about outages down there? people stranded or getting into accidents? officially i got 7.3in in this round and 21.1in the first round. i'm sure you're breaking records down there as we here are. so far it's the 6th snowiest month ever with 29in and the #1 spot is 40.2in. we've got time to bust through all of these records. btw that 1st storm was our 4th on record.

the local news showed a guy about 10 miles south of me that has a genny as well as a solar setup with pvs, inverter, and batteries. the power is out around him from the 1st storm and he is supplying his own power. it's bad enough you get record storms, but to lose power and have it frigid cold on top of it all is a nightmare and it's scenarios like this from personnal experience that i came to be interested in solar more than 30yrs ago.

i'd be glad to help dig you out if i could get there before it melts.:p we need to rent out rudolph and company. with my luck the nrc and hazmat teams would go after me for that trail of red glowing reindeer poop.:roll: the ones that'll turn me in would give the sound of unHAPPY FEET!

notsobright

Re: Help with my generator needed.

glad you got it running. for fuel stabilizer, Pri-G suposed to be the longest lasting. I use it and have started engines with Pri-G treated gas that was stored for just over a year. not even a hint of that old gas smell when treated with it.

old gas is nasty stuff. that smell permiates your sinuses and when you get a big enough whiff of it you will still smell it three days later! also seems to me to cause headaches more so than fresh gas.


when I get an old car that has bad gas in it, I pour it into the old Ford tractor. it allways runs on bad gas, doesnt skip a beat with it either. I think the low compression engine it has just doesnt mind it.

I have had to replace fuel tanks in vintage "barn finds" durring restorations. gas goes bad then turns to varnish and if it sits long enough it turns into this extreamly nasty black tar and nothing, I mean Nothing will break it down either. acetone, MEK, laquer thinner.. they dont phase the stuff. throw the tank away if its black tar in it.


also old/bad gas will cause an engine to burn off blue smoke. blue smoke ussually associated with burning oil and worn piston rings and such so it can throw you off.


heres a link to Pri-G if anyones intrested:
http://www.batterystuff.com/fuel-treatments/PRIG32oz.html


anyway, glad you got it running! WOW 21" eh? I cant imagine! for some reason it sounds like fun but then we only see snow dust everyother year here. I bet the fun factor goes away after the first day.

crewzer

Re: Help with my generator needed.

niel,

The combination of the two storms from last Fri/Sat (~32") and the Tue/Wed storm (~9") put us over 40". All sorts of new snow records have been set in our area, including most snow for a season (75" so far), but our season isn't over yet! :roll:

I was in CA when the first round hit, and it delayed my trip home. I ended up flying from San Francisco to Los Angeles to Denver to Newark. I staying in Newark Sat night and then drove a rental car down on Sun AM via I78 to Harrisburg, PA and then south on old US15. I turned in the rental car at Dulles (IAD) where my personal car was parked, and then finished driving home to Vienna.

There have indeed been some "spot" power outages in my area, although I'm sure the people that have been without power for several days would question the "spot" part. We lost power for a few hours on Saturday, but have been fine since.

I've since switched all loads over to the grid in order to keep my 10kWh battery bank fully charged. My oldest son cleaned off my array on Monday, but it needs another sweeping today. So far, however, so good, and we have enough groceries for a few more days.

TV reports indicate that life slooowwwww-ly starting to return to normal, although I think it'll be Monday before there's any real semblance or "normalcy".

The truck makes for a good picture and story, but, fortunately, we don't need it at the moment. Our Subaru is already dug out (see pic below), and it's a GREAT winter car. My wife's Honda is in the garage, and I think it'll stay there for a few more days.

Link to pics and stories from our Subaru Forester forum. :cool: I have a post on page #6.

Take care, and thanks for the offer!
Jim / crewzer

Dave Angelini

Re: Help with my generator needed.

At least your not climbing in the second story window yet...

crewzer

Re: Help with my generator needed.

Dave,

Been there, done that! My sister and her husband have a "cabin" at Bear Valley, CA; elevation = 7,600 ft.

Yikes!!
Jim / crewzer

Cariboocoot

Re: Help with my generator needed.

Irony!

Here in BC we are currently hosting the Winter Olympics.
There's no snow.
They've been trucking and helicoptering (?) it in from other mountains to cover the event runs.
I've just got back from the North, and it isn't very snow-covered.
In fact, I spent several sunny days wishing I had solar panels displacing my electricity costs.
On the plus side, the solar gain through the windows and the wood stove kept us nice and warm - which was good because the furnace had failed since the last visit.

