Sandy and power outages

[John Smith]

We are in the path of Sandy, which appears to be considerably less potent when it hits us, wind wise; lots of rain, though.

We are getting messages to prepare for power outages. We've done what we can.

I cannot help but think how nice it would be had we been investing in improving our power sources and delivery systems so the such power outages were LESS likely in a storm rather than EXPECTED.

[delecta]

We are in the path of Sandy, which appears to be considerably less potent when it hits us, wind wise; lots of rain, though.

We are getting messages to prepare for power outages. We've done what we can.

I cannot help but think how nice it would be had we been investing in improving our power sources and delivery systems so the such power outages were LESS likely in a storm rather than EXPECTED.

Wow, you mean you're not off the grid utilizing wind and solar?

[Paul Pless]

Sandy and power outages

lots of rain, though.

Gonna be awfully hard to pump that water to drought stricken regions without any electricity. Never mind that drought stricken regions don't want extra water in the fall, that's when they make room for next spring's melt. . .

http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthre...-Pumping-water

[John Smith]

So, you'd rather have the power go out than have a better grid?

[elf]

It's fascinating to me that in the last week the electric company has been all over my neighborhood replacing old poles with new ones. Just outside my house, on my street, 6 poles are visible, stuck into the ground and tethered to the ones they're replacing.

Curiously, despite NStar's insistance that they're fully prepared with extra crews lined up and special training sessions, somehow they don't seem to have felt that paying overtime on Saturday to complete the wiring to the new poles was a wise thing to do.

[Paul Pless]

Curiously, despite NStar's insistance that they're fully prepared with extra crews lined up and special training sessions, somehow they don't seem to have felt that paying overtime on Saturday to complete the wiring to the new poles was a wise thing to do.

Maybe they had higher priorities elsewhere, staging equipment and supplies in preparation for the storm for instance. . .

[elf]

Even better was the email I just got from Verizon telling me a url to visit for emergency information. I suppose everyone but me has a cell phone and is not dependent on wifi to get online, but somehow it seems strange to me that they wouldn't leave a land line phone number too.

Besides, what happens when the cell towers get downed in a major wind storm?

[PhaseLockedLoop]

Gonna be awfully hard to pump that water to drought stricken regions without any electricity. Never mind that drought stricken regions don't want extra water in the fall, that's when they make room for next spring's melt. . .

Now, now...

[Donn]

Besides, what happens when the cell towers get downed in a major wind storm?

You lose cell service.

[Norman Bernstein]

I suspect that the cell towers are better equipped to handle high winds and power outages than just about anything else.... I've seen diesel generators at the buildings at the base of the towers, and they probably have battery-based UPS systems, as well.

[willmarsh3]

If this means anything after the 4-27 tornadoes we had cell service so long as you could charge your cell phone. More than likely a radio station will be on the air powered by diesel generators.

[Mrleft8]

Last year during both the Irene storm, and the Halloween snoreaster the cell service in the area went down. 3 days w/o land line service, or cell service (We almost never have cell service at the house anyway) was a joy in that all the telemarketing calls, and political "surveys" and pleas for donations to the fraternal brotherhood of Italian American police officer's wounded veterans of the Iraq war were silenced for a while......
It was a PIA in that we couldn't call family or friends and make sure they were all OK..... But they were.....

[Tom Wilkinson]

Even better was the email I just got from Verizon telling me a url to visit for emergency information. I suppose everyone but me has a cell phone and is not dependent on wifi to get online, but somehow it seems strange to me that they wouldn't leave a land line phone number too.

Besides, what happens when the cell towers get downed in a major wind storm?

Seriously?? If you got the email you obviously have internet access. If you dont have that and just have a phone, pretty sure verizon's phone number is on the bill. Are people really that helpless?? I'd bet 1 800 verizon would work.

[Paul Girouard]

Seriously??
If you dont have that and just have a phone, pretty sure verizon's phone number is on the bill.



Are people really that helpless?? I'd bet 1 800 verizon would work.

Short answer, YES!

[Tom Wilkinson]

We are in the path of Sandy, which appears to be considerably less potent when it hits us, wind wise; lots of rain, though.

We are getting messages to prepare for power outages. We've done what we can.

I cannot help but think how nice it would be had we been investing in improving our power sources and delivery systems so the such power outages were LESS likely in a storm rather than EXPECTED.

If being without power for that long is that much of a concern, why haven't you invested in a backup genset? In 7 years of owning a home in a relatively remote section of NH I have lost power exactly one time, for less than a day. Seems pretty reliable to me. I know I don't wan to pay what it would cost to go all underground utilities, and even that does not ensure no outages. Hmm, I wonder what that earthquake we just had would do to underground vs pole mounted utilities.

[Tom Wilkinson]

Short answer, YES!

