I guess an OAK really works

More freezing rain last night. I just lost power a bit ago.

On a brighter note, not a single whiff of smoke to be smelled anywhere in the house or basement after the furnace powered off. I'll attribute that to the OAK and plenty of vertical rise in the venting.

Glad I bought extra gas for the generator yesterday afternoon. Going to be time to try out the inverters generator I got a few years ago and haven't yet used for a power outage. Or make a fire in the woodstove.

And may as well crack a beer. It might get warm.

 

Hopefully it's a short outage. What kind of generator are you using?

 

It's a Champion 2000 watt inverter generator. I've only used it for running power tools out behind the barn before today. I have it running the furnace, fridge and chest freezer now. Seems to be doing well.

Once I get the fridge cooled down some more (cranked it as low as it will go) I'll shut off the fridge and run the genny in Eco mode. Supposed to run 10 hours on a gallon of gas in Eco. The pellet furnace doesn't use much juice. My 5500 watt Briggs will eat almost a gallon per hour and you can hear it a quarter mile away. This one is pretty quiet.

 

Nice, these are good units. This is what I would have bought if ibdidnt already have a Chinese model

 

Let's hope the power stays on! But on another note, it's a good time to see if you're really prepared. I know I am. Stay warm my friends, stay warm!!

 

I've got one of those HF generators too. Works good for lights and the fridge/freezer but I don't trust it for the pellet stoves or electronics.

I won't worry about hauling out the 5500 watt generator unless this outage goes a couple days. I've got an 83 gallon well tank and I made sure the pump kicked on before I went to bed. Should be good for a while.

 

Stay warm 343 and don't let those brews get too warm .

 

My Briggs is loud too. But it does the trick

 

Is that one of those little 900watt ones?

 

I was thinking about grabbing one when they go one sale. Just to have as backup to the backup

 

I'd give it a try w/ the pellet stove.....never know when you might need to use it for that. You'll know right away if it doesn't like the power....the motors will hum a lot and get warmer than normal. The electronics don't care much one way or the other, as long as the voltage & amps are right.

 

My old stove hummed pretty bad with the HF generator, as did the blower on my wood stove. The fridge and freezer don't seem to care nor do small power tools. I ran the HF genny in August 2009 after a storm knocked out power for a few days. It kept the fridge cold and is good on gas. And it was cheap enough that I'm not out much if it blows up or gets stolen.

Checked the power company web site a bit ago. Estimated time to restore service is 12/24 at 11:30 PM. Hope it's not that long. It can't be easy doing what they do in these conditions.

 

And just like that, power is back on.

To the Consumers Energy line crew, whoever and wherever you are, thank you for your efforts. It's not a problem for me to stay warm, but for many it is.

 

We lost power again around 7:15 last night. At least we got dishes done and grabbed a shower in the 2 hour window where we were back online. Generator is going and the house is 70. Gave up running the Fahrenheit and am running the 6041 for now. Auto ignition is easier if there is a power blip.

Glad you and your family are OK. I heard there was some nasty weather in OH. Not very often that kind of weather hits OH in late December.

 

I hope its a short outage.

 

OMG, that is so horrid. I hope you are Ok. That kind of stuff sits with you for a long time. I had the roof lift right off a building I was in once in Nam during a typhoon.
At least you have a basement to take cover in during those storms if you get warning.
Will insurance cover storm damage for you?