Solar is dependable power!

niel

Re: Help with my generator needed.

crewzer,
more than a foot more snow than me is quite bad. normal won't occur for some time as the stuck trucks need to deliver to the grocery stores and gas stations yet. stores are just about wiped clean and i've heard of some gas stations out of gas, but luckily it is not to a desperate point as some have delivered enough to stave off large widespread shortages. one consolation i can give you is that your snow will probably melt away faster than mine.
of note i don't see much on your roof and no icicles hanging off of your roof or downspouts. lots of homes here have this growing dilemma here including me. i thought of putting heat tape on at least one of them, but once there it will be permanent as it isn't easy to do on a tall building. i had one that wasn't long enough on one of them years ago and it deteriorated over time from constant year round exposure.
i'm glad you made it back in one piece as travel during inclimate weather isn't easy to do.

cariboocoot,
we could probably use some skis and snowshoes here.

crewzer

Re: Help with my generator needed.

of note i don't see much on your roof and no icicles hanging off of your roof or downspouts.

niel,

Very observant!

The wind blew a lot of snow off the roof. We do have a few icicles, but the general lack of them is the direct result of some of my energy conservation steps:

1) Soffit- and ridge vents to allow circulation in the attics; keeps the roof from getting too warm
2) Accumulated snow is raked from the lower roof edges (~ a foot or so back) to allow melting water access to the gutters and downspouts
3) R-30 insulation in the ceilings (original construction was R-11)
4) 68 F daytime thermostat setting, and set-back down to 58 F at night
5) The garage shares one common wall with the main house, but is otherwise unheated

We like our low heating bills!

Regards,
Jim / crewzer

GreenerPower

Re: Help with my generator needed.

Wow ! I landed in Boston at midnight on a business trip when the blizzard of '96 came, I'm glad my colleague was driving (he was from Michigan). We're stuck in hour hotel till the 3rd day when people started going back to work.
Still have light snow in the morning late April in Alberta last year @#$! (I was on business by myself that time, being a Texan, never have to drive in the snow).
At least I survived the skiing lesson in Minesota a few years ago :-). Brrrr !!!
GP

Telco

Re: Help with my generator needed.

niel wrote: »

of note i don't see much on your roof and no icicles hanging off of your roof or downspouts. lots of homes here have this growing dilemma here including me. i thought of putting heat tape on at least one of them, but once there it will be permanent as it isn't easy to do on a tall building.

Rather than heat tape, what about a hot water line like a PEX tube or something? A small pump to push a water/antifreeze mix through the line and heated with a wood burning stove (if nothing else) should keep the gutters clear.

niel

Re: Help with my generator needed.

that would be quite elaborate on my home. i don't think i'll be doing that as i need a new roof anyway. mine leaks and i just don't have that much $ right now to replace it. for the record, one of the leaks is going in between the double brick wall on one side of the house and not just on the outside. it is eroding the joints as seen from the outside where the leak is and i will try to point that come warmer weather, but if that water between the wall freezes, it could push the brick down as it expands. pointing the wall will strengthen it, but it could still be forced down by the ice so i've got a dilemma in that spot.

BB.

Re: Help with my generator needed.

We had some hail one evening last month that turned the ground white for a 1/2 hour.

Just wait until I can tell the story about the next 9.0 earthquake in the next 50 years...:roll:

-Bill

crewzer

Re: Help with my generator needed.

Just wait until I can tell the story about the next 9.0 earthquake in the next 50 years...:roll:

With California's luck, that'll be right after summer fires and during winter monsoons, so you'll also have some great mudslides! :roll:

Done my time in CA... 1979-93.

Regards,
Jim / crewzer

crewzer

Re: Help with my generator needed.

A few more pics.

Enjoy!
Jim / crewzer

notsobright

Re: Help with my generator needed.

crewzer wrote: »

A few more pics.

Enjoy!
Jim / crewzer

look at that! make ya wonder if theres a way to convert all that snow to some form of energy.

whats going on with our weather? we dont get snow here but for the past year when we get rain, its not briefly like it allways has been, now it rains 24hrs or more everytime.

I live atop a hill, every direction is downhill. for the first time ever Ive had rain water standing in my yard. you would have to see this.. its remarkable.


two years back we had the worst drought in our (recorded) history. the largest lakes levels were so far down we thought (due to population explosion) we would never see them refilled.

now we wonder if the ground will ever dry out!


thanks for posting the pics. what a sight man.

icarus

Re: Help with my generator needed.

Many of the semi-conductor heat tape makers (frostex/heatline etc) make heat tapes that are submersible, and some specifically for gutters and downspouts.

(as well as eaves to prevent ice daming) The draw no power when the temp rises so you can keep them on if you forget without breaking the bank.

