Winter Sucks

[mclewis1]

I'm off for a ride this afternoon. It's just above freezing but sunny and no wind. So perfect winter conditions and a good time to get in a ride before the nasty storm shows up. we're only getting the top tip of the big NE storm ... so only 5" of snow and quite windy ... and unfortunately while it's not related to the big storm, more snow for the rest of the week too. So a good time to get in a ride. For the rest of the week my exercise will be walking behind my snow blower and shovelling out the edges.

My biggest complaint about today's ride is that with a little melting that's been going on the city paths now have quite a few sections of bare pavement and that means keeping my speed down so I don't tear out any studs (I know that means something different and more painful in warmer areas like CA - ). Anyway that's the downside to riding a winter setup in the melting conditions ... I can go faster when it's a bit colder on hard packed snow and ice.

Now just counting the days until I can switch over from winter tires and gear to the non winter stuff.

 

[Gionnirocket]

It started to stick around 5pm

 

[PedalUma]

White Plains with 12 inches and 40 mph winds!
In 1971 we had 6 inches of snow on Easter in Poughquag, NY. The daffodils suffered.
On the upside we got double chocolat! My mom got all the stuff, peeps, beans, and bunnies, before going to Scotland and my dad didn't know, so he got even more. The odd thing was finding hidden eggs that were three years old in a chair, in a Japanese vase, in the piano and under a drum sets' kick drum.

 

[6zfshdb]

Big bust here. 20" were predicted at one point, with blizzard warnings in effect. Less than 3" on the ground now with light wind and it appears to be over. Not out of the woods yet though. Two more clipper storms of 1 - 3" each predicted for later this week. Still a foot on the ground now from this and other storms, so hopes for that early spring ride are fading.

 

[Gionnirocket]

No bust here. . .

. . . and still falling and drifting.

 

[PedalUma]

 

[fooferdoggie]

3 days of rain. yesterday the high was supposed to be 52. well at 4 it was 44 and raining. at 10 pm it was 52. go figure.

 

[stompandgo]

We got hit very hard on Cape Cod, especially mid-cape where I live. We got 12-14" of wet snow, but what did the damage were the gale force winds (73mph) that took down trees everywhere. We were sitting in the dark in the living room listening to the cracks and bangs, hoping that they would not fall on the house. We had two trees fall onto our property, but by sheer luck, they did not hit any structures. My gas grill took a beating, but I think that I can revive it. We lost power early Monday morning, and got it back late last night. I brought my 7500w portable generator from western MA with me here, and I'm glad I did. This house does not have the standby power infrastructure in it, so I had to run extension cords for the refrigerators, internet, charging, one tv, and wire up a vampire plug for the furnace. This kept us warm and in touch with what was happening around us. I ran the generator in 4 hour blocks, and did not run it overnight. It got down into the 50's by morning inside, but within 30 minutes it was warm again. Most of the people around us did not have backup power, and fled the area when they could. So, it wasn't a life or death situation, but it wasn't normalcy, either. Driving on the roads to get gas for the generator was a challenge. There were long lines, and at times, entire towns were out of gas completely. I'm exhausted, and have a ton of cleanup work to do, but I need a mental break more than anything. For some strange reason, I get that here

 

[mclewis1]

I also don't bother with a fully integrated generator setup (so no xfer switch, etc.)and just run extension cords to what's necessary. My only add on to this setup is an inexpensive through wall connection to the generator so the extension cords don't have to go through a window or door opening. The extension cords are kept in the house just for this use (so they stay nice and clean ... and nobody complains). The small gas generator (4000w) runs the fridge, freezer, TV, lights, and occasional microwave or kettle ... oh and of course would recharge the ebike when necessary.

I'm now going to run a hybrid setup when I lose power ... I'm getting a small battery setup to normally just act as a UPS for the internet router and charging station for the phones and laptop for short outages and then for longer outages to also run the fireplace/wood stove fans overnight (when I don't want or need to run the gas generator, saving fuel). The battery gets re charged in the day time when the gas generator is up and running for the fridge/freezer, etc.

One of these days I might also break down and get a few portable solar panels to recharge the battery ... just in case of longer outages (hurricane Arthur in 2014 was 5 days).

 

[stompandgo]

We have a natural gas home. I want to upgrade the electric service, so I will look into a true standby generator as part of it. We lose power in the summer as well. I've got to wait until the frenzy dies down. Buying something that's in crazy demand is not smart. We put our central air system in during the late fall, when the HVAC guys were not busy.

 

[Chargeride]

My mothers power bill is now 300 pounds a month, lives alone.

 

[RunForTheHills]

I travel a lot for work and my wife couldn't operate a regular generator by herself. The power goes out here all the time. It was out for two days last week during the storm.

Our home standby generator has an auto transfer switch and comes on automatically when the power goes out. I have UPS' on all the electronics I care about. The generator is about 24 years old and on its last legs, but has been a good investment.

 

[mclewis1]

My mothers power bill is now 300 pounds a month, lives alone.

I'm 2 adults in ~1100sq/ft, all electric (heat, water, cooking, charging the ebike ) - and we pay 15c/kw (so about 11c USD). With this and a colder than avg winter my worst monthly bill was just over $500 cad. About $70 is additional stuff (water tank rental, extra surcharges to cover debt from #$%@! nuclear station, etc.). Most of the time my worst winter bills have been in the mid $400s ($300usd) ... and summer bills avg under $100.

