Hurricane Sandy

[rickdesilva]

Still no power in Northern NJ...... So we finally brought out the "Big Generator". We have a couple of hundred gallons of fuel, so we should be OK for a while. If only we could find out the status of our home on the Jersey shore we would feel a little better.

[garyde]

Nothing like a 'Stand by Home' . Hope your property made it thru OK.

[rfoster]

It is good to see a post from y'all!

The House and The Big Generator are looking good - and I know you are very anxious about the beach house ----wishing you and Wendy the best!

How are the stores? Do you have power there?

How are the Dators?

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Glad to hear you are OK, I was wondering. Hope hour home is safe. Where are you now, Lake George?


JIM

[rickdesilva]

Jim we sold Lake George and did the intelligent thing and bought a home on Long Beach Island, a Jersey Shore barrier island....ground zero for hurricane Sandy so we haven't been able to access the island to see if the house is still there but by all indications we may have dodged that bullet. Northern NJ/NY has a different problem, no power. We got power to our stores Thursday so we were out of business for a few days. However now the problem is, fuel is scarce partially because some fuel stations have no power and I assume the supply line is disrupted because of the storm. About 50% of the homes still have no power and now gas has been rationed so even if you have a generator, getting fuel for it isn't easy lines are a mile long and you wait for hours . Once power is restored I think this all goes away immediately, but it does make you think how vulnerable we are. Dators are in the same boat waiting this dilemma out.

[JIM KELLER]

Rick, Great to have an update from you. Wish you the best of luck on the Beach House.

[Dick in Wisconsin]

However now the problem is, fuel is scarce partially because some fuel stations have no power and I assume the supply line is disrupted because of the storm. About 50% of the homes still have no power and now gas has been rationed so even if you have a generator, getting fuel for it isn't easy lines are a mile long and you wait for hours.

Question from Wisconsin. Having lived and worked in Manhattan from 2002 to 2005 we have many friends in the impacted area and have watched the news accounts with great interest; seeing the long lines for fuel, Chris Christy's even-odd announcement yesterday, etc.

Why aren't gas stations with fuel being hooked to generators? Isn't there 10's or 100's of thousands of gallons of gasoline sitting in the ground in tanks just waiting for electricity to dispense? Or is everything bone dry?

I realized late Friday that news about the aftermath of Sandy was starting to wither on the local TV and news papers ... much like Katrina.

[Coloradobus]

Rick, are you staying in the bus, or have a "buddy plug" to plug the house into the coach. We have considered this idea. 2009, we had a tornado blow thru and we lost power for 4 days, but could get the bus out for the debris.

[rickdesilva]

The gas lines today are getting to be tolerable, why stations don't have generators I don't know however the supply has to be impacted because fuel stations north of us in NY state who have electricity have no fuel to pump. Today I saw some electric trucks from Missouri, so they are ramping up the clean up and repair. As far as the coach, we just ran a few extension cords to the refrigerator etc. to get us by until we get power again.

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Thanks for the update, best wishes and luck. Take care of that Westie.

JIM :)

[Repoer]

At the fuel stations dose water not enter the tanks and need to be pumped out due to the flooding ? This may be why a generator will be of no help. I have a big propane generator 40kw if any one needs to use it. It is in Fl by daytona Beach it will run a house or two.

[Bill Dator]

I hooked up a "double male" from the coach to the house. It ran our furnace and some of our lights and the refrigerator. With 300 gals of diesel we did not have to worry about gas. It is now 6 AM on Monday and the power for us just came on. Now we have to worry about a Northeaster on Thursday.
After the dust settles I am going to get someone to figure out how I can get full power from the coach to the house so I can run my well pump.

[Jamie Bradford]

That storm was terrible ! Things look a bit rough up there - It is great to get the updates and pictures.

Please keep them coming...........

Jamie

[JIM KELLER]

I hooked up a "double male" from the coach to the house. It ran our furnace and some of our lights and the refrigerator. With 300 gals of diesel we did not have to worry about gas. It is now 6 AM on Monday and the power for us just came on. Now we have to worry about a Northeaster on Thursday.
After the dust settles I am going to get someone to figure out how I can get full power from the coach to the house so I can run my well pump.

Bill, Talk to Miles. He ran his house with his Bus.

[Don]

Be ware, DO NOT I mean DO NOT. back feed the power company with a generator source of any kind.
You could literly kill A power company employee. Your 110 volt backfeed could transform up to a much higher voltage. If a power company employee would be shocked and it was traced back to harry home owner. That home owner is subject to litigation and will surely loose his case in any court.
C.Y.A. have a qualified electrical contractor install your system or at the very least have one inspect it and give you his blessings on the proper instulation.
When the power company employee arrives at the broken wire etc he will disconnect the power from the power company source and test those wires.
If he or she did not check your end it could be their lethal mistake, and your problems begin. To be legal you need a transfer switch where as the generator cannot back feed the power company.
That being said what if A non qualified person got into the mix, I could go on and on with a lot of could be problems for harry home owner Again bottom line DO NOT back feed the power company
As a side note more people are killed with 110 volts than any other voltages simply because it is more accessable to unqualified people.

[JIM KELLER]

Don, I agree with you. Obviously the correct application of a Disconnect Switch and or Transfer Switch must be employed.

[Dick in Wisconsin]

I hooked up a "double male" from the coach to the house ... After the dust settles I am going to get someone to figure out how I can get full power from the coach to the house so I can run my well pump.

As has already been said, this is a very bad way to get power from your coach (generator) to the house.

Are you familiar with the Garage Journal Forum? http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/ Great source of information and answers to everything you want to know about electrical, HVAC, building, tools, etc. There are a number of threads which talk about what are the best ways to do this. Good luck!

[garyde]

I install Generator systems of various sizes for commercial and residential applications as a part of my buisness. A simple system is similar to what we have in our coach. Two sources of power directed thru a auto transfer switch powering a breaker panel.
In a residence, you can do this several ways. One way is to Install a manual transfer switch after the Utility Service & before the breaker panel, which then switches between a choice of Utility power and generator power.
Another way is to isolate the circuits you would like to have when power is lost to a seperate breaker panel . This emergency panel would be fed by a manual transfer switch which is powered either by the house power or generator power.
This second choice reduces the amount of circuits on the emergency power therfore saving you from needing a large generator.