The AM Forum
March 28, 2024, 07:18:01 PM *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
 
   Home   Help Calendar Links Staff List Gallery Login Register  
Pages: 1 2 [3] 4   Go Down
  Print  
Author Topic: New Snow Thread  (Read 34663 times)
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
W1RKW
Contributing
Member
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 4410



« Reply #50 on: October 30, 2011, 07:03:12 PM »

We're still offline on the mains.  I took a trip down Rt. 16 to find a breaker open.  The power lines otherwise are in good shape.  Not sure why this simple reset hasn't happened yet. Power is up between junctions.  Guess those on the gold coast will get priority like the last time.  But fear not, generator is keeping things warm and operating normally.  Just not looking forward to burning $80.00 of fuel like 2 months ago.
Logged

Bob
W1RKW
Home of GORT. A buddy of mine named the 813 rig GORT.
His fear was when I turned it on for the first time life on earth would come to a stand still.
Opcom
Patrick J. / KD5OEI
Contributing
Member
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 8308



WWW
« Reply #51 on: October 30, 2011, 08:20:46 PM »

Same here, when the electricity is widely out, the rich part of town seems to get service back first. Of course it is not intended, they are restoring power according to a documented and approved procedure.
Logged

Radio Candelstein - Flagship Station of the NRK Radio Network.
steve_qix
Contributing
Member
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 2599


Bap!


WWW
« Reply #52 on: October 30, 2011, 08:57:25 PM »

Power went out here on Saturday at around 4:30pm.  STILL OUT!
Logged

High Power, Broadcast Audio and Low Cost?  Check out the class E web site at: http://www.classeradio.org
w1vtp
Member

Offline Offline

Posts: 2638



« Reply #53 on: October 30, 2011, 09:20:16 PM »

Power went out here on Saturday at around 4:30pm.  STILL OUT!

Me too at 9:20.  There is power at the Goldenrod just down the street from me.  Dunno why they are holding off.  The 8 KVA generator is doing yoeman service.

Watching a DVD tonight.  I'm missing my Masterpiece theator.  I'm hoping to be back on the grid some time tonight / early AM

Al
Logged
KA2DZT
Member

Offline Offline

Posts: 2192


« Reply #54 on: October 30, 2011, 09:53:35 PM »

My power is still on, especially since I just sent in a payment to the power company.  Making those payments really goes a long way in keeping oneself connected to the grid.

Food for thought,  just figured I'd mention it.

Fred

PS,  If you pay a little extra, they'll up your line voltage to 147 volts.  Helps me get my full 51w output.
Logged
w1vtp
Member

Offline Offline

Posts: 2638



« Reply #55 on: October 31, 2011, 03:05:10 AM »

My power is still on, especially since I just sent in a payment to the power company.  Making those payments really goes a long way in keeping oneself connected to the grid.

Food for thought,  just figured I'd mention it.

Fred

PS,  If you pay a little extra, they'll up your line voltage to 147 volts.  Helps me get my full 51w output.
Fred

Just got reconnected to the grid.  Your advise worked.  Gave my check to a lineman.  He said he'd forward it to the right person - just occurred to me that might have been him  Grin  Money does get results

Al
Logged
W1ATR
Resident HVAC junkie
Member

Offline Offline

Posts: 1132


« Reply #56 on: October 31, 2011, 05:31:39 AM »

Yaawwnnn! 4am it is. Where's my coffee. Ahh, here it is! This one over here makes coffee like a mix of diesel fuel, battery acid, and roofing tar. You'll be bright tailed and bushy eyed after the first sip. I asked about the battery acid and got told it's just in there for color!  Roll Eyes (cmon guys, what movie?)

Finished a 35hr stretch at 10pm last night. The chaos started around noon saturday. By 9pm, I had nearly 90 calls ring in and I had a wrench in the hand of everyone I know who can do the job and had a 4 wheel drive. By 4am, there was about 200 service calls logged. Couple guys started to get huffy with me over the "free" work I was handing out. (Hello McFly! Anyone home? This is what you asked for! Take the dress off and get in the truck! You got work to do.) (I'm really am a great boss. No seriously, really.  Grin)

Fortunately, for us anyway, about a third of all these calls were unserviceable from power outage anyway. Another third were gennie problems, which I have some notes to share on that in a minute, and the rest were mostly electronics cooked from low volt situations, or spikes and flickers as the grid crashed and came back up, back out, back up, pow, theres a $300 control board. The supply house put a skeleton crew on which was very helpful and appreciated by all.