Tony

notsobright

Re: Help with my generator needed.

notsobright wrote: »

we dont get snow here

foot in mouth again... the day after posting this we now have an inch of snow on the ground here.

this is really strange. (for us) think Ill go enjoy it while it lasts.

niel

Re: Help with my generator needed.

be careful of the yellow snow if you like to put your foot in your mouth.:p

niel

Re: Help with my generator needed.

well folks, it looks like round 3 of the snow storms is coming my way for monday the 15th with the nws calling for 4-6 inches. this is getting ridiculous as it is too cold to melt even though the sun has been melting it some the few times it peered out. i know it doesn't compare to the numbers south and east of me during the same storms, but at least they have temperatures above freezing to allow what is there to melt off. we are still breaking records thus far as the lake effect snows have been consistent. we are either at the 5th or 4th snowiest month on record now with this coming snowfall surely to place it even closer to #1. i couldn't find those records again to refresh officially where we are at.
i do know that we have 33.1in this month and 61.5in for the season so far. normal for the whole season is usually about 40.6in, but figure we have gotten over 1.5ft more than normal so far and the season is not done.:grr i fear that more roofs and trees will fall damaging property and cutting power to people again. i heard of another roof collapse just today in a neighboring county for an ice rink. heck, even for solar in this area it has not been a good season.:roll:

to date season snowfall tallies-
by 2/15 63.9in
by 2/16 65.3in
by 2/17 68.2in
by 2/25 69.0in

note: a ski resort about 75 miles se of pittsburgh has more snow than vale and a few other popular ski resorts.

crewzer

Re: Help with my generator needed.

niel,

Hope all is well. We received just a dusting from yesterday's storm.

Here's the really good news for my neighborhood! :cool:

Regards,
Jim / crewzer

niel

Re: Help with my generator needed.

guess your neighborhood just isn't used to having to plow snow very much acknowledging this to be exceptional. we aren't used to this much either. glad they got to you. our local news stated the roads in the city would total to 2 round trips to orlando, fla. the city did a terrible job, but luckily i'm not in the city, but just outside of it. my area was too good at it as you heard my complaint of getting reburied numerous times.

so far this hasn't been much of a storm with my seeing about 2-4 inches (includes yesterday), but it's not done yet either as there are snows occurring to my west. there's so much here now that adding more is hardly noticed except for the walkway and steps needing cleaned. it is currently snowing again.

i do fear i could have some damages as the ice is building. each downspout has about 500lbs of ice hanging that i've been chipping away at and my gutters (builtin variety) have about 3 inches of ice accumulated above the gutter. note that it doesn't seem to matter here if there's insulation or not as all buildings are covering with ice. i see some water is starting to appear in places it shouldn't so it is damming up with the temps in the upper 20s now and it doesn't take much for the water to start flowing be it heat loss from a building or a rare glimpse of the sun. not lots i can do about it as most of it is out of normal reach with my 24ft ladder. i have a 40 footer, but that is shakey and i shouldn't be going up ladders as it is. i carefully go up them anyway, but that's more for warmer months as going up them now adds an extra added risk of danger that i'm not willing to go to that degree.

before this month i thought all we'd have is the cold temps we've been experiencing with less than normal snowfall. surprise.

Kamala

Re: Help with my generator needed.

Ahh.. SNOW!

Greetings from Minnesota. One time home of cold and snow! This has been a GOOD year. I don't ski, Smobile or Ssshoe, I just like to see the weeds covered. The water level of lakes here in the land of 10,000 has been decreasing.

I wish we, here in MN could have got all that white stuff that you out east got. I still see some weed tops. WE NEED IT.

Oh yeah. Plows here are like alarm clocks. They'll wake you at 0430 with their rumbling down (my) suburban streets. LOVE IT.

K

niel

Re: Help with my generator needed.

kamala,
i wish i could send it to you. it is bad this year and now in addition to all we have on the ground we are receiving freezing rain as i type this. secondary roads are a sheet of ice and many here in the morning are going to be very surprised. ice is damming up and entering my home in many places now. it melts a little with temp highs around the high 20s and flows down to refreeze right in the vulnerable spots.:grr i think i've seen the sun only 3 or 4 times this month so far and only 1 day was all day.:grr
you will see a running tally of the snowfall here a few of my posts down as i've been updating it there. the month to date is 40.0in so far and subtracting this from the 68.2in seasonal total means 28.2in fell prior to february. i'm sure the amounts we have seen here are small compared to the norm some of you guys usually see especially for any of you canadians. according to my wife we have set a record for the snowiest month ever and we aren't done.:grr
in checking we are just shy of that record so far and that's what i get for listening to my wife.
40.2 January 1978.
40.0 February 2010.
36.3 December 1890.
34.1 March 1993.
32.3 November 1950.

Mangas

Re: Help with my generator needed.

Niel, we've had several storms this year. After they're done with us, I've watched them march east through Texas and on up to you. Looks like y'all have had a shovel full.

This winter has been a cold and wet one but we're very thankful to have the snow pack (10 feet +) up in the higher national forest, mountain elevations. The welcome run off fills the tanks, waters the wildlife and builds precious feed stocks. I hope we get some more.

