Power Outages

[ctenophore]

I can eat breakfast and watch the wife shovel while we wait for the plows.

lol I am doing exactly that right now

I shoveled at 1am last night and driveway has over a foot since.

power went out at 7:15am and hasn't been back on since. generator humming along running return pumps, stream pumps,heaters, fridge,qt tanks,son's nano tank. I hope I don't have to make a gas run, only 10 gal in reserve.

[sen5241b]

Has no prob here in N Arlington but an outage is my worst nightmare. I have an auto inverter and a computer battery with a little charge.

[Coral Hind]

To reduce the load on my generator (and increase the ammount of time my gas will last) I unplugged everything for my tank accept my Eheim 1262 return pump and heater. No skimmer, no CaRx, no lights, no closed loop.

 

 

Is this ok?

 

I doubt that the minor load of the skimmer and closed loop would matter to the generator. Does it sounds like it is working harder with them on? Most gen sets run better with more stable power when under load and not just running near idle.

 

If you need gas just take some from the lawn mower or car.

[epleeds]

lost power this morning at 430am. didn't come back on till 30 minutes ago. Tank started at 79.8 and dropped to 76.1 // anyone know how long a briggs and stratton 5500 watt generator will last with a 3.5 gallon gas tank.

[discretekarma]

I have the generator hooked up to a transfer switch in my house. The generator is running my fridge, microwave, gas oven, sumps, den, master, tv, internet, and others as well. The transfer switch shows the load and it looks like it went down quite a bit when I cut the extra tank things off. If it's important, I'll put some back on. I'd rather have tv/internet than closed loop if the return pump is suffiicient.

[discretekarma]

anyone know how long a briggs and stratton 5500 watt generator will last with a 3.5 gallon gas tank.

 

 

Not sure which series you have. Here it says 5 Gallon Fuel Tank Provides Up To 10 Hour Run Time @ 50% load. With 3.5 gallons you could run this model for about 7 hours.

 

 

The elite series says it has a 7 gallon fuel tank that runs 13 hours @ 50% load. Both are 5500 watt. With 3.5 gallons you could run this model for 6.5 hours.

Edited February 6, 2010 by discretekarma

[Coral Hind]

I have the generator hooked up to a transfer switch in my house. The generator is running my fridge, microwave, gas oven, sumps, den, master, tv, internet, and others as well. The transfer switch shows the load and it looks like it went down quite a bit when I cut the extra tank things off. If it's important, I'll put some back on. I'd rather have tv/internet than closed loop if the return pump is suffiicient.

 

You are fine without the closed loop and skimmer then. Main pump circulation and temp are more important.

Edited February 6, 2010 by Coral Hind

[WaterDog]

We haven't lost power yet in fairfax *knocks on wood*, but we're bound to at some point. All we have are two airstones and no generator I know about the blankets and the bags of warm water, but any other ideas on how to keep the tank warm and relatively safe?

Edited February 6, 2010 by WaterDog

[Coral Hind]

Here is Dominion Power's outage map. At 2pm, Northern Virginia Area 813,173 customers - 61,678 outages.

 

http://www.dom.com/storm-center/northva.jsp

Edited February 6, 2010 by Coral Hind

[astroboy]

FWIW, two years ago over the holidays I was gone for 10 days and turned the heat in the house down to 50. I forgot that I had unplugged the heater. When I got back the tank temperature was about 55 and I imagine had been there for at least a week. However, nearly everything survived. I was careful to bring the tank up to 80 degrees over a few days.

 

On the other hand, with the same tank I lost power for 12 hours one day while I was at work, and the pH dropped from 8.1 to the low 7's, presumably due to the buildup of CO2 in the water. I'm sure depletion of oxygen was a major factor also. I lost 4-5 corals and most of my inverts.

 

So, based on my experience, (which I realize might not be applicable to all situations!) I think flow is the main thing with a power outage if you have to choose between that and temperature. During another power outage which lasted four days, (during which everything went into coolers to a house which still had heat), I noticed that the same tank (75 gallons) lost between 5-7 degrees per day; the house temperature went down to 40 within the first 24 hours. The tank eventually bottomed out at 40, and a dwarf angel that I wasn't able to get out of the tank survived and lived for another couple years until it was eaten by an overgrown crab. So... it takes a day or two for a sizeable tank to really cool alot.

 

Having said all this, I now have a power inverter and a car battery.... and no power outage yet.

[Valeria]

Power came back on at 10 am. But no cable , land line or Internet

Edited February 6, 2010 by Valeria

[treesprite]

Cable is out, Comcast trucks have been spotted. Fortunately for me, television is basically just for background noise or dinner entertainment.

[lanman]

I almost always lose power - any kind of a storm... but - not so far!! yay!!!

 

bob

[Jan]

Shhhh...we do too yay

I almost always lose power - any kind of a storm... but - not so far!! yay!!!

 

bob

[discretekarma]

I still don't have power. It went out in the middle of the night last night and is still out. I have had the generator going all day. I took my neighbor to the gas station so he could get some gas and I filled up another 5 gallon container while I was there. Looks like Pepco may spend too much time making their outage map cool and not enough time getting the power back on.