About the gennies that would run everything except the heating equipment; After a couple of these calls where I would show up to a house on gennie power, everything else in the house that was hooked up would run ok, EXCEPT some furnaces and boilers. I swung by the house and grabbed my little Fluke 10mhz handheld scope because I wanted a better look. The effected equipment was the type that had control boards that were capable of self diagnostics, and they were throwing weird codes, like "line voltage reversed", or "line voltage too high, or too low". So I wanted a better look at these.

What I found, was that the effected units were mostly of the new inverter type of "Quiet" "clean power" units made by honda (which is a high dollar gennie btw) and a couple other manufacturers. Lots of people had these small backups installed after last winter and the recent hurricane we had a couple months ago. Voltage regulation was very good on these units, but the sine looked like a very dirty triangle wave and frequency control was all over the place ranging from 50 to 70hz and changing from something as small as a light being turned on and off. One of these gennies would ramp the motor speed up and down with lighter and heavier loads, but the frequency never stabilized near 60hz. One of them had 60vac L1 and 60vac on the neutral measured against ground! (What the hell was THAT?) That particular one smoked a $600 VFD (variable speed drive for the blower) in a brand new high end furnace. This wasn't the case with every inverter unit however. Some were fine, and the equipment was in lockout from the mains dropping out. A fast reset, and back in the truck and down the road.

The gens that worked properly were the run of the mill, normal copper wound jobs, like Generac, or craftman, or whatever. They were the regular inexpensive flavor that that most of us have kicking around. I only saw one that was a problem and it was running around 45hz because the engine was running too slow. Plugged the meter in and adjusted the idle pull so I saw around 60hz at the outlet under no load, plugged everything back in, and away it went. reset the furnace, and all was well.

Food for thought anyway, right?

73         
Logged

Don't start nuthin, there won't be nuthin.

Jared W1ATR


Click for radio pix
W1RKW
Contributing
Member
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 4410



« Reply #57 on: October 31, 2011, 08:35:55 AM »

outside temp got down to 22 this morning.  House chilled down from 68 at 9PM to 56 at 730AM.  The house got cold fast.  We're back up to 63 at this moment.  Power still out.  Hopefully today will be a bit warmer than yesterday.

Jared, When I purchased my 10KW genny it had an over voltage problem.  Luckily for me I checked it before connecting it to anything.  What had happened is the controller became disconnected from inside the gen head during shipping.  The genset was shipped on its side so the motor and gen head weren't resting normally on their rubber mounts.  Also, noted was the engine rpm was way off too as well as it hunting.  Reconnected it, check the output voltage, freq. and sinewave. Everything was right on.  Then loaded it down with a couple of 1500 watt heaters and remeasured.  I was satisfied that it wouldn't kill anything in the house.  I'm thinking about upping the output voltage slightly to 120 from 115 to better serve the well pump.  I added a metering setup on monitor L1 and L2 at the hookup.
Logged

Bob
W1RKW
Home of GORT. A buddy of mine named the 813 rig GORT.
His fear was when I turned it on for the first time life on earth would come to a stand still.
steve_qix
Contributing
Member
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 2599


Bap!


WWW
« Reply #58 on: October 31, 2011, 09:07:47 AM »

Still no power here, either (Monday morning)!

Been thinking about getting something a bit more modern as a 2nd generator.  The old PE-95 is eating me out of house and home, gas-wise.  A great generator, but not very efficient.  Maybe use the PE-95 for the heavy loads, and a smaller more modern unit for times when the load is much lighter.

The PE-95 is quite large - has a 4 cyl jeep engine, and is essentially unmovable (without something like a ramp truck) because it weighs so much.

