How did you come out of the outage?

[icecool2]

I was thinking about something along these lines, that's what transfer switches are for. My understanding is very limited here, but I thought a transfer switch essentially is just an automatic way to turn off your main breaker. I'm sure the actual implementation is different, but it would seem if you kill the main breaker it has the same protection on both ends.

[dano]

Still without power at home.... tank is in bottom level and stays around 80 with lights off. Have used battery air pump since outage Friday night. would plug small ower head on a backup power source and run for 15 minutes every few hours till my neoghbor bought a generator for his fish pond and I was able to plug a line in and run my sump and return. I hope I don;t have any losses but won't know for sure till I turn on the lights and take a careful inspection. My work tank didn't fare so well. I was so wiped out with the tank at home, my neoghbor's pond, my family and the heat that I never went to check on my work tank. I lost everything in my 54 gallon. Shrimp, 3 anemones, tang, 2 clowns, 2 brittles, and some other small corals, inverts (peppermint, mithrax). Very upsetting especially since I knew I should come check on it but was just too wiped out (live in falls church, work in bethesda).

[BaySailor]

Just got back power little while ago....lost my tangs and anthias.......only one frag lost though

 

Had a generator but freaking ethanol killed it, had to rebuild the carb and that only gave us about 20 min run time before the problem continues...(guessing a sticking float but may need a new jet too)

 

vortech backup worked on one pump but the other stalled at somepoint in the main tank of course so they sat for about 8 hours no movement (i was sleeping then tried to fix the generator and then helping around the house etc till ihad time to deal with the tank)

so more or less my own fault for not dealing with the tank earlier....freaking sux but what can ya do.

 

still hear others generators running so i guess im lucky to have power.

 

I've found that the marine version of sta-bil helps keep those very small carb jets clean. At least that's been the case w/my 2.5 hp outboard. Ethanol sucks and the only folks who are not required to use it are farmers because it screws up all their farm equipment.

[Johnny Ho]

Just got my power back. Everything is doing well. Thanks to the Power Generator and MP40 on its backup battery.

[Coral Hind]

Unless you have a way to cut your main feed to your house I think this is a really bad idea.

The main breakers can cut the feed but not using a double throw isn't the most desired method and in most cases against the law. But, if in a bind, it can be safe as long as the main breaker to the panel is turned off and a sequence of operations are followed to make sure it is first off and last on. Once the crisis is over an interlock or double throw should be installed before the next storm.

 

I believe the power can bleed back up the line and kill any lineman who may be working to restore your power.

Yes, it is possible to backfeed the distribution circuit and lineman have been killed but it is not normal with most small home generators, there normally just isn't enough power before it trips itself out. The average home generator puts out 30A on a circuit and that would have to be bumped up through the transformer to a line voltage lets say on average to 7.98kv/13.8kv. Going from 120v to 7,980v would be 66.5 time increase. When a transformer increases voltage it decreases amperage so that 30a would be less then half an amp. Factor in the resistance of the transformer and wire, and it drops even more. Then factor in that the your neighbors' houses are going to suck up any power they can and there is little if anything that reaches a lineman plus the resistance load normally trips out the generator.

 

They are not generally expecting live lines downstream of an outage :/

They should be! Most lineman killed by a generator didn't follow proper safety procedures. Every lineman should always treat the line as being hot and that means working with rubber sleeves and gloves, using a voltage tester or phasing sticks, circuits isolated, and most importantly, grounding jumpers properly installed.

[surf&turf]

Has anyone heard from Ryan?

[marinap]

We are still without power. Tanks are runnig off a generator. What a nightmare. Wish us luck

[Coral Hind]

Good luck and let us know if you need help!

[treesprite]

If anyone is looking to buy a generator, there is someone selling a whole truck load of them from the parking lot of Mid Pike Plaza on Rt 355 in Rockville.

[Steve175]

steve175, 82.2 is really good. How high did it go? That is a huge water volume to cool down.

 

Still no power so far. Temp peaked at 84.5 on Sat night. Has been below 83 since. The fish/corals/inverts are faring better than we are.

[hbh]

Marinap, I don't have a huge tank but I can hold a couple of things for you. Give me a call! I have room.in my 45 & 20L.

