Ice storm update!!!
Lost power Thursday PM...
FRIDAY...
Tried to get to work on Friday morning, I work 12 miles from my house, So many trees down, wires across roads, and roads closed, that it took over 40 minutes to get to with 1/4 mile of the office only to be turned away...the main road (rt 111) was closed...I could SEE the office...detour's took me WAY around ended up in Manchester, 2 hours round trip...
Go to start the Generator and it's a "no go", the last time it ran was June...it takes 3 hours to do a carb rebuild in the flippin cold, work for 10 min come in to thaw the fingers for 10 min and so on...Finally fire up the genny and turn on the news....1/2 MILLION customers with out power in NH alone...add MA, ME, and VT and the # rose to over 1 MILLION land line goes dead at about 11:00 no DSL so no Internet...power outages are so bad that the old stand-by, the cell phone, is also a great paper weight...no power for antennas means less bars in more places...
We have a well and our well pump runs on 220v...fortunately I can run most of my house with my SEMI legally hooked up generator...
I drive until I find a cell signal, and start to make the requisite phone calls to friends and relatives, some in Nashua (2 towns away) are also out and have no heat and no power...reports are for DAYS without power (some over a week...and temps in the single digits are predicted for Friday PM...I suggest that the pack up the kids and get there a$$es over to their friend the "survival nut" err....I mean their friend the "prepared" guys house (me)...They are reluctant...but in several hours they call to say they are on their way...
SATURDAY...
Lee (the_other) has managed to locate a generator but as he is uncomfortable working with 110 vt I tell him I'll be over to hook him up...we get him a temporary "back feed" and his furnace fires up...heat and TiVo are running and people are happy...Aunt Cathy's boss is unable to find any fire wood for his fireplace...his family has moved into the living room and their "atmosphere enhancement fireplace" has become their only source of heat...but as the DuraFlame logs they typically burn, don't heat much...I tell him to come over and get some...I split a bunch and AC and Lee load his SUV and he's off... Lee and I embark on a journey to North, to a Home depot with power, to find the required parts to make his temp hookup more permanent (and closer to legal)...4 hours and MANY stores later we discover that when 1 million people loose power they all drive to the closest home depot (or ANY other store that MIGHT sell ANY extension cords, plug heads, wire, gas cans, or any other item used to Mickey mouse their power...He's going to have to run on the temp set-up for now...I return home to find the generator has stopped producing current...but it is still running...I strip down the Gen head and discover a field coil wire has burned, vibrated, or otherwise dislodged itself from the brush plate...no problem I have the correct size wire to elongate it by the required 1/2" and re-solder it to the plate....one problem....NO POWER...stupid soldering iron uses 110v...DUH!!!!...I find my propane torch and heat up a "tip" to solder with...after several botched attempts and "cold joints" I finally get it right and within 2 hours the head is back on and fired up and it works!!!! now it's 7:00 and I haven't eaten a thing all day...I'm not in any mood to do a thing...I have been working for 2 days with little or no sleep (my CPAP machine has NO back-up power and I don't run the generator thru the night), mostly outside or in ice cold houses...all that I want to do is go someplace warm and be served...we trek to the north again to a restaurant with power...and as you might imagine...it's PACKED...we eat and return home, via detours, closed roads, driving under "tree bridges" around "lumber piles" and in general thru the "war zone" that has become my world...My house smells like a Yankee Candle store has burned down and every possible smell mixes together to make one sickeningly horrid aroma...even though we have power, kinda, the candles burn for secondary areas to keep gas consumption to a minimum, and in case it blows up again...at 9:30ish the phone rings...it's Lee...Home Depot has called him and the Generator he put his name in for is scheduled to arrive, he knows mine is in trouble...I tell him that I have it running again and that it should be good...but the more I think on it the more I decide better to have and not need than need and not have...I tell him I'll take it and ask if I can get it in the AM...he calls HD and they say NO WAY be there in 1/2 hour or it goes to the next guy... I FLY down to HD and give the "secret password" and I'm in....they shuttle us (the generator privileged)to the back of the store, and run their "store closing sweep" when all of those "not Generator privileged" have been let out of the store they close...they then take our names and line us up...the truck backs in to a fully enclosed area is LOCKED in and the gates secured...then AND ONLY then do they open up the back to reveal the precious cargo that are generators....we are all escorted 1 by 1 to the back of the truck and two burly guys place the generator on a cart...they then send one "escort" with us as we pay for our find...only then do we discover the price for this chunk of copper and steel...and no one cares...