This is what the PE-95 looks like (this is not my unit, but mine looks just like it).
Logged

High Power, Broadcast Audio and Low Cost?  Check out the class E web site at: http://www.classeradio.org
DMOD
AC0OB - A Place where Thermionic Emitters Rule!
Contributing
Member
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 1768


« Reply #59 on: October 31, 2011, 12:03:25 PM »

Quote
What I found, was that the effected units were mostly of the new inverter type of "Quiet" "clean power" units made by honda (which is a high dollar gennie btw) and a couple other manufacturers. Lots of people had these small backups installed after last winter and the recent hurricane we had a couple months ago. Voltage regulation was very good on these units, but the sine looked like a very dirty triangle wave and frequency control was all over the place ranging from 50 to 70hz and changing from something as small as a light being turned on and off. One of these gennies would ramp the motor speed up and down with lighter and heavier loads, but the frequency never stabilized near 60hz. One of them had 60vac L1 and 60vac on the neutral measured against ground! (What the hell was THAT?) That particular one smoked a $600 VFD (variable speed drive for the blower) in a brand new high end furnace. This wasn't the case with every inverter unit however. Some were fine, and the equipment was in lockout from the mains dropping out. A fast reset, and back in the truck and down the road.


Frank,

I sold my Honda 3000I two years ago to my SIL for her travel trailer. This is a high priced ($850.00) piece of electrically noisy hardware.

I bought a JD Tech 6.5kW unit for $750.00 that will power just anything in the house.


Steve,

The PE-95 is just getting broken in; why change?  Grin

Phil - AC0OB



Logged

Charlie Eppes: Dad would be so happy if we married a doctor.
Don Eppes: Yeah, well, Dad would be happy if I married someone with a pulse.NUMB3RS   Smiley
w3jn
Johnny Novice
Administrator
Member

Offline Offline

Posts: 4620



« Reply #60 on: October 31, 2011, 02:03:28 PM »

Still no power here, either (Monday morning)!

Been thinking about getting something a bit more modern as a 2nd generator.  The old PE-95 is eating me out of house and home, gas-wise.  A great generator, but not very efficient.  Maybe use the PE-95 for the heavy loads, and a smaller more modern unit for times when the load is much lighter.

The PE-95 is quite large - has a 4 cyl jeep engine, and is essentially unmovable (without something like a ramp truck) because it weighs so much.

This is what the PE-95 looks like (this is not my unit, but mine looks just like it).


You could buy a hell of a lot of gas for what you'd spend to buy a generator that's half as stout and strapping as that genny.
Logged

FCC:  "The record is devoid of a demonstrated nexus between Morse code proficiency and on-the-air conduct."
W1RKW
Contributing
Member
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 4410



« Reply #61 on: October 31, 2011, 04:27:33 PM »

took a trip down Rte. 16 to inspect the lines.  No damage up to our transformer and beyond.  Did find an open breaker just hangin' between the 'hood and transformer.  Just like Irene,open breaker with no damage to the circuit. I figure it will be 6 days like the last time. We're not on the priority list. Western half of the state is getting priority  despite the reversal in region damage severity.
Logged

Bob
W1RKW
Home of GORT. A buddy of mine named the 813 rig GORT.
His fear was when I turned it on for the first time life on earth would come to a stand still.
steve_qix
Contributing
Member
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 2599


Bap!


WWW
« Reply #62 on: October 31, 2011, 08:14:57 PM »

Street power is BACK as of 8:04 PM.  Thank God !!
Logged

High Power, Broadcast Audio and Low Cost?  Check out the class E web site at: http://www.classeradio.org
Bill, KD0HG
Moderator
Member

Offline Offline

Posts: 2563

304-TH - Workin' it


« Reply #63 on: October 31, 2011, 09:02:14 PM »

Diesels are way more efficient fuel-wise than gassers.
And, in a pinch, you can run them on any old vegetable oil. The exhaust will smell like MacDonald's french fries. They'll even run on lamp oil AKA #1 Kerosene.

If you can find and accommodate a small one.