[ridetheducati]

Lost Power: Friday, June 29, 2012, 11pm EST

Power Restored: Sunday, July 1, 2012, 6pm EST

 

My tank is in the basement, which is 100% below ground. Unlike most, I was worried about my tank cooling too much. Historically, if my system drops below 75 degrees, SPS corals begin to recede. With all basement windows open, the ambient temperature in the basement was 75 degrees with 75% humidity. When power was restored the tank temperature was 74.5. Temperature on the main level was 90 and 93 on the second level.

 

I used a 400w AC/DC power inverter connected to a marine battery to power a Maxijet 1200 that was injecting air and a Tunze 6100 tuned to 30% power. The marine battery, which was not fully charged lasted 12 hours. I knew it would take about 12 hours to recharge the battery, so I took the battery to a friends house to recharge. While that was charging, I connected the inverter to my car battery at 2 hours on, 4 hours off intervals. The fish did not appear to be stressed and the corals passed the all important smell test.

 

The tank being in the basement saved me, this time. Every year I say I am going to buy a generator, this year I will complete the task.

 

I noticed my strawberry shortcake receeded a little and the deep blue tips on the tri-color are turning red.

Edited July 3, 2012 by ridetheducati

[ToddR]

Zero loses. Got real lucky, power out for less than 12 hours. Downtown Winchester got hammered. Trees down everywhere, it looks like a tornado hit.

[tomtom2245]

I lost power for about 40ish hours. Luckily my apt is a walk-out basement style so my tanks stayed right around 76 the whole time, actually had to throw a couple of hot hands in there to keep the temp up. I had a battery powered air pump going and everything seems to be doing good for now. I have one gbta that's a little ticked off but I'm hoping it will do just fine.

[zygote2k]

no power outtages in reston, internet just came back on this morning.

many work tanks without power- underfed tanks doing fine with zero losses, overfed tanks=total loss.

all maintenance reef tanks fine as far as I know.

we are going to buy 150 battery operated air pumps and distribute them to every client.

[Big Country]

My power is still out. Took a chance and plugged in a blue led strip I had to get some light in the tank last night, saw all my fish except a McCosker's wrasse, Mystery wrasse and my Leopard wrasse. All of the fish I saw and inverts came out and fed some. Hooked a 750w inverterter to a marine battery and turned on the skimmer for a couple of hours to get more air into the water and skim out a little bit of gunk. Still running on the neighbors power which is allowing me to keep the return pumps on and a feed pump to my calcium reactor to keep it from going sour, unplugged the CO2 solenoid from the DC8 last night so it doesn't come on if the power does come on just to be safe. Luckily my tank is in the basement below ground so was 79.4 last night when I checked. Getting so humid in the basement that the plumbing on the tank is starting to sweat and drip. If power not on by this afternoon when I get home will probably unplug my freezer and plug in a dehumidifier for a few hours.

[Jan]

Still no power! Zero losses. Had a goby jump and found him on the floor yesterday morning. He was dry and appeared stuck to the tile floor. I walked the dog and when I came back it moved about 3 inches. I picked it up and it moved so I put it back in the tank. The fish is fine. Swimming around like nothing was wrong. It's a miricle!!!! Everything else in the tank is doing fine. generator keeps going.

 

I'm the one that's going nuts with this heat. the dog wakes me up in the middle of the night crying. I'm giving her lots of fresh water with ice and I keep wetting her down. She wont eat and keeps trying to run away into the bushes.

[Der ABT]

Jan try setting up a pool for the dog, just a little kiddie pool or something...bet she will love it.

sorry to hear about the heat...if yuo feel like wasting 400 bucks yuo could get one of the floor ac units but the run like 400 bucks.

[Jan]

Kiddie pool is a great idea for Maggie Moo. Will do! Not spending another dime on this. I want to move!! On my way to NY this morning. So i'll be on nice air conditioned bus all day. I hope the electricity is back on when I get home this evening. I'll have my 13 y/o daughter with me. She's been in NY the entire time. She can't handle the heat. Her complaints may push me over the edge. Pray for me folks.

 

Jan try setting up a pool for the dog, just a little kiddie pool or something...bet she will love it.

sorry to hear about the heat...if yuo feel like wasting 400 bucks yuo could get one of the floor ac units but the run like 400 bucks.

[Origami]

I came out fine, but my power was restored in 6 hours. That was a surprise since I now live way out in what seems like the country.

 

Lessons learned still (just from my experience, not others' - there are many other lessons to be learned from what others dealt with):

 

A generator from Harbor Freight is better than not having a generator at all.

