Powers knocked out!

Mrfish55 · #1 11-19-2009, 02:57 PM

My power went out just before 6 last night, came back on just before 4 this morning, my back up back up gen (yes I have 2) died an hour in (first one broke the pull cord 2 pulls in!)and the battery back up died shortly there after, basically everything that could go wrong did. Temps dropped to 72, things are looking seriously stressed this morning, have to wait it out and see over the next few days. Anybody out there that works for Hydro, THANK-YOU for working so hard to get power restored, that was some nasty wind and rain here!

cprowler · #2 11-19-2009, 03:09 PM

Our power was out for about 45 min last night and 3 or so hours on Monday night.

I have a generator I got from Costco a few years ago for $300 and it works great, I can run the tank and half the house.

danny zubot · #3 11-19-2009, 03:41 PM

Quote:

Lol I have an electric hot water tank but I have a gas range!!

At least you can still heat up the water on the stove.

We have power outages here in the Koots from time to time. I don't worry about my tank too much, until the power comes back on. Then it's go time to make sure my overflow is going to work properly.

icecool217 · #4 11-19-2009, 03:43 PM

For those that uses battery backups, what unit do you use?I am looking to get a decent one without having to pay an arm and a leg for it. Heard good things about the Motomaster 600A power booster but want to see what other ones are available out there, esp a unit that can kick in instantly when I am not at home.

marie · #5 11-19-2009, 03:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mrfish55

My power went out just before 6 last night, came back on just before 4 this morning, my back up back up gen (yes I have 2) died an hour in (first one broke the pull cord 2 pulls in!)and the battery back up died shortly there after, basically everything that could go wrong did. Temps dropped to 72, things are looking seriously stressed this morning, have to wait it out and see over the next few days. Anybody out there that works for Hydro, THANK-YOU for working so hard to get power restored, that was some nasty wind and rain here!

My power was back on by 10:00.... living in the middle of town does have its perks

Black Phantom · #6 11-19-2009, 04:01 PM

Picked this one up from Canadian Tire. A little more expensive but it will run my big pump for over 6 hours. Thats plenty of time to get the generator going if I need it.
I don't worry about heat loss as I made some panels out of rigid pink styrofoam that I can strap to the tank to keep it warm. A pretty cheap insurance policy.
The nice part about these is the switch is instant so nothing has to restart.

http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/brows...1%252C800W.jsp

mike31154 · #7 11-19-2009, 05:25 PM

Haven't had a lengthy outage here in some time, but when it did happen I used one of my truck batteries and a small inverter to run a powerhead and my skimmer. I also have the PennPlax battery powered air pump that senses power loss and kicks in automatically. The car/truck battery & inverter is not a long term solution but it's relatively cheap and works well to run a powerhead or two for quite a while. Downside is, it's not automatic, you need to be home to set it up. Also wouldn't try to run a heater too long unless you have a very large battery. I'm able to run my skimmer since it's old tech air driven (limewood air diffusers), the small powerhead and air pump only use around 11 watts.

naesco · #8 11-20-2009, 02:11 AM

The temperature is not the problem unless it goes below 70K The tank if large enough will cool down slowly. You can help it slow down even more by floating containers with boiling water if you have someway to boil the water. (your neighbours gas range or your BQ).

The problem is the lack of oxygen which will kill the inhabitants. Whether it is a battery driven air pump or a egg beater, anything that either injects oxygen into the tank or stirs the water is needed.

As well as the welfare of your inhabitants, you have a lot of money invested in the tank. Nothing if worse than a tank wipe out.
Go to Canadian Tire and get what you need.

Lance · #9 11-20-2009, 02:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marie

My power was back on by 10:00.... living in the middle of town does have its perks

Mine never went out at all, but flickered a few times. I went out to the garage to get the generator set up, just in case and the bugger wouldn't start. Took me 20 minutes of farting around to get it going.

Lance · #10 11-20-2009, 02:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mrfish55

My power went out just before 6 last night, came back on just before 4 this morning, my back up back up gen (yes I have 2) died an hour in (first one broke the pull cord 2 pulls in!)and the battery back up died shortly there after, basically everything that could go wrong did. Temps dropped to 72, things are looking seriously stressed this morning, have to wait it out and see over the next few days. Anybody out there that works for Hydro, THANK-YOU for working so hard to get power restored, that was some nasty wind and rain here!

How's things looking now Dave?