A small Kubota or similar diesel tractor can crank a good 25 KW worth of PTO generator.
Logged
Ed/KB1HYS
Contributing
Member
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 1852



« Reply #64 on: November 01, 2011, 07:02:35 AM »

48 hrs no power. did with a Kerosene heater and cook stove.  Tree damage here was severe but no damage to the house.  Lots of chainsaw & truck work.  Took Monday off of work to make 8 runs to the brush dump.  Still have a good size pile of debris to clear, but the place is passable.  The only real damage was to the TV antenna which broke the fall of one large pine limb, and an apple tree, saved the roof though through it's act of self sacrifice.  I have a few hundred pounds of apple wood for firewood. That should be nice and seasoned next year.

On a side note, when you can't get Kerosene to run your stuff, jet fuel works pissa.
I couldn't get Kerosene for love nor money, as the places that sold it around here were down and out.  I went to the local airport and asked the fueler if they'd sell me a few gallons of Jet A.  Yep, no problem. Turned on the truck, and filled the tank.  Jet-A is a mix of Kerosene and White Gas (kinda like coleman fuel).  And the trucks power their own pumps.  I still have a gallon or so left for next time... I hope NOT.  I come to find out, that a lot of folks had gone there to buy gasolene (automotive type, not AVGAS) and it was common during the big storms, but I was the first for jet-a.  Good emergency supply for your diesel types too.
Logged

73 de Ed/KB1HYS
Happiness is Hot Tubes, Cold 807's, and warm room filling AM Sound.
 "I've spent three quarters of my life trying to figure out how to do a $50 job for $.50, the rest I spent trying to come up with the $0.50" - D. Gingery
The Slab Bacon
Member

Offline Offline

Posts: 3934



« Reply #65 on: November 01, 2011, 09:13:40 AM »

Diesels are way more efficient fuel-wise than gassers.
And, in a pinch, you can run them on any old vegetable oil. The exhaust will smell like MacDonald's french fries. They'll even run on lamp oil AKA #1 Kerosene.

If you can find and accommodate a small one.

But small diesels can be a bit balky to get lit during those cold New England winters.
Logged

"No is not an answer and failure is not an option!"
The Slab Bacon
Member

Offline Offline

Posts: 3934



« Reply #66 on: November 01, 2011, 09:15:49 AM »

It must still be pretty bad up there. I haven't seen GFZ on here for a couple of days now.
Logged

"No is not an answer and failure is not an option!"
W1RKW
Contributing
Member
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 4410



« Reply #67 on: November 01, 2011, 04:28:02 PM »

Day 3, still on generator power.  The drone is getting to me. Getting up at 4AM to light it off so I can shower and get to work is getting old.  At least the beer is cold.
Logged

Bob
W1RKW
Home of GORT. A buddy of mine named the 813 rig GORT.
His fear was when I turned it on for the first time life on earth would come to a stand still.
W1QWT
Member

Offline Offline

Posts: 311


WWW
« Reply #68 on: November 01, 2011, 06:17:22 PM »

I was sitting in my kitchen at 10PM Saturday night and bang, crash, thud and the lights go out!
Been here in this house for 26 years and never had any trees fall till this year. We had no snow in this
storm just heavy rain and winds.
Went outside and saw this 70 foot oak tree with a diameter of about 3 feet at the base laying in my yard missing the house by four feet!
Some of its branches impaled themselves through my roof and my electric service was destroyed.
So now I am getting cozy with tree guys, roofing guys, electricians, and carpenters.
Need to have 4 holes in my roof repaired, a new ceiling in the kitchen from water damage, and just had the new electric service installed.
The tree guy has to take away the fallen tree and I am going to take down any other tree within 60 feet of the house also.
Q


Logged

Regards, Q, W1QWT
KM1H
Contributing
Member
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 3519



« Reply #69 on: November 01, 2011, 08:50:40 PM »

This wasnt a record for being on the genny but 74 hours was getting a bit old. Actually I shut it down at night so everyone could get a good sleep by cranking the heat up to 72 and by 6:30AM it was only down to 63-65 upstairs, glad this wasnt in Jan-Feb! Total snow was 12-13" by the time I got outside Sunday and it had compacted a bit.