Natural gas and fuel oil are more expensive options here.

 

[6zfshdb]

I've been using portable gas generators around the place for decades and they work great for the occasional short term power failure. After a major outage that lasted 7+ days, I got sick of running out to try and find gas, and put in a more permanent system. It's an 11.5KW diesel that I installed in back of the garage with a thru wall exhaust. I fuel it from the 1000 gal fuel oil furnace storage tank. That way, I have enough on hand to last a month if necessary.

Power is back fed via the 50 amp garage service panel and a relay keeps it from entering the grid. Right now, It can be started from the house with the push of a button, but I will eventually make it fully automatic. It's quiet enough where it can barely be heard from inside.

Since I travel a lot during biking season, it's a big comfort for me knowing the wife can operate it.

 

[stompandgo]

I travel a lot for work and my wife couldn't operate a regular generator by herself. The power goes out here all the time. It was out for two days last week during the storm.

Our home standby generator has an auto transfer switch and comes on automatically when the power goes out. I have UPS' on all the electronics I care about. The generator is about 24 years old and on its last legs, but has been a good investment.

That's what I'm looking at. Generac or Kohler. Both are excellent. The guy who owns the home next door and operates it as a vacation share is a master electrician. He did the wiring for the central air. I hired the HVAC tech and managed both. Doing that saved me $4K versus hiring a mechanical contractor to do it all. I would do the same thing for the generator.

MA has the highest energy costs in the country. Our cost per Kwh is not that bad at 24 cents. That is from a local electric compact that buys power from many sources and consolidates the rate twice yearly. They are always cheaper than the national brokers like Constellation. The problem here is the green lobby. The non-electric side of our bill can be 2x the actual usage, which pays for green subsidies. It's crazy.

Natural gas prices peak during the coldest months due to demand, but for most of the year, it is by far the cheapest energy source, and it is not yet owned by the green lobby.

 

[RunForTheHills]

That's what I'm looking at. Generac or Kohler. Both are excellent. The guy who owns the home next door and operates it as a vacation share is a master electrician. He did the wiring for the central air. I hired the HVAC tech and managed both. Doing that saved me $4K versus hiring a mechanical contractor to do it all. I would do the same thing for the generator.

MA has the highest energy costs in the country. Our cost per Kwh is not that bad at 24 cents. That is from a local electric compact that buys power from many sources and consolidates the rate twice yearly. They are always cheaper than the national brokers like Constellation. The problem here is the green lobby. The non-electric side of our bill can be 2x the actual usage, which pays for green subsidies. It's crazy.

Natural gas prices peak during the coldest months due to demand, but for most of the year, it is by far the cheapest energy source, and it is not yet owned by the green lobby.

My generator runs on natural gas and natural gas is far cheaper here in SoCal to heat with than electricity. I still can't convince my wife to stop using the electric space heater. It drives me crazy and drives the electric bill up.

My generator is an Onan/Cummins 12Kw. I bought it online and had it installed by a local electrician. My next generator will be a Generac. Trying to find someone to service my Onan and getting parts for it has been a challenge. I get the oil and filter changed once a year and have had the valves adjusted twice. The local dealers only sell Generac. The guy that I have servicing it now is from down the mountain and only comes up like once a month.

 

[stompandgo]

My generator runs on natural gas and natural gas is far cheaper here in SoCal to heat with than electricity. I still can't convince my wife to stop using the electric space heater. It drives me crazy and drives the electric bill up.

My generator is an Onan/Cummins 12Kw. I bought it online and had it installed by a local electrician. My next generator will be a Generac. Trying to find someone to service my Onan and getting parts for it has been a challenge. I get the oil and filter changed once a year and have had the valves adjusted twice. The local dealers only sell Generac. The guy that I have servicing it now is from down the mountain and only comes up like once a month.

Well that's another angle. I buy it online and have it delivered. I build the pad. I hire a gas plumber and the electrician to install it.

 

[RunForTheHills]

Well that's another angle. I buy it online and have it delivered. I build the pad. I hire a gas plumber and the electrician to install it.

I put it on my existing cement driveway underneath my carport to keep the snow off (have both a garage and a carport). The auto-transfer switch is installed in the utility room in the back of the house, so I had to trench for conduit from the house to the generator and they put in a subpanel for the circuit breakers next to the transfer switch. The company I used to install it is a general contractor and did both the electrical and plumbing. Unfortunately they don't work on motors, so I needed to find a company that specializes in generator maintenance to service it.

 

[Chargeride]

My mother energy bill was 4500 dollars equivalent last year, lives alone in a bog standard semi detatched.
Thats half of her government pension.

We are completely fuxed in this country
Add in her local taxes and its 7000 dollars.
People are just going on benefits, they cant afford to live with a job.

 

[McApple]

The power line that services our area runs about 50 miles, mostly through forested areas. We live in the woods, and are pretty much at the end of our branch line, so outages are quite common and can last for hours, days, and in a number of instances, weeks. What started off as our cottage (recreational home), turned into our permanent residence about 20 years ago when we retired. For many years we relied on portable generators in the 5kw-8kw range for backup, progressing from extension cords, to back-feeding the panel, to a transfer switch. The portables worked OK, but winters were a chore, as was keeping fuel & oil on hand, and the maintenance.

Seven years ago we had 22kw Generac installed, along with an automatic transfer switch and a 500 gallon propane tank; not cheap, but we couldn't be happier. The generator does and self-test once a week and we have it serviced annually.