NEED HELP! Burnaby power outage

[seabreeze]

Sorry to hear about everyone's losses

During the 2006 outage we went the route of inverter for about 24hrs then got, I think, the last generator in town (seriously).

Since then I will not be without a generator... too much of an investment to risk not having one! Me.. the tank, hubby.. the TV

We do get a few outages every winter, but nothing like this last one.

Anyway, also had to learn the hard way how to properly look after the generator so it starts again the next time! I make sure now to run the fuel line empty before turning off the generator switch.. and testing it monthy or every other month.

I will also start to use the Shell premium.. thanks for the helpful info!

Again, sorry for those that had losses and may still have some to face

Besides the drop in temp and oxygen, the pH would have got ugly too. Lots of factors in the mix.

[rsisvixen]

Hmmm, anemones are not looking happy at all and zoas still don't want to all open so they are pretty displeased with the whole power out too.
Guess I'll monitor them over the next week and see how they go.

[spit.fire]

Originally Posted by Ryanerickson

People need back up plans power outages are gonna happen eventually,I own a small generator for this exact reason still never used it but sure feel more comfortable when we are having crazy weather like yesterday. Hope everybody gets power back soon.

a "small generator" is enough for your system?

[Tom R]

Our power was only off for 15 hours, however that is longer than I'd really want to go without power. Fortunately my Toyota Tacoma came with a built in 400W inverter and I have a heavy duty 100 foot extension cord. So I hooked up my truck to the main circulation pump on my system. I ran it at 3 hours intervals for 15 to 20 minutes each interval and everything worked out fine.

This is a wake up call for all of us. All Reef Keepers should have a survival plan and test it at least every twice a year.

Years ago I bought a 800W generator at Princess Auto for $150.00 which is cheap insurance for a tank worth anywhere from $1000.00 plus. I used the generator to run our freezer and refrigerator.

Tom R

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Originally Posted by Tom R

This is a wake up call for all of us. All Reef Keepers should have a survival plan and test it at least every twice a year.

Years ago I bought a 800W generator at Princess Auto for $150.00 which is cheap insurance for a tank worth anywhere from $1000.00 plus. I used the generator to run our freezer and refrigerator.

Tom R

Glad to hear you came through okay my friend.

I have the same generator I think (880w Powerfist from Princess Auto). Ended up loaning it to my brother cause we luckily didn't experience any power outage.

I'm in the process of looking to upgrade to a 2000w Honda generator (so I can run my fridge, freezer & tanks) if we are hit next time.

Anthony

[GrantB]

Sorry to hear about everyone's losses. I picked up a generator first before realizing that they are useless if your out of town (happened twice). I would recommend a proper auto transfer switch with sine wave inverter, deep cycle battery and a good charger to anyone who can afford it. I spent a lot on my setup but it will kick on automatically and run the tank for 12-24 hours (heat included) depending on how I have the Apex setup. If things are really bad I can then use the generator to run the tank and recharge the AGM battery and run for days as long as I have gas. If anyone needs help setting one up let me know.

[mike31154]

I was in North Van last week, headed home to Vernon around 13:00 Saturday in the midst of the carnage. Talk about a mess, don't recall how many U-turns I had to make to try & get out of the megalopolis! Spent a good hour in a traffic jam on Hwy 1 in Burnaby due to downed trees. On my motorbike, running low on fuel I couldn't find a gas station with power until I reached Abbottsford. The COOP on Mt. Lehman road had their Diesel & Premium pumps working, no regular. In retrospect, perhaps I should have headed north to Squamish & rode to Vernon via the northern route, Lillooet/Cache Creek/Kamloops, same as my trip to the city a week before.

Sucks to lose tank critters, but it's a good wake up call for all of us. There's more at stake than pets when nature gets nasty. A little girl in Washington became the victim of a falling tree branch. We can consider ourselves fortunate if all we lose are replaceable material objects. Governments & corporations that provide "essentials" such as electricity really need to get a bit more proactive in running lines underground where they'll be less prone to damage from wind storms. Our hydro infrastructure is highly centralized, which means the right kind of "perfect storm" can put a large chunk of the population in the dark as shown by the events last week. It's not like this is a lesson that hasn't been learned before, again & again, but we get complacent.

Never a bad idea to prepare oneself for disaster. Relying on the gov't/corporation is not good insurance when things go south. I'm delinquent myself in that regard, since power outages here in Vernon are very short & rare. I've been meaning to get some solar panels up & a bank of deep discharge batteries, but keep putting it off, mainly due to finances. Purchased a small wind generator years ago, but it's still sitting in the basement.

[Tom R]

Originally Posted by SeaHorse_Fanatic

Glad to hear you came through okay my friend.

I have the same generator I think (880w Powerfist from Princess Auto). Ended up loaning it to my brother cause we luckily didn't experience any power outage.

I'm in the process of looking to upgrade to a 2000w Honda generator (so I can run my fridge, freezer & tanks) if we are hit next time.

Anthony

With you being almost the only people in the GVRD lucky enough to have power I hope you ran out and bought a couple of 6/49 tickets.

Yes I believe your generator is the same as mine and I used it for my freezer & refrigerator. As I hand not used mine in quite awhile I had trouble starting it with old gas. My neighbour gave me a couple of litres of new gas that I added to the old and away she went.
I guess you should start it up every once in a while to test it out.

Tom R

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Originally Posted by Tom R

With you being almost the only people in the GVRD lucky enough to have power I hope you ran out and bought a couple of 6/49 tickets.

Yes I believe your generator is the same as mine and I used it for my freezer & refrigerator. As I hand not used mine in quite awhile I had trouble starting it with old gas. My neighbour gave me a couple of litres of new gas that I added to the old and away she went.
I guess you should start it up every once in a while to test it out.

Tom R

Yeah, my whole family was lucky other than my bro, but then he had access to mine and my father-in-law's (I gave to him as a present in 2007) generators so none of us were too affected. Whew. I heard now the tally was over 530,000 people without power at its worst.

[Reef Pilot]

We had another power outage last night, (if you can believe it!!) from midnight to 2 AM. Not sure why, no wind storm. No effect on the tanks this time, but sure screwed up a good night's sleep.