My 78 F-150 plow truck is down to replace the rear spring mounts on the old Ford 9" rear end; I thought I had another month to procrastinate..... Already did both driveshaft U joints, still have the ones for the front wheels to do. I beat the hell out of the old girl last season. Used the OL's AWD Volvo to blaze a trail down the driveway and the rest of the vehicles followed; driveway is bone dry today, its all open to the sun. Only damage I can see is one 8' rhododendron lost one side but not snapped away, gonna try taping it up. Beverages still work so its got to be pretty good back in the woods.

Living at a dead end on the highest hill has its benefits so I can live with the end of the line response from the power company; they and the arborists really do work their asses off. Pisses me off to read all the a-holes whining in the paper or on the radio.

Carl
Logged
Ed/KB1HYS
Contributing
Member
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 1852



« Reply #70 on: November 01, 2011, 11:58:59 PM »

Too True, those linemen bust their asses, and it's dangerous work to boot.  I can't imagine working on a high voltage system in a driving storm or freezing weather, working mandatory double shifts.  At some point I think even the overtime just wouldn't be enough. 
The situation isn't their fault, it's the management types who decide if clearing the trees along a right-of-way was cost effective or if letting things go a bit is cheaper in the long run.

 It took 48 hours for us to get power back, but I'd rather wait than have a lineman get killed rushing the job. 
Logged

73 de Ed/KB1HYS
Happiness is Hot Tubes, Cold 807's, and warm room filling AM Sound.
 "I've spent three quarters of my life trying to figure out how to do a $50 job for $.50, the rest I spent trying to come up with the $0.50" - D. Gingery
Opcom
Patrick J. / KD5OEI
Contributing
Member
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 8308



WWW
« Reply #71 on: November 02, 2011, 12:00:42 AM »

This storm must have been really severe!
Logged

Radio Candelstein - Flagship Station of the NRK Radio Network.
steve_qix
Contributing
Member
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 2599


Bap!


WWW
« Reply #72 on: November 02, 2011, 07:09:06 AM »

This storm must have been really severe!

Well, it was a very standard snow storm - for December or later  Cheesy  The problems all came about because the trees still largely have their leaves, and the weight of the heavy, wet snow accumulating on the leaves bent the trees over or broke a lot of them apart.  Of course, some of them came down on the utility wires and took them down and so we have all the outages.

But, as a storm itself, at least for this area, it was no biggie (about 14 inches).  It was fairly easy to plow, and really, the subsequent melting (because it is still getting up to the 40s during the day) has been great.  The snow has melted down to about 6 inches here.  It is the time of year that really was the problem - the trees aren't ready for the snow yet!

Occasionally, there is a storm like this in May after the leaves come out, and similar problems result.
Logged

High Power, Broadcast Audio and Low Cost?  Check out the class E web site at: http://www.classeradio.org
WA1GFZ
Member

Offline Offline

Posts: 11152



« Reply #73 on: November 02, 2011, 08:57:14 AM »

Our yard is nuked. 160 m and on the ground. 75 M ant in the woods looks OK just hanging down. Log had 3 inches of snow on the elements. They were very bent down almost vertical. Once the sun came out Sunday everything was fine. Maple in the front yard lost two big limbs that fell across the primary and fell on the street. I cut them yesterday. Giant oak came down in the back yard. Woods opened up for some new antenna projects.
We packed up and moved to GFZ south where it was almost 60 on the beach.
Kids out of school for the week. They are saying power by Sunday.
Many primary lines down in northern part of the state. South is fine.
Logged
WA1GFZ
Member

Offline Offline

Posts: 11152



« Reply #74 on: November 02, 2011, 09:08:08 AM »

Steve Ford 4 banger is a good motor maybe you just need to tune it up.
Maybe it needs a set of points and the timing set. I agree with John that thing will out live all of us. Throw some mobile 1 in it.
I'm going to get myself a generator. Driving an hour and 15 minutes to work is going to get old fast.
Logged
Pages: 1 2 [3] 4   Go Up
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

AMfone - Dedicated to Amplitude Modulation on the Amateur Radio Bands
 AMfone © 2001-2015
Powered by SMF 1.1.21 | SMF © 2015, Simple Machines
Page created in 0.091 seconds with 18 queries.