For we off gridders it's been gloomy and pretty testy. With all the overcast and storms this year, the genny has been running about every other day a couple hours in the morning trying to keep up with the furnace air handlers and power draw. Finally got a break this week and saw 59 volts!

Just before one storm hit, I lost the alternator on the genny (under 250 hours) but they we're able to get it fixed within two days. I powered down everything to avoid the inverters shutting down and set up my little ventless heaters until the tech was able to get here.

Proved to me again the value of a reliable and properly sized genset in an off grid application.

Hope you're thawing out.

Cariboocoot

Re: Help with my generator needed.

This weather is ridiculous!
Snow in Texas?
Up here it's Spring and the Winter Olympics are a melted mess! Some events canceled/postponed due to lack of snow, others because of too much. The difference being which mountain they're held on.

No such thing as climate change, right?

niel

Re: Help with my generator needed.

for what it's worth i've heard more than once that 49 of the 50 states had snow with hawaii as the exception and they normally do have a touch of snow on some of the old volcanoes.
i'm totally over this and i'm getting downright sick of it. i thought i saw the sun trying to peer through, but it didn't quite make it. (note as i was typing this, at 2:15 i saw it for a minute:D) temps right now are at 32 degrees and we haven't been above freezing very much in the last 2 months and even then it wasn't by much.
i took a walk to my dentist about 1/2 mile away (yes that was fun, not) and i was seeing quite a bit of damage from the ice and snow. i'm also still hearing of reports of roofs still coming down with the news reporting 2 or 3 daily.

niel

Re: Help with my generator needed.

well so far so good as we have not gotten any more snow to topple the record month. those huge icicles that developed early on with some reaching a few feet in diameter, are now starting to melt somewhat with temps inching to about 40 degrees f. they seemed to have melted enough to become dangerous and unpredictable. they are crashing down taking wires and many other things in their paths with them. some isolated power outages have occurred with my immediate neighbor's fios box being literally ripped out of the wall. my dish network was also taken out with a pair of rg6 cables being stretched and cut in half by the falling ice. yesterday as i was setting up one of my ladders to prevent the ice from taking out a y in my downspout that i didn't even get it positioned as i wanted when it came down. a small chunk hit me in the head and i had some minor bleeding. to answer the wisecrackers, no, it didn't knock any sense into me.:p there are more of them to the rear of the houses here that have yet to fall as the sun (finally got some) didn't shine back there as much.

edit to add
i thought of going up my ladder to chisel some of the ice away, but i envision it falling with the right move up there and taking out the ladder and myself with it. i wouldn't land on snowpack as too many chunks of ice are scattered out there now.

niel

Re: Help with my generator needed.

well we are officially having the snowiest month on record as of the writing of this post with 41.1in. we are still 8th for snowiest season, but if the normal projections were carried out we'd have the 2nd snowiest season. as of now we are projected to get 4-7in by friday evening.
for those that like more particulars from the horse's mouth so to speak,


Record Report

Statement as of 10:50 PM EST on February 25, 2010

... Update to pittsburghs snowiest month ever...

As of 11 PM, todays snowfall measured 1.1 inches. This brings the
monthly total to 41.1 inches. (46.6in as of 2/26)(48.3in as of 2/27)(48.7in as of 2/28 at 5pm)

February 2010 now ranks as the snowiest month ever. The previous
record for snowiest month was 40.2 in January of 1978.

The previous record for February was 25.3 in 2003. The normal for
February is 8.5 inches.

The total snowfall for the season so far is 69.3 inches. This ranks
as the 8th snowiest season on record.

The snowiest seasons...

82.0 1950-51.
78.5 1913-14.
76.8 1993-94.
76.0 1960-61.
74.5 1995-96.
72.1 1992-93.
70.7 1969-70.
69.3 2009-10.
40.6 normal.

Normal for the rest of February is about one inch, March 7.9
inches, and April 1.5 inches.

Snowfall records for Pittsburgh date back to 1884.

update-
74.8in as of 2/26 for the 5th snowiest season.
76.5in as of 2/27 for the 4th snowiest season.
76.9in as of 2/28 (5pm) for the 3rd snowiest season.

enough i say!!!!

note: i better count my blessings as just to my south in garret county, md the news stated they got about 20 feet of snow so far with another 6in coming tonight (2/27).

mike95490

Re: Help with my generator needed.

niel wrote: »

well we are officially having the snowiest month on record as of the writing of this post with 41.1in. we are still 8th for snowiest season, but if the normal projections were carried out we'd have the 2nd snowiest season. as of now we are projected to get 4-7in by friday evening.

Remember now, it's NOT Global Warming, it's now Climate Change, and carbon taxes.

(as if a tax helps anything)