Well, it turns out 1-800 verizon is a good number. Should we send an email to all their customers???

http://newscenter.verizon.com/press-...-remember.html

[Paul Girouard]

Well, it turns out 1-800 verizon is a good number. Should we send an email to all their customers???

Could you dial it for them? They could break a nail or some such doing such a arduous task !

[wardd]

it's going to be an eventful 3 days, i can hardly wait

[wardd]

We are in the path of Sandy, which appears to be considerably less potent when it hits us, wind wise; lots of rain, though.

We are getting messages to prepare for power outages. We've done what we can.

I cannot help but think how nice it would be had we been investing in improving our power sources and delivery systems so the such power outages were LESS likely in a storm rather than EXPECTED.

the average german has power out less than 2 hours a year

[elf]

Seriously?? If you got the email you obviously have internet access. If you dont have that and just have a phone, pretty sure verizon's phone number is on the bill. Are people really that helpless?? I'd bet 1 800 verizon would work.

It should not be up to me to call Verizon to get updates in the aftermath of a hurricane, quite honestly. Sure I can call, and spend hours pushing numbers to get to whatever message, or leave some message. But that's not my idea of service. They should be able to crank out a robocall with up-to-date info about the status of service in any area they serve. They have all the addresses, correlated with zip codes, specific location codes and area codes, after all.

If Mr. Scott Brown can do it, surely Verizon can too.

[Paul Pless]

It should not be up to me to call Verizon to get updates in the aftermath of a hurricane, quite honestly. Sure I can call, and spend hours pushing numbers to get to whatever message, or leave some message. But that's not my idea of service. They should be able to crank out a robocall with up-to-date info about the status of service in any area they serve. They have all the addresses, correlated with zip codes, specific location codes and area codes, after all.

If Mr. Scott Brown can do it, surely Verizon can too.

And to think that I thought that I may have an internet addiction problem. . .

[S/V Laura Ellen]

And to think that I thought that I may have an internet addiction problem. . .

you do....

[John Smith]

If being without power for that long is that much of a concern, why haven't you invested in a backup genset? In 7 years of owning a home in a relatively remote section of NH I have lost power exactly one time, for less than a day. Seems pretty reliable to me. I know I don't wan to pay what it would cost to go all underground utilities, and even that does not ensure no outages. Hmm, I wonder what that earthquake we just had would do to underground vs pole mounted utilities.

We've been fortunate in that power outages have been measured in hours, not days. Elsewhere in the state that last longer.

Generators become an interesting concept. How do they like ethenol?

The fact is we have power outages in this state when the temperature gets too high, as well as when we have storms.

We've not had any earthquakes that would destroy underground wiring.

Power outages cause many problems. Traffic lights don't work. Businesses can't do business. I think it would be a worthwhile investment to make such power outages as rare as humanly possible.

[Paul Girouard]

I think it would be a worthwhile investment to make such power outages as rare as humanly possible.

They have done so. Power companies want to sell power , it's in their best interest to make power outages as short and infrequent as possible. If the meter isn't spinning they are losing money.

[Ron Williamson]

No one who sells batteries and flashlights or groceries should have their business disabled by a power outage.
Generators are big business around here.
R

[JBreeze]

It should not be up to me to call Verizon to get updates in the aftermath of a hurricane, quite honestly. Sure I can call, and spend hours pushing numbers to get to whatever message, or leave some message. But that's not my idea of service. They should be able to crank out a robocall with up-to-date info about the status of service in any area they serve. They have all the addresses, correlated with zip codes, specific location codes and area codes, after all.
....

FWIW, my town uses robocalls coordinated by the Police Dept. for weather and public health emergencies. And they start before the event, explaining when and what to expect; the location of shelters and sources of transportation, status of utilities, etc.

Works great as an alternative to dealing with each specific town or utility function. I recommend you work with your town for implementation of such a system.

Finally, everyone needs a $10 AM radio w/ a NOAA weather selector in the event of a communication failure. The AM radio folks love to dramatize the community conditions in exquisite detail, minute-by-minute ...for days on end!

[the_gr8t_waldo]

there's not much any power company can do to improve the "system"! other than move the power lines to underground....the overwhelming number of homes are serviced by an overhead system. and this is the easyest to build and repair. if you're worried about loosing power for a day or three i can't blame ya. think of what the time frame would be for an underground system. there just isn't an REASONABLE alternative to what's already there. if you approched the utility company and offer to pay for the lines to be buried, at your cost, i'm sure they'd go for that. keep in mind that buried they still fail

[Joe ( Cold Spring on Hudson )]

Calm before the storm



Making "Sandy Gravy"



We are fully prepared. We have plenty of wine, good cheese, Sunday gravy, chery pie & cider donuts. Oh and gas for the generator