[Hilary]

I just got my power back about half an hour ago after 12 hours without. May have to rethink getting a generator! Dropped the entire nano tank in a large cooler with an airstone and it seems to be just fine. Inverter and battery wouldn't run my heater for the 90 after the first 2 hours and didn't like running the return pump for very long - kept getting an alarm - but seemed okay with a powerhead and the return to the HOB fuge. Between that, an airstone and tupperware with hot water (filled using sterno and a fondue pot ) tank dropped to 70 degrees but still had flow. Small tanks upstairs got colder, but only seem to have one stressed fish so far.

[Lunker]

I lost power at 4:00 pm in Sterling this afternoon. Power came back up at 7:45 pm. I had immediately wrapped my 120g tank with blankets and I have Hurrican Cat 5 back for my airstones. All appears well. That was close!

[ctenophore]

still no power here. I made my own access road over the median to norbeck to go get gas. gotta love big trucks. will post pics when get internet back.

[bcjm]

Lost power from 3 am to 1 pm. Then lost power again from 5:30 to now. Need to get some gas out of the car to keep the genrator running.

[Hilary]

Yea, I'm already recharging the big battery in case power goes again tonight.

[NightOwl]

We lost power early this morning in Ashburn. I had slept in and was late saving some of my fish :(. When I woke up around 11:30 AM my wife was like the power has been off since around 5:30 AM. I ended up losing two Glass Cardinals, a Cleaner shrimp, two Peppermint Shrimp ,and my most expensive fish the Chevron Tang. The other fish were breathing hard and my Yellow Tang was actually upside down still fighting for his life. I managed to save the two Clowns who just laid eggs on the earlier this week (4th) and my Yellow Tang. I know my neighbors must have been why is this fool running to his car with an extension cord in over two feet of snow. I managed to plug in my power inverter and run the return pump until the power came on at 2:00PM. It was a sad day, but so far the remaining fish are looking good. Oh and if anyone doubts how efficient a clean up crew can be tell that to my clean up crew who have completely removed all evidence of my Glass Cardinals except the spines. The Shrimp have been disposed of as well and they are currently doing a number on the Chevron Tang who was over 5" long. Hope no one else experienced a loss like me. With that said anyone have any suggestions on a generator? This is the first and the last time I will loose fish in this manner.

 

Henry

[DDiver]

did anyone in centreville lose power?my cuz is at Snowshoe and has no idea if his tank is ok.....

[Coral Hind]

Looks like Pepco may spend too much time making their outage map cool and not enough time getting the power back on.

 

Hey, don't be to harsh on the boys!

 

How would you like to be out in this mess all day trying to clear trees off of lines, wiping down snow covered insulators, and changing fuses? I've done it, and it sucks!!

[ctenophore]

We lost power early this morning in Ashburn. I had slept in and was late saving some of my fish :(. When I woke up around 11:30 AM my wife was like the power has been off since around 5:30 AM. I ended up losing two Glass Cardinals, a Cleaner shrimp, two Peppermint Shrimp ,and my most expensive fish the Chevron Tang. The other fish were breathing hard and my Yellow Tang was actually upside down still fighting for his life. I managed to save the two Clowns who just laid eggs on the earlier this week (4th) and my Yellow Tang. I know my neighbors must have been why is this fool running to his car with an extension cord in over two feet of snow. I managed to plug in my power inverter and run the return pump until the power came on at 2:00PM. It was a sad day, but so far the remaining fish are looking good. Oh and if anyone doubts how efficient a clean up crew can be tell that to my clean up crew who have completely removed all evidence of my Glass Cardinals except the spines. The Shrimp have been disposed of as well and they are currently doing a number on the Chevron Tang who was over 5" long. Hope no one else experienced a loss like me. With that said anyone have any suggestions on a generator? This is the first and the last time I will loose fish in this manner.

 

Henry

Sorry to hear you lost some fish. I will have a smaller generator for sale this week, as I am upgrading to a larger one for the next time. Mine runs very well, it just had trouble keeping up with 2000 watts of heaters, a 3hp heat pump, refrigerator, and 3 hammerhead pumps in addition to miscellaneous other things.

 

We just got power back on around 10:30pm, it was out since 7:30am. I lost about 3 degrees of water temp, from 77 to 74 over the course of the day. No livestock losses I hope, I will check the greenhouse tubs tomorrow. They were covered with mylar bubble blankets all day.

[dschflier]

we lost power hear almost immediatly on the first day of the storm. I have a 5500 watt generator but only have one outlet I can run it on in the house. I don't have a master off circuit breaker. One positive is the plug on the outside of the house is my circuit which goes to the nbasement. I am using this to heat my tanks as well as a space heater. We all have had to move down to the basement for the heat as well as a neighbor with a 3 month old. This has been a real pain. The good news is our 2 cars and the truck were full of fuel so I have been getting fuel from them to run the generator.