 

Identify the plugs on my critical stuff that I want powered during an outage so I can quickly, with a flashlight, plug them into a strip powered by the generator. When I get a partial house generator (probably a year or two away), move these devices to the backed up circuit.

 

A generator with a larger gas tank would be nice. Mine ran for 3 hours before running out of gas. A short run-time doesn't make for a good night's sleep. Better than hand-aerating water, though, I admit.

 

Run your generator well away from openings to the home. I ran the generator under our deck, which is dry because of the underdecking, and a cord through the sliding glass patio door. To keep exhaust fumes from coming in the house (even with the generator 10 feet from the door), I used 2" painter's tape to seal the 3/8" opening that ran 6' up from the floor.

 

It pays to have your electrical cords and spare outlet strips handy so you can find them when armed only with a flashlight.

 

Know the quirks about starting and running your generator BEFORE you really need it. I had a hard time restarting it after the first refueling and came to find out that I had to wait a few minutes to let the carburetor bowl refill after the tank ran dry.

 

If you have an in-sump skimmer, unplug the skimmer pump when bringing power back on line because your sump water level is most likely high and your skimmer may overflow when things restart. If the skimmer cup is already partially filled with skimmate, this overflow can dump skimmate right back into your sump. Plug the skimmer pump back in after water in the sump gets back to normal levels.

[Hilary]

Power came on at 1:30 this morning, so 75 hours without. One of the coldwater tanks crashed (I keep it at 60 degrees and it got close to 90), but I was able to pull about half of the livestock and have it in a bucket in the basement with an airstone. The other temperate tank is iffy - I see one of the catalinas and the strawberry condylactis colony is in distress. Need to do a big water change on that one and hope for the best. Seahorses are fine, as are all of the other tanks (though I'm still waiting for the melanarus wrasse to make its morning appearance. Used battery-operated airstones on all of the tanks, and was able to keep the HOB fuge pump running for the first two and a half days using an inverter and marine battery. Made sure to keep an airstone in the sump. 90 was fine with one airstone in the display, but I've already ordered several more for the next time we do this and am definitely thinking about a generator. Ice in the coldwater and seahorse tanks made no real difference that I could tell - it melted almost immediately. All of my tanks are heavily stocked, but fed very, very little the last couple of days.

 

The good news is, with no lights on any algae issues I had in the tanks appear to be gone. :-)

 

My lesson learned: Don't put off recharging your marine battery, and keep both fully topped off.

 

Question about frozen - almost everything in my freezer stayed rockhard frozen but the fish food all softened up (but still cold). Toss or keep?

[trockafella]

Where in I live in fairfax we saw nothing. I think it may have flickered, but thats it. Never lost power/phone/internet/cable... Very fortunate to have underground power. In the 3 years Ive lived there its only gone out a few times, the longest was for a couple hours.. Good thing bc my apt gets a ton of sun and heats up very quickly. I feel for all those who lost a lot or anything at all.. Best of luck on a speedy recovery for your systems.

[Coral Hind]

Question about frozen - almost everything in my freezer stayed rockhard frozen but the fish food all softened up (but still cold). Toss or keep?

I say keep it. Even if it softened I'm sure it still stayed cold. The fish food might have a higher salt content which is why it softened first, but was still below 32F.

[Hilary]

I say keep it. Even if it softened I'm sure it still stayed cold. The fish food might have a higher salt content which is why it softened first, but was still below 32F.

 

Whew - thanks David! Was not looking forward to buying all new food.

[armydoc]

Power came on last night at midnight. I was on my 36th hour. I have a 5000 watt gas generator I picked up at a pawn shop awhile ago and it is worth its weight in gold. Ran it 24/7. I got the wife and kids out to the in-laws but I was able to stay in the house in reasonable comfort. Had to refill the 5 gallon tank twice a day but was able to keep all tank stuff running except the lights in addition to several fans, the fridge, freezer, computer, and television. Probabaly could have run the light as well (T5's) but didnt want to add any heat to the room. Only downside was the generator noise but I spread some goodwill in the neighboorhood by offering up freezer space and ice to folks plus most folks had bugged out to a hotel by the second night anyway. My tank is small, 30 g plus 15 g sump, so it was not too demanding.

A generator is a must have item.

Edited July 3, 2012 by armydoc