Help with my generator needed.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.