Jan August 27, 2011 Author August 27, 2011 Keep cell phones charged! Here's Dominions up to date info on power outages. http://www.dom.com/storm-center/dominion-electric-outage-summary.jsp
Coral Hind August 28, 2011 August 28, 2011 Wow, according to dominion's page a 1/3 of their customers are out of power!!
Origami August 28, 2011 August 28, 2011 Pretty quiet out here just west of Leesburg.... Some rain, some wind - but not too much of either. Maybe 20-25 mph gusts so far.
Jan August 28, 2011 Author August 28, 2011 We lost power twice earlier in the day for a few minutes. Nothing serious. If the winds kick up the ground is wet enough for trees to fall, which they do all the time here, and transformers to blow all over the place. This is what happens here in Barcroft.
Coral Hind August 28, 2011 August 28, 2011 We haven't lost power yet and it hasn't done much more then a light rain here so far today.
Reefoholic August 28, 2011 August 28, 2011 We haven't lost power yet and it hasn't done much more then a light rain here so far today. +1 You know how media loves to exaggerate! I am scared for NYC, tho!
Jan August 28, 2011 Author August 28, 2011 +1 for New York. Especially along the sound. +1 You know how media loves to exaggerate! I am scared for NYC, tho!
Jan August 28, 2011 Author August 28, 2011 WTOP reports Roughly 212,000 people are without power in the D.C. region: Pepco: 31,00; Dominion: 27,000 in Northern Virginia; BGE: 77,000; SMECO: 54,000; Rappahannock Electric Cooperative: 23,000 across Virginia.
Reefoholic August 28, 2011 August 28, 2011 Thank God we are not one of those people without power. My fishes are sleeping safe and sound
Jan August 28, 2011 Author August 28, 2011 Shhhhhhhh...... Thank God we are not one of those people without power. My fishes are sleeping safe and sound
Reloadeddevil August 28, 2011 August 28, 2011 Are we out of danger zone as for as outage is concerned or not yet. I live in fairfax/vienna.
ctenophore August 28, 2011 August 28, 2011 I've noticed it starting to pick up here in rockville. Gusts are starting to make the house creak. Lights are starting to flicker too. My primary generator is deployed and ready to run, expecting to fire it up within the hour. My backup gen is under a mountain of boxes of avast stuff, so hopefully won't need it. I almost want the power to go out now, so I can turn on the generator and go to bed. I've said it plenty of times... one day I'll put in an auto transfer system
roni August 28, 2011 August 28, 2011 Hope all is well at my house. No calls from my neighbor so crossing my fingers. I think a backup generator is going to be the nxt order of business. This worrying about power isn't fun.
Coral Hind August 28, 2011 August 28, 2011 I agree, I think I will be getting an automatic one installed too. With the amount of money we have invested in our tanks it just makes since to have a generator.
Kingumar August 28, 2011 August 28, 2011 powers out here, trees and branches are down at places. Petco is closed :( I have a 90gal, any suggestions on how to keep the tanks ph up? I took a cup and took some water and dumped it back in the tank and im dking this every 30 mins idk if its helping...
ctenophore August 28, 2011 August 28, 2011 powers out here, trees and branches are down at places. Petco is closed :( I have a 90gal, any suggestions on how to keep the tanks ph up? I took a cup and took some water and dumped it back in the tank and im dking this every 30 mins idk if its helping... Don't worry about pH. Water flow is the biggest concern. Just stir the tank with a wooden spoon every now and then as a last resort.
Jan August 28, 2011 Author August 28, 2011 (edited) Well we started to get ready for bed about 1am. My husbnad had everything set up and ready to go with the generator earlier in the day, JIC we lost power. Just before 2am, while I was wathcing TV, the wind kicked up. I heard a strange noise. It was a big thump on metal. Then the lights when out. We waited about 15 mins and knew the lights wouldn't be back on for hours. He had everything hooked up and ready to go. He had the generator going in 15 minutes. He's got this down to a science. Everything was on all four tanks plus the refrigerator, downstairs freezer, upstairs lights, several outlets and the TV in our bedroom(bonus!). To reduce the load on the generator I shut off heaters and couple of powerheads. He said that those things don;t really make a difference. the biggy was the fridge and freezer. The skimmer was already shut off but if it was on I would have shut that off too. I woke up this morning and used a match to light the pilots on the burner and made breakfast. A generaotor is a must! We bought ours at Sears for about $300.00. It's a portable one used for trailers. We honestly thought it would just light up the tanks and maybe a couple of other things. We had no idea it would help with the rest of the house as much as it has. Ours holds 10 gallons of gas. By the time the lights came back on it had only used half the tank of gas. You really need to know what you're doing with generators. Luckily my husband tested everything earlier in the day and discovered that the gas line shrunk. So he went to home depot and purchased a replacement. If he didn't do a test run we would not have had anything but my battery back which only lasts 1 1/2 hours. The genrartor has paid for itself in what we've saved in food and livestock since we got it. OH and BTW the electric company has deals if you purchase generators for your home from them. They'll install them too. This would be a large generator for your entire home that comes on when the lights go out. Costs a few thousand $. If you've just purchased your home and can afford the additional bill you should look into it. Edited August 28, 2011 by Jan
DaveS August 28, 2011 August 28, 2011 OH and BTW the electric company has deals if you purchase generators for your home from them. They'll install them too. This would be a large generator for your entire home that comes on when the lights go out. Costs a few thousand $. If you've just purchased your home and can afford the additional bill you should look into it. Which power company is this? I have Dominion and hadn't heard of this. I did a quick search and didn't find anything either.
DaveS August 28, 2011 August 28, 2011 Nevermind just found it: http://www.dom.com/products/product-catalog/generators/detail.jsp?i=briggs-stratton-12kw-15kw-20kw-systems Wonder how competitively they are priced... I'll update if I find out.
Jan August 28, 2011 Author August 28, 2011 Glad you found it. I think the plus of purchasing through the electric company is the payment plan option and the fact that it's being installed by the electric company themselves. If you've got the thousands of $ to lay out, you should definately shop around. Payment plans often come with high interest rates. Nevermind just found it: http://www.dom.com/p...kw-20kw-systems Wonder how competitively they are priced... I'll update if I find out.
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