Booty payed for you are escorted to your vehicle by two burly guys who help load it and keep a watchful eye out...People are lining up at the door of the closed store trying to buy one of the spoken for generators...Sears across the street has a truck due in SOMETIME tonight and already over 100 people are mobbing the doors of the closed building...the local LEO's are called in to preserve the peace...most of the truck has been pre-sold those with the "golden tickets" are vying for position THEY HAVE ALREADY PAID FOR THESE yet the fear that they WONT get one is pervasive...those with out receipts for one are jockeying for position in line in the hope that some might still be available...There is a overwhelming feeling of "neighborly compassion" people are stopping by to check on you, making joint "runs" to the gas stations, grocery stores, and in general "brotherly love" prevails....BUT at the generator stores...it's like a feeding frenzy and only the strong will survive! this is life and death for some...the loss of heat means frozen pipes, destruction of property, and bone chilling nights for loved ones....Chains and locks are sold out in many places as people intend to protect their power source...I don't feel real comfortable driving around with a shiny new boxed "Gold" in the back of the truck and when I arrive home I back in to the drive and immediately unload it into the garage...booty secured, I shut down my patched together machine, the drone of generators can be heard throughout the entire neighborhood even at midnight...many don't have an "alternate heat source" (I burn wood) so with out the generator running they loose all heat, so they run 24 hours, it sounds like the whole town is mowing their lawn all night long...I go in the house pull up the extra blanket and go to bed...Notice I didn't say go to sleep...Tomorrow I'll get a marine deep cycle and an inverter and dammmmit I will get a good night sleep...
SUNDAY...
Up at 6:00, out to the yard in my "PJ's" to fire up the genny...today we are supposed to get our Christmas tree...then the brides cell phone rings...one of the Boy Scout Parents hasn't had heat since Thursday, they are out of wood for the fire place, and Jr. has come up with a borrowed genny but his attempt to hardwire the furnace to it has failed miserably. they finally swallow their pride and call for help...Off I go...when I get there I see that Jr. has hardwired the genny to the circulator transformer...huh go figure it didn't work...I fear he may have cooked the transformer...but it looks like he may have gotten lucky and at least run the 110 into the correct side of the transformer...after a trip back to my house for supplies, I get them up and running...with a scant 1800 watts but it's enough for the essentials, heat, fridge, and a few lights, perhaps even a TV...no stove, hair dryer, coffee maker, dishwasher, or other "high draw" items...but at least they are warm and have food...
We finally leave for the tree, and take the empty gas cans with us...gas is cheap 1.53 if you can find a station with power...those that do have power are running low and some are out...deliveries aren't scheduled for some time, but when you are the only game for MILES your customer base is MUCH larger than anticipated...LINES are LONG...people fill cars, trucks, cans, milk jugs, dirt bikes, boats, and anything else that can hold gas...we collect our tree, and begin the hunt for the parts to connect the new genny...many stops at MANY stores and the story is the same at all places...sold out...no MALE adapters, no FEMALE adapters,no extension cords, no gas cans, no inverters, no ANYTHING, except wire...and people are buying 12/4 12/3 10/3 10/4 and any other size...they cant attach any plug ends to the wire but they buy it anyway...and discuss ways to hack the genny for a "plugless" connection...3 or 4 guys are manning the wire spools and the line is 15-20 deep at each location I stop at...
As we make our way home we notice how REALLY REALLY DARK it is when the lights are out for MILES and MILES around...the darkness is broken here and there by the occasional house and the drone of the gen set can be heard as we approach the offending homeowner...yet even then the light is limited, perhaps one light and the glow of a TV, it's like they almost feel guilty about having power and are trying not to announce to the world that they do, or don't wish to draw the attention of those "wishing" they had a generator, and might not be as law abiding as the next guy...not a single Christmas Light, or inflatable holiday decoration, can be seen anywhere...as we get closer to home we soon realize that Litchfield is still shrouded in total darkness...the Town hall/PD is well lit, and their ginormous Genset is bolted to a concrete slab...but there is still a cruiser parked in front of it, even though the police department is located on the opposite side of the building...as we round the corner to head for home we notice that some people seem to have have their Christmas Lights on...odd... then more...these people ALL have their Christmas lights on....THEY HAVE REAL POWER...and THEY are on OUR leg of the GRID...as we make our way the 2 miles from "first light" to our drive we are Cautiously Optimistic that perhaps WE do also...as we round the final corner we notice that WE are the only people in the whole area who are in complete darkness...I rush to shutdown the genny and throw the main...and TA-DA! WE HAVE POWER!!! A quick grab of the phone reveals that we have a land line!!! could we be so lucky to have DSL!!!??? WE DO!!!!
For US the crises has passed...for approximately 200,000 more it continues...crews estimate that it could be days more for the system to be 100